Questioner: ‘I am very concerned about the current financial crisis. How can I maintain positive energy and increase my luck in amidst the worries and uncertainties, and what can I do to help benefit those around me?’ Heathcliffe. London.
Serge. This is a very important question you ask, because in effect you are saying ‘How can I remain positive and not be part of a mind-set of anxiety and negativity that is currently sweeping the world and which is conspiring to keep the financial system in crisis. Indeed, the way we perceive money, which, esoterically, has been described as the most ‘concretised form of divine energy’, has a lot to do with how well money does for us. As such, there is a strong connection between positive energy and being lucky.
The best way to maintain positive energy is to choose that state of being, no matter what happens. And one of the best ways to do this, is, as you suggest, to be a space to help those around us, that is, to share yourself with all and sundry and desist from joining the crowd of all those moaning and groaning about ‘how terrible it all is’ that their pension or their house or whatever, has gone down in value. Such people need to be reminded that it is the same for everybody and that this kind of thinking not only provokes a ‘siege mentality’ but it further escalates the negativity already in the air. In times of crisis, we all need to be strong and resourceful, and one of the best ways to be this is by keeping our hearts open, and one of the best ways to do this is to be magnanimous in our relationships with others, as we tune into our shared humanity, and remind ourselves that we in the West are very lucky just to have a roof over our head.
Most of the people in the world, don’t! I recommend that when you encounter your friends or colleagues who may feel depressed by the turn of events, that you let them know that the more they give something away - be it their love, their time, good advice, a physical gift perhaps, or whatever - that the better they will feel, for in such actions, they are re-connecting with the deeper part of themselves that they had been cut off from. Alienation and despair are all about the experience of being separated from our deeper source of nourishment.
Above all, what you need to help others understand is that we are all living at a time of huge spiritual transformation, and that the new spiritual light being produced is surfacing everything that is dark about us, so that we can see our ‘Shadow side’ more clearly, and hopefully do something about it. From an evolutionary perspective, therefore, what is happening in this financial collapse, is positive . As the philosopher David Spangler put it. ‘Underneath the patterns of instability in the world, a profound spirit of love and good will is at work, using the instability and the individuals that emerge from it, as the farmer uses a plough, to turn the soil and prepare it for new seed and new harvest.’ These are wise words and we need to take them into our hearts so we may expand our vision and remember that the break down of an old dysfunctional system, has to occur, if space is to be made for something new and, we hope, much healthier, to emerge in its place.
In Chinese, the word for crisis means ‘dangerous opportunity’. As such, this financial crisis is helping us open our eyes and making us realise that we simply have to change many of our ways and do so pretty quickly and that many of our so-called ‘venerable institutions’ have been run by pretty shoddy individuals who have always put profit before people, and that they are like that because many of us are like that, and that rather than blame ‘them’, we need to have the courage to own the mote in our own eyes! I think another of the gifts of this crisis is that many of us are coming to see the inherent precariousness of having our identities so bound up with our financial worth and how this is connected with our difficulty in appreciating our true value, which of course lies behind why we are greedy and thus feel we must have more than we really need!
At root, then, this is a spiritual problem, symptomatic of a loss of soul. I think that if you can really help people to ‘get’ that, so that they can come to understand that the solution to their problems has to occur at a higher level and is all about the emergence of a spirit of greater sharing and caring for their fellow human beings, then you will really have been of huge service. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a long article for my Newsletter, entitled ‘The Challenge of Change’, where I go into all these points and many more in much greater detail.
Question: ‘Recently, I started using a pendulum for divination but I am having a recurrent problem. Often, the pendulum repeatedly gives the wrong answer to a question. Is there any reason why it would be so insistent about a particular outcome, when it turns out later that the outcome is wrong?’ Beryl. Watton. Norfolk.
Serge’s reply: ‘I can’t help asking why, if you know the right answer to your question, you feel a need to use a pendulum in the first place? My sense is that unless you feel especially moved to work in this way – that is, have a particularly affinity with using this kind of diagnosis – some healers, I know, do - or, conversely, go and study with someone who really knows about pendulum work, that it can result in exactly the kind of problem you are describing. For example, how do we know for certain that we are truly ‘letting go’ and that our pendulum is really responding to some ‘higher intelligence,’ as opposed to our own inner, unconscious agendas or to some particular outcome that we would like to see happen? The answer is that we don’t! And again: how do we interpret what our pendulum is ‘saying’? For example, what way round does it have to whizz for a Yes and what stands for a No?
Basically, then, unless one is well informed, I do not recommend using a pendulum as a diagnostic tool. Rather, I suggest you try to work more consciously with that part of yourself that really knows answers and that is truly able to ask deep questions, that is, your true inner advisor or wisdom source, namely your heart. Hearts take us to the source of things. So meditate with your heart on the issue you are struggling with, and allow yourself gradually to feel your way into an answer. I also recommend you use a journal to enhance this process as this will also develop your powers of intuition more. I am sorry if this is not the answer you want, but it is the one I give.
Question: ‘I split from my husband a few years ago. Most of the year the children are with me, but they always go and stay with their dad over holidays. Although they love it when they get there, the idea of even a few days away from their friends, makes for an awkward few weeks before they go. Is there anything you can suggest to increase the harmony amongst everyone and help with this?’ Tia. Manchester.
Serge’s reply: I have much sympathy with you and with your children over this issue, as dealing with the changes brought on by a split, is never easy. As a parent, we can feel so guilty about any pain we feel we may be inflicting on our children, that we want everything to be perfect for them. And things never are. In my life, my parents divorced when I was eleven, and I always found it a wrench, having to leave the soft world of my mother, to then enter the very different and somewhat harder reality of my father. But you say your kids love it when they get to their father’s, so that is a vast plus. In fact, it is the most important thing. It sounds as if there is a lot of love there. If they hated spending time with their dad, that would be a big problem.
It might therefore be that the main problem is more with you than with your children. Yes, of course, our kids want everything and complain when they don’t get it, but not getting everything we always want is one of the facts of life and it is important that it is ‘learned’ early on, so your kids can learn to be happy, even if everything ain’t always perfect! That said, my suggestion is that you talk openly to them about the issue, that you say something along the lines of,’ Look, guys, in a couple of weeks you’ll be staying with your dad and I know you won’t be with your friends and both your dad and I are sorry about this, and we know you will miss them, but I am afraid this is the way things are.’
Remind them what some of the plusses of being with their father are. Also, get them to share their sad feelings openly. Then having heard them, let them know that they are lucky to have their special friends and that these friends will still be there for them, even if they go through periods of not seeing them for a few weeks. Perhaps, the day before your kids go off to their father, you could have a little party for them with their best friends being invited over! Also, you might talk with your ex ( I presume you are on good terms with him) and persuade him that it is also in his interest if he can do anything at his end, to help them meet potential new buddies, so that his world produces something fuller as well.
I always stress the importance of speaking from our hearts and listening with our hearts. Especially when relating with our children. Our hearts are the great healer, the great reconciler. With heart, we can always be authentic. The more heart we give our kids, the more they will feel really ‘heard’ and ‘let in’ by us, and this means that it is easier for them to accept situations which may be less than ideal.
