Nature’s Support

I’ve worked with the concept of “nature’s support” since the 70’s and have come to perceive the mechanics. I’ve written on the topic before, but sometimes more obscurely. The subject came up on Choice and Surrender and it became clear I needed to say more.

When you put your attention on something or act towards it, is this movement supported or not? Do you get smooth and easy results or obstacles? Where are results happening? In the direction intended or over to one side?

Nature in this case refers to the world – the environment and others. How is what is around you responding to your efforts? What is the art of action?

For example, you’re thinking of replacing your car. Do great deals show up or friends tell you about a good car? Or do you run into scams and manipulative sales people? It’s not always this black & white though. Perhaps what shows up is a pickup truck. Do we follow that lead? Does that choice make more sense later on?

A commenter observed that when they were applying for jobs, what seemed natural and easy didn’t get results. However, other things which felt less easy gave results. In other words, nature supported the second. This was probably due to karma. Nature works (acts) in the field of karma (action) so will respond with what is best for both growth and resolution of our past.

This means that what “feels easy” may be about your internal comfort and resistance. Actual right action may not be so comfortable. In fact, it may be a stretch. Follow your bliss doesn’t mean follow your wants. Bliss flows deeper than desire.

If we follow what is being supported, unexpected doors can open. This is how my grad degree came about. I followed an uncomfortable choice because others were pointing there. Once I took those steps, a new scenario I’d never considered opened up. The university told me it would take a miracle for everything to happen in time as I was applying way late as an international student. But it worked out fine. Even an apparently insurmountable obstacle resolved quickly.

But nature isn’t about excess. The funding showed up in the exact amount before I knew what was needed.

We’re also not going to find satisfaction in excess – that comes from a desire to fill an inner emptiness. Chasing excess also leads to problems, not support. When we find fullness of Self within, we cease seeking outside ourselves. Many goals can fall away and we instead seek sufficiency. Enough comfort, appreciation, and security of place to support our purpose here. As we move closer to this, the support amps way up as we’re moving into what life wants of us. But it’s a big change from chasing things and that may take time to wind down.

Sometimes people do get excess but this is usually a karmic balancing. We could say they’re spending credits. If this is not recognized and they’re spending without investment, that will inherently end just like a bank account will run out.

Nature doesn’t care about our opinions. It focuses on the best for the whole and how we fit into that. It also works in non-linear ways we may not understand.

This means recognizing what is being supported can sometimes be challenging. We may be oblivious to it and may not feel supported at all. If we don’t know who we are, how can we know why we’re here? If we have an internal resistance to receiving or expectations of bad results, these can interfere. Karma can cause “ripples” and fog in smooth flow that may not be comfortable.

Sometimes, it is necessary to work through obstacles. We need an income so we have to work through our resistance to it or abide with a difficult situation until something better can be found.

And that points to timing. The world operates like a giant clock where everything has its time. If it’s the right time, there will be support. But if it’s the right thing but not yet time, there won’t or it will not complete.

Further, when a process completes, the support will stop. If we don’t watch the signs of change and try to continue on a path that’s done, we’ll experience bumps. When I graduated, I was invited into the PhD program. I was inspired by the prospect and turned down another opportunity. Support was clearly pointing to a return home where everything I needed was being offered without request; a home, a car, furniture, etc. But I held onto the PhD goal past its due date. (I can be a slow learner.)

If it’s important we change direction, we may even find ourself pushed. Failure, sickness, and other circumstances can arise to move us on the hard way.

Ironically, if we invest in our unhappiness with our circumstances, we can be resisting its resolution and sustaining what we don’t want. If we heal and find OKness, things are much more likely to complete. Then new opportunities can arise. So often, we are our own biggest obstacle.

To understand what I mean, we need to recognize that laws of nature operate energetically. Subjectively, we often experience this energy as emotion. As we get to know these laws of nature or devata more directly, we realize they feed on available energy. What kind of energy are we supplying? If depression incapacitates you, what does it do for your support? If anger burns, is that helpful?

Slowly we realize we’ve been complaining about our lot and resisting what our laws were trying to accomplish for us. We were making their jobs harder and causing much of our own suffering. Some of our crew develop an attitude towards ignorant humans too.

Once we’re more conscious of them or are at least not resisting everything, they’re able to do a better job of supporting us. We get better results, faster.
As we evolve spiritually and heal, there can be a major uplift in the quality of feelings. Gratitude and love can become more common. When soma arises, it super-charges them. Many of our old obstacles fall away and life becomes simpler and smoother.

Remember that results in the field of action come from action itself. We can’t expect results by wishing and waiting, even if it’s not yet time.

This points to another useful idea from the east called Tapas, meaning warming. Basically, you act to warm the ground and prepare things for fruition. If results are not forthcoming, you continue tapas, you continue to act.

For example, a job search can be a numbers game. They say you should land a job within 10 interviews. So it can sometimes be about doing the work to warm things until enough interviews arise and you land an offer.

Even there, what’s driving an opportunity may not be clear. For example, I once took a quiet scanning job to help pay the bills while I was developing a business. Only it wasn’t quiet, and we ended up spinning the job off into a new business that made some history, brought me a 6-figure income, and now serves a large percent of Canada in that industry.

Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita makes a number of excellent points about action.
For example: Ch. 2 v47
You have control over actions alone, never over its fruits. Live not for the fruits of action, nor attach yourself to inaction.

It’s also key to understand intention. It matters more the intention behind an action than the action itself. The intention is the energy we’re giving it and it’s the energy that feeds the field of action and leads to the quality of results. We will naturally make mistakes but if our intention was fine, the consequences will be of similar quality.

On the other hand, if we follow the rule of law but with malicious intent, the results will be flavoured accordingly.

Clearly, support improves when we learn to heal and get out of the way. We work to do our best and gradually learn to trust outcomes.

How do we learn to trust? First, from experience. Second, we develop an intuitive sense of rightness from beyond the mind. That comes when we let go of the mind’s need to tell stories or lie.

As the Yoga Sutra puts it (2v36):
When truthfulness is established, activity and its fruit [consequence] are closely connected.

When it’s not, right action and consequences don’t feel connected and the right choice is obscured. The way is not clear and events seem unrelated to our efforts.

We can see areas of our life where there is better flow and ease and things are clearer. We’ll also experience a close connection between action and result there. Instant karma makes it very clear. (laughs)

Other areas of life may feel more stuck or disconnected. This can show healing needed or karma unfolding. If we’re not feeling supported, we can ask ourselves how we are with it. How do we feel in that area? Are we supporting those laws? Are we OK with that area of life?

Don’t expect perfection of yourself. We all have blind spots and attachments to resolve. Judging ourselves wrong is just another form of ego control, another form of resistance. Find your points of ease and life will bring more.
Davidya

Last Updated on June 25, 2023 by Davidya