(Originally posted 23rd April, 2004)
Understanding the concept that there are no limits is perhaps one of the hardest concepts of all the seven principles. After all, we can only perceive so much and there are things that fall outside the realms of natural human experience.
But every day, science is pushing back the barriers of human understanding, developing more and more sensitive instruments to measure things and give people a better picture of what the real world is all about.
What people believe puts limits on their thinking and what they can achieve. If you listen to world-class athletes, they are forever pushing their thinking into new realms, in areas that people had previously thought to be impossible.
If the world is what you think it is, then anything that you can possibly dream up you are capable of achieving. Of course, it might take you a lifetime to achieve that goal or it might take someone using your experience as a jumping off point to achieve your goal long after you are gone.
Serge King gives three corollaries for the second principle. The first corollary is that everything is connected. On a metaphysical level, everything is connected to everything else. Of course, the influence of one thing on another might be so insignificant that it might be completely undetectable.
One thing I have come to realise about this corollary is that everything that you experience and think about is directly connected to what you currently think and believe. I’ve lost track of the number of times within my own life where I have been wondering about a particular subject, only to have a chance encounter with something that has either given me the answer directly, or it has provided me with something else to think about which has caused the revelation that I needed. This inspiration can come in just about any form. You might read something in a book or see something on TV or in a movie. In more extreme cases, you can see something in nature that stands out and causes you to think about something in a new way. Skeptics may scoff and put the whole thing down to coincidence, but because you’re filtering things through your own beliefs, the connection that you make becomes significant to you.
Serge’s second corollary is that anything is possible. Again, you can see this idea in action when you look at athletes who break world records, or inventors who come up with an invention that others have said could never be done. Persistence of belief is the key here. It also sometimes helps if you have other people who believe the same things that you do, because their belief reinforces your own giving your confidence a boost.
The last corollary is separation is a useful illusion. If you believe that everything is connected, and there are no limits, then it can be overwhelming when you realise that everything you do has an effect on the world around you. It can cause some people to freeze up, unsure about what to do in case they do something. The thing is thought that just because we’re connected to everything doesn’t mean we’re joined at the hip. The level of influence we have over something varies and if we’re aware of that it, sometimes that separation can be used to provide some much-needed perspective. Often when we find ourselves most overwhelmed with a problem, the ability to disconnect and look at it from a distance usually allows us to find a way around our immediate problem and to make our lives better in the long run.
I have to admit that the second principle is perhaps the one I understand the least, because it is the one that I have probably spent the least amount of time thinking about. It makes sense to me, but I’m sure that there are certain ramifications of it that I need to still need to grasp. So, I’m hoping that this hasn’t been too confusing a description.