Using the Tools of the Trade
by John J. McNally

Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to go to China. In his heart he knew that China was the perfect place for him, yet when he looked at the map of the world it seemed so far away.

Then the man had a brainstorm, instead of having to go through travel agents, airports and airline food, customs inspectors and inoculations, he would take a much simpler route: He decided to dig himself a hole to China straight through his backyard! This way, if he didn't like it, he could just climb back into the hole and return to his old life. The answer was so simple, why deal with the outside world at all when he could do it all by himself.

So he began to dig, and dig and dig. As he dug, he felt a strong sense of accomplishment, he had moved several feet closer toward his goal every day. This brightened his heart, and every day reality was not so tedious for him anymore. He also loved the muscles he was developing. He developed a whole new appreciation for his body because of his efforts. He felt the warm glow of self-appreciation and knew he was on the right path.

As the months went by though, the digging became more difficult. Rain would occasionally fill the hole with water, or make it too slippery to climb down into. There were large rocks which either had to be moved or dug around, the man began to realize that this was no longer the easiest way to reach his goal.

He looked at his shovel, and realized while this was an excellent tool, he had other tools at his command as well. The sense of personal power that had come from digging this hole gave him a new perspective on all the confusion of the outside world, and it dawned on him that he could use the outside world as his tool in order to get to China. He realized that the world presented a multitude of tools before him, and he was free to choose whatever method he wanted in reaching his goal. With this knowledge securely in hand, he climbed up out of the hole and back into the world.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that this story is analogous of my own life lately. The path I began almost two years ago when I quit my job on Wall St., had become increasingly more difficult. My financial situation had only worsened, and I was no longer feeling a sense of joy as I dig my hole to China, frankly it became a dull routine.

Aside from the boredom there had been a sense of frustration as well. I chose this path with the goal of consciously creating financial freedom without the structure of work. This was my hole to China, my belief that said I could do this all by myself with just a shovel. The tools of the world seemed rather dull in comparison, after all anyone could take a plane to China, but how many can say they've tunneled their way there, and how many people can say that they've spontaneously created a million dollars?

In retrospect, I now see that I was projecting a lot of power outside of myself, and into the existing structures just by NOT wanting to deal with them. Wherever I was seeing something as a "bother" I was actually revealing my own sense of powerlessness. I was reacting to the existing structures as I perceived them, rather than seeing myself as their creator.

In fantasy stories, wizards often make use of the world around them when they cast their spells, causing trees to grab foes or moving giant boulders out of there way. They are aware of their environment, and know how to turn any aspect of it to their advantage. This is the step I have taken by deciding to declare bankruptcy. When I first met the lawyer, I recognized him immediately. I recognized his confidence in his ability, knowing that it was similar to my own sense of confidence in making an omelet, or riding a bicycle. This was the aspect of myself that knows the law, and knows how to apply it to his advantage. I created him to help me heal this last great wound within myself.

When pondering the thought of bankruptcy in the past, I thought I had been able to come to terms with all the judgements that I had placed around it, and myself. However, when I committed myself to the task, I found myself obsessing over a sense of judgement, constantly explaining to a fictional judge how it was that I came to be in such a financial mess.

These judgements were reflected faithfully in my debtors when they would constantly call on the phone. They would ask me questions about my work, my choice of jobs, whether or not I could borrow money from my family. They always carried a not so subtle tone of judgement, of having done something drastically wrong, one debtor even had the nerve to say that a judge wouldn't allow us to declare bankruptcy.

Imagine my surprise when I actually met with the lawyer, and the subject of "how" I got into this mess had never come up. All he wanted was a list of my debts, we discussed options, I signed some papers, and "POOF" The demon of guilt and judgement is gone! All that's left is a series of small payments, like the mild itch of a healing wound.

The movement of energy has been incredible, and has already manifested some truly magical results for both Kristen and me. For example, when I informed the lawyer about the upcoming levy on my bank account, he fully expected that my account would have been frozen prior to the levy, however I had used it that morning to pay the lawyer.

The second bit of magic had to do with recovering Kristen's car. When her car had been repossessed, she was told that she had 27 days in which to take action to recover it.  When I had my initial consultation with the lawyer, I discovered that we had only ten, with just enough time for us to get Kristen's paperwork started. Then, during Kristen's consultation, we were originally told we would need a larger amount down to cover the work in retrieving the car, we didn't have that much cash with us, so the lawyer accepted what we had with no problem. There was also supposed to be an extra fee for the courier who would be rushing the paperwork up to Monterey for the papers to be filed. Surprise! There was already one scheduled for the next day. Finally, we were told that we would have to travel up to Livermore in order to retrieve the car. And the car (which we haven't been using) would need to be insured and have a 15-dollar release from the sheriff's office. The next morning we received a call from our lawyer telling us that the car would be returned to us!

So what's the moral of the story? As a wizard, or conscious creator, everything around you, every leaf, pebble, goldfish, lawyer, pizza and neutron bomb is your own deliberate creation. Like a Merlin of old, tangling up his foes by animating a tree, be open to using any of the tools that manifest around you in physical reality. They are yours to play with and denying them out of any sort of self-judgement only creates invisible barriers that you then have to work around in order to realize your desires. 

(c)1999, John McNally.  Published in the June-July 1999 issue of the online Conscious Creation Journal. Feel free to copy this article for personal use - please include this copyright notice. http://www.consciouscreation.com