Why Cause and Effect is Bullshit!…

Do you know what causality is? It’s the principle where everything that happens is because of a certain cause. Sometimes it’s referred to as the cause and effect theory. As a society, many of us have adopted this line of thinking because it seems logical. It gives us a sense of understanding. But what if cause and effect was bullshit? What then? What you have to understand first and foremost is that many of us, including me, have limited our thinking severely. Why? Well, because we’ve bought into the stories of our ancestors, our parents and society. Here’s a lie you’ve probably bought into: past experience can predict the future. No it can’t. Another lie is we’re not perfect. Who says we’re not? I’m perfect just the way I am and so are you. (We can choose to better ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we’re imperfect. That’s just part of the human journey.) Causality is also false. We actually have the ability to alter our realities just by thinking about it. How the hell does that happen? Through practiced techniques, we can essentially rewire ourselves and therefore affect our surroundings. Sounds woo-woo doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be if you open yourself up to it. The wonderful thing about this lesson is you’ll discover that you can become the “storyteller”, as Don Miguel Ruiz puts it, of your own life. I (Phil Svitek) use the teachings of quantum physics and specifically Joe Dispenza to show you all this. After you’re done with the lesson, please write down 10 things you’re grateful for in your life. Trust me, it’ll make sense after you’ve gone through the lesson. Thank you for tuning in!

SELECTED LINKS FROM EPISODE:

-Joe Dispenza’s Power of Belief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm65ndOgMFo

-You Are the Placebo Book: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Placebo-Making-Matter/dp/1401944582

-Becoming Supernatural Book: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supernatural-Common-People-Uncommon-ebook/dp/B0746RN3G7

-The Voice of Knowledge Book: https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Knowledge-Practical-Guide-Inner/dp/1878424548

-Joe Dispenza on the Goop Podcast: https://goop.com/the-goop-podcast/how-to-become-your-future-self/

-Not Twice T-Shirt Campaign: http://nottwice.org

-A Very LA Birthday Short Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9SHJaepE0c

-Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philsvitek

-Merchandise: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/phil-svitek—360-creative-coach/

-Adorama Affiliate Link: https://www.adorama.com/?utm_source=rflaid914115

Available Platforms to Watch/Listen to Show:

I get it – your life is busy and you’re constantly on the go and so it might not be very convenient to keep visiting my website for every new lesson. I myself listen to a lot of podcasts and audio books while driving. So to help you keep up to date with all my episodes in a fast, simple and easy way, here’s all the apps and direct links you can use.

Transcript:

Merovingian: You see, there is only one constant. One universality. It is the only real truth. Causality. Action, reaction. Cause and effect.

Morpheus: Everything begins with choice.

Merovingian: No. Wrong. Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.

After my initial viewing of the full movie, I grappled with this concept, especially the portion about choice being an illusion. If that notion was true, it meant that I was a byproduct of my environment. It meant I didn’t have control over my own life. All I could do was try to understand why events took place in my life. And that’s a sad feeling because I couldn’t alter them. I just had to accept them.

It wasn’t until recently that I actually realized Morpheus was right and the Merovingian was full of lies. Everything does begin with choice.

Part of how I got to this conclusion was I realized each one of us is a storyteller, as Don Miguel Ruiz would call us. Our ancestors formed certain beliefs and passed them down across multiple generations and these so-called stories were imparted onto us as truths. But they are, as the name implies, just stories formed at a time when we didn’t know any better. Up until the mid 20th century, there was no contradictory evidence to go against the idea of cause and effect, at least scientifically speaking. The mystics throughout history knew many of these so-called “new truths,” they just couldn’t prove them through science. But along comes quantum physics and BAM! This field of study has opened up a whole world of possibilities and explanations, literally. And as the field of study grew and grew, along comes a man named Joe Dispenza who posits the idea that our mind can affect matter. I think, therefore it exists.

That is a vastly oversimplified version of things, and by no means do I claim to be an expert on this stuff. At least not yet. But even the cursory knowledge I’ve gained so far on the subject matter has altered my state forever and it can do the same for you.

What you have to understand first and foremost is that many of us, including me, have limited our thinking severely. Why? Well, because we’ve bought into the stories of our ancestors, our parents and society. Here’s a lie you’ve probably bought into: past experience can predict the future. No it can’t. Another lie is we’re not perfect. Who says we’re not? I’m perfect just the way I am and so are you. (We can choose to better ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we’re imperfect. That’s just part of the human journey.) Causality is also false.

We actually have the ability to alter our realities just by thinking about it. How the hell does that happen? Through practiced techniques, we can essentially rewire ourselves and therefore affect our surroundings. Sounds woo-woo doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be if you open yourself up to it.

Joe Dispenza was hit by a vehicle while he was on a bike. Experts told him he’d never walk and that he needed surgery to get somewhat better. He rejected the procedure and about a month later, he’s walking no different than me. How does something like that happen? Extreme, focused concentration. Our bodies can do incredible things but our thoughts often times block it from happening. We think it can’t happen so it doesn’t happen. Conversely, if we think it can happen, it does. I’m not saying that if you believe you can fly that you will. But I am saying that our bodies have an incredible network of chemicals and electricity flowing within it and by merely altering the way we perceive certain things, it can alter those currents.

Think about it, when you’re feeling sad, how energetic do you feel? Not a lot, right? But if you’re happy, you feel lively and ready to move or do something. You feel creative and ideas seem to naturally come to you, do they not?

Tony Robbins has a saying that “where focus goes, energy flows.” This is what Joe Dispenza is talking about. Shift your focus and you can alter your state. Too many of us blame outside factors for bringing us down. We don’t have to be victims. Problems are only problems if we allow them to be. Sure, we’ll all face obstacles in our lives but they don’t have to affect us in a way that they have before. We can choose to not have them affect us, and just deal with them on a much more surface level.

For a while I had to deal with some DMV paperwork. I kept going back to the DMV over and over to handle all the bureaucratic rigamaroo they put me through. At one point, there was an issue with an original document that was very important. The issue was that there was a mistake on the date. I didn’t cause that issue. The DMV actually made the mistake. Their mistake, but I had to deal with it. It was literally one hurdle after another and I swear if I hadn’t done as much work on myself as I have by now, I would have lost it. I would have screamed and probably at one point tried to punch someone for all these complications. But I knew I had a choice. I call it striving for the better nature of myself. And I did. I chose not to let it affect me and instead to do what I had to do. That’s the power of this line of thinking. The cause was dealing with the DMV but I didn’t let it affect me. There was no effect. Had I bought into that line of thinking during this ordeal, it would have affected so many things for me. My creativity would have diminished. My work ethic. My energy levels. It would have just trickled down, probably until I reached depression. And trust me, that’s a road I’ve been on. It’s a road many of us can get to quite easily, unfortunately, if we choose to believe that every cause has an effect and that our surroundings dictate our behaviors. They do not!

Why is this important for you to really understand as a creative? Well, first off, this is your life. And secondly, this directly affects your pursuits. Too many people in our society, maybe even you right now, are looking for external factors to make them feel better.

This could include drugs, love, media. Anything really that’s external to yourself. In the 50s, Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” where the notion was that everything in our lives affects our behaviors. For example, the shape of a doorknob forces a different interaction. If it’s a round knob, then you have to cup it. If it’s a lever, then you have to pull down on it. Over time, these simple things rewired our brains. It’s what’s happening with cell phones and social media. They are the medium, aka the cause, and right now it’s having an effect on many people. It doesn’t have to though.

But this begs the question — how do you alter your state? Your environment? How do you rewire your thinking? Gratitude. That’s a big one. Simple in concept but not enough of us are ever really grateful. I’m talking about real gratitude based on things that can be replicated anywhere. I’m grateful that I can breath, that I can walk. I’m so thankful that I can go outside and see nature. Gratitude is a form of love and the closer we operate to love, the more of a natural flow we’ll create in our bodies. Everything will work in tandem. We often separate the mind from the heart. What if they were the same?

Lots of healers I know advocate keeping a gratitude journal where each day for about five minutes, you journal all the things you’re thankful for in your life. I’m encouraging you to do that too. In fact, to really kick this off, go ahead and comment with 10 things you’re honored to have in your life right now. This way, it’ll spark ideas for anyone else learning this lesson in case they’re stuck in thinking about what they could be grateful for in their life.

Meditation is another way you can alter your state. Yoga and exercise are two others. The first two, the gratitude journal and meditation, help to rewire your system while yoga and exercise helps to flush out the body of negativity. It really is remarkable what you can accomplish with these four things.

In time, where you can really take this to the next level is you can set intentions. What do you want for your life? Be clear about it and envision it as if it’s in the past, like you already accomplished this. This right here is how Joe Dispenza was able to heal himself. He set his intentions very specifically. He focused so deeply that he envisioned his spine healing. And it came to pass. The incredible thing is that he’s been able to replicate this phenomenon with thousands of people, all documented scientifically.

You might have heard of something like the laws of attraction. This is it in action. If you think something bad is going to happen, you attract it. If you think something good will happen, it will. We don’t necessarily know when or how, but it will.

It’s important for us to understand this and to choose the better nature of ourselves because if we don’t, our unconscious selves will dictate it for us which oftentimes is not good. At least for me, it definitely wasn’t.

Much in the same way you set intentions for your work, set intentions for yourself (and yes, this includes the mind, body and spirit — they are all one). If you don’t, you will walk through life not being in control. You’ll be a slave to so-called cause and effect when in reality you won’t have to be doing that.

The other aspect to this work is staying present. Many of us go through life distracted. We leave the TV on in the background while working. We listen to music while working out. We check our phones nonstop even when we’re with friends. I told you Tony Robbins says “where focus goes, energy flows”? Consider what happens when your focus is fractured. Does it not mean that your flow of energy becomes fragmented? It certainly does. If you ever felt like you’re not accomplishing as many creative projects as you can, this is more than likely the biggest culprit. Discipline yourself and rid yourself of distractions, at least when it comes to your work. Start there and see how it can snowball. See for yourself how much work you can do when you aren’t distracted. Download the Thrive app which prevents you from going on your phone for a set time. Type in 1 hour and then for the 60 minutes, do your creative work. You’ll feel amazing over time.

I also want to point out that distraction can come in the form of time traveling. Any time you think back to the past and dwell on it, that’s time traveling. Your reality is shifted away from the present. You’re distracted. You’re no longer focused on what’s at hand. So don’t do it.

Here’s one final part that is a key component to all of this. Many people that do this work, and I’ve witnessed it first hand after Tony Robbins seminars, are on such a high after changing their state. The problem is it doesn’t last for them. Why not? Because they went back to their “old environment”. After the seminars, they do the same things as before and the high is short lived. That doesn’t mean after such an alteration in your life you have to move to a new apartment and change your friends. No. You have the power to alter your environment based on your thoughts, remember? The way to do this is to keep this in your daily consciousness and not become a victim of your natural hardwired state, which can literally be self-centered and blocked off from the miracles of the world around you. Additionally, vary certain routines. Don’t literally do everything the same as before. In order to get different results from life, you have to try new behaviors. This can be both large or small. So please, don’t fall into the trap of habitual patterns. Work hard to alter them.

This all might sound like I’m just full of shit. You’re entitled to think that. You might think that I’m just another storyteller. And you’re not wrong on the second part. But I ask you, what have you got to lose? All this really requires of you is 5 minutes a day of journaling things you’re grateful for (past, present and future things), 5 minutes of meditation and exercise, even if it’s as simple as walking everyday. It’s about staying present and varying the patterns of life you feel frustrated with. The return on your investment, as business people say, is incredible. But see for yourself. Be the storyteller of your own life and create the infinite possibilities that are truly available to you when you don’t limit your thinking. Here’s a quote from Men In Black that I revisit to be reminded of what is really possible in life:

Agent K: 1,500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.

And yes, please do imagine it. If you think it, it can happen.

For more on the notions presented here, I highly encourage you to watch some Joe Dispenza videos or read his books. He has one called You Are the Placebo and his recent one is Becoming Supernatural. And also check out Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Voice of Knowledge book. Links are in the show notes.

And here’s where we end this lesson. But please feel free to click over to any of the numerous lessons I’ve created just for you. I have so many you can check out along with other free resources. All you have to do is go to my website at philsvitek.com. Lastly, a huge thank you to the people that helped make this episode financially possible. If you too would like to support this show, you can either head on over to my Patreon or sport some merch from my store. Links are down below as well. Or you can just tell a friend about this show and we can build a great community of like-minded creatives. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to tune in. I’m @PhilSvitek on social media and I’ll see you next time. Bye!