Does the Universe Test Us

"Do you believe that the Universe puts us through tests to help us move on along our path to riches and all the things we want?.There was a time I believed this was true-that some Cosmic Force in the universe was out there placing obstacles in my path as some sort of test to see if I "had what it takes", etc.After a great deal of study, thinking and experience I have come to see it a totally different way. I have come to realize that "abundance is the natural order of the universe.".

Abundance simply IS. Period. Regardless of what I am experiencing in a particular moment.

The Divine Law or guiding principle of the Universe is Cause and Effect. We create our experience of the world (good or bad) by our beliefs, thoughts, actions, focus, faith and feelings. (Cause).Thoughts, beliefs, actions, etc are cumulative. The more continued focus I give them the more "automatic" they become in my subconscious mind. The more automatic they become the less I consciously focus on them.

Yet they are always creating my experience abundantly. (Effect).When I CHOOSE to create new beliefs, thoughts, feelings, actions, etc in an effort to form a new and better experience, I am interrupting the "established lines of growth" (Habits) of my old way of thinking. Those old beliefs, thoughts, feelings, etc are still in motion. (an object in motion tends to stay in motion until met with a greater force) In effect, I am still reaping the results of the old thoughts, etc.

As I continue to apply a new force (new, empowering ways of thinking/acting) the results of old patterns begin to diminish as I change course and set new causes into motion and ultimately, reap the results.One of the most interesting descriptions of this was in a book published in 1922 "Mental Chemistry" by Charles Haanel. In talking about the subconscious he gave an excellent description of this.The action of the subconscious is cumulative and may be illustrated in the following manner.

Suppose you take a tub of water and begin to stir it with a small piece of wood from right to left, with a circular motion. At first you will start only a ripple around the wood, but if you keep the wood in motion with the circular movement, the water will gradually accumulate the strength which you are putting into the wood, and presently you will have the whole tub of water in a whirl. If you were then to drop the piece of wood, the water would carry along the instrument that originally set it in motion, and if you were suddenly to stop the wood while it is still projecting in the water, there would be a strong tendency to not only carry the wood forward, but to take your hand along with it. Now, suppose that after you have the water whirling, you decide that you do not want it to whirl, or think that you would prefer to have it whirl in the other direction, and so try to set it going the other way, you will find that there is great resistance, and you will find that it will take a long while to bring the water to a standstill, and a still longer time before you get it going the other way.This illustrates that whatever the conscious mind does repeatedly the subconscious will accumulate as a habit, any experience which the subconscious receives is stirred up and if you give it another one of the same kind it will add that to the former one and so keep on accumulating them indefinitely, the tendency being to accumulate activity along any definite line in increasing measure, and this holds true concerning any phase of activity that comes within range of human consciousness.

This is true whether the experiences are for our benefit or otherwise, whether the experiences are good or evil. The subconscious is a spiritual activity and spirit is creative, the subconscious therefore creates the habits, condition and environment which the conscious mind continues to entertain.I am becoming more and more convinced that this is why things "appear" to go crazy for a while when we enter a new way of thinking and acting. For a while, there is a conflict of the old and new as we establish NEW lines of growth and action. With continued focus of thought, emotion belief and action along the new way of thinking we begin to see its manifestation.