"For the most part, thoughts are
invisible... unless you stare too long."
Gambling in Perspective…
There are numerous aspects of gambling that can
influence the outcome of the event. For years, I have written about them. During
this time of Lent, I am reminded about a paradigm for gambling.
Is Gambling Evil?
It is if you hold a belief, consciously or
subconsciously that it is.
How could a belief affect your results?
If you make a decision that something is “evil” or
is otherwise wrong to do, and you carry on with it any way, it can result in you
experiencing negative emotion. Negative emotion creates conflict in the overall
belief system. The conflict wedges between your winning and your guilt that
gambling is evil. The subliminal conflict could sound something like, “How can I
feel good about winning, when I am doing something evil?” The energy of the
conflict creates a distortion of sorts within your being. Think of it like
looking into a still pound to see your reflection. Any disturbance in the pond
and the wave effect of moving water distorts your image. You do not experience
the clear reality that you are seeking.
During the course of teaching my Blackjack for
Winners™ seminar, I ask the participants to share their beliefs about gambling.
What are the positive reasons verses the negative reasons for playing blackjack.
Take a moment to create your own table and assess your own beliefs of the game
you prefer to play. I will provide a typical example from a blackjack class.
|
Positive Reasons of Gambling |
Negative Reasons of Gambling |
|
Fun, enjoyment, relaxation |
Stressful, Evil, Bad |
|
Win money |
Provokes anger |
|
Excitement, thrilling |
Provokes depression |
|
Glamorous |
Jeopardizes financial means |
|
|
Jeopardized relationships |
|
|
Goes against God’s Law |
|
|
Immoral, derogating |
|
|
Socially unacceptable |
|
|
Waste of money |
|
|
Waste of time |
|
|
Shameful, others in need could be
better served with money. |
In every blackjack class, the list of reasons
supporting negative gambling is always longer than the list of positive reasons.
Why is that? Where do people get this notion? Who gave us that programming? Is
it true? Does it nurture me to have that belief? Does that belief serve me and
my highest good? Why would there be an outside influence against gambling? It
always surprised me that in a room filled with experienced blackjack players,
that their belief for gambling held more negative connotations than positive
ones.
The list was always short for the positive reasons
to gamble. It usually boiled down to having fun and winning money…. Okay, if
that is all a person can come up with, fair enough. But what is so evil about
wanting to have fun winning money?
I leave that for you to answer for yourself.
I think paying $145 for a round of golf and the
five hours of my life that it took to play the game is an evil waste. Of course,
if you ever saw me play, you would agree!
The point is if you are going to engage in any
activity, do so because you take pleasure from doing it. If you are questioning
your lack of success, perhaps your heart is not into it. Perhaps you have a
program running behind the scenes sabotaging your best effort. Recently, I was
having trouble with HTML code with a website. I could not figure out what was
going on. It was like something was controlling the formatting and I could not
see it. Of course, once I turned on “show hidden files” I was able to make the
edits and correct the problem. Simple! Having contrary beliefs operating at the
same time is kind of like hidden files.
One Evil Game
Now, there is one form of gambling that is evil.
Lottery tickets! My biased opinion is based on the inequity of the prize money
and deception. Okay, fair enough, the government has figured another way to hive
off tax money from those producing intrinsic wealth. My problem is in the big
lie. The State advertises a huge jackpot prize for winning the lottery. However,
the winner is not handed over the millions of dollars, boom, boom, one large
sum. Well, you can settle with the State for some of the large sum, at a
discount. But the State prefers to dole out the winnings in smaller payments
over time. The big rip is the winner is also taxed on the winnings. What’s wrong
with that? The way I look at it is all the money that contributed to the
jack-pot in the first place already taxed at least once. It seems absurd to me
to give the government a huge cut for running the game and then pay income tax
on top. Triple tax in my convoluted and twisted way of thinking.
“Let’s have a 60/40 split. I’ll give you 60% paid
over time if you win and I’ll settle for 40% right now. Also, if you win, I want
35% of your 60%... because it’s my game.” Whatever the split is with the State,
I feel that the lottery is evil and immoral.
Oh, and for those of you wondering what I gave up
for Lent… I gave up being Catholic.
Super Bowling Lesson…
This year’s Super
Bowl game demonstrated a good example of metaphysics in a game. If you saw the
game, you were witness to intention, focus and sheer unstoppable desire of the
New York Giant’s game plan.
At first, I thought
I was watching a waiting game. Having seen the Patriots play a few times during
the regular season, I was waiting for the Patriots to figure out the Giants weak
link. The head to head battle first appeared as a valiant effort on the part of
the Giants. However, I expected the Giants to eventually collapse, losing their
“all-in” punch demonstrated at the beginning of the game. Like the Las Vegas
odds makers, I believed the daunting Patriots would kick in high gear and run
away with the Super Bowl.
As it turned out,
the Giant’s coaching staff was running a well thought out battle plan. The
Giants were relentless, constantly pressuring Tom Brady in their attack. New
York rotated defensive players to keep them rested to maintain their onslaught
throughout the game. New England had no clue how to handle the Giant’s game
plan. New England must have felt like a punch drunk fighter on the ropes talking
to themselves…. “When is this guy going to give up? I must be wearing him
out from all the punches that I am taking?”
(Of course I am making this all up.)
Okay who knows what
the Patriots were thinking or saying to themselves. On an energy level, this
example becomes the kiss of death. Just the thought of giving up, reflects
“giving up”. What we do know for sure is New York won the game that book makers
predicted they would lose. We do know that the New York game plan could not be
handled by New England. We observed the workings of the metaphysical principles
in defying the odds.
The Giants played
the game with a dedicated intention to win. They believed that they were the
better team. They owned an attitude of “never quit and can do!”. New England on
the other hand, played with an attitude of “are you kidding me?” “Don’t you know
who we are?” New York replied with… “We don’t give a rat’s ass!”
When you understand
the metaphysics, in the end, the energy is always true. You can touch into the
energy of anything… a person, a phone call, a newspaper article, a photograph
and any game you can name. All that you need to know is evident in the energy
carrying the message. Do you know why actions speak louder than words?
A lack of energy
has a way of spinning people out. Of all the statistics of this Super Bowl game,
the one that made the biggest difference was the metaphysical statistic. New
York held the edge in the energy stats and that’s what spun New England out.
