Old vs. New
DEAR FRIENDS: The old and the new. When do you choose the one over the other? When are you a preserver of tradition, a user of the tried and true? When are you a hoarder, miser? When are you a closed-minded “wall” preventing progress for yourself and others?
When are you being an open-minded, innovative pioneer who will bring untold good to mankind throughout the universe? When are you moving ahead so fast that you are throwing away the good with the bad and moving into the untried and, sometimes dangerous?
Perhaps we can give you some guidelines that will be helpful in making your decisions. It is, however, impossible to make a blanket statement that it is always best to choose either the 'old' or the 'new'. In many ways and in many instances, that which has been tested and proved to be good is that with which you should stay. At other times, to stay with the tried and true is to stagnate and fail to progress.
There are many phrases and adages such as, “It is good enough for my Dad; it is good enough for me!” Usually a person is referring to matters of faith when he or she makes such a statement. Today there are few who would want to ban all the electrical, mechanical conveniences, all the “wonder drugs”, and the other advances that have made living today so much easier than it was a generation or two ago.
But sometimes people are afraid to accept anything new and different in the realm of faith. You tend to forget that someone in the past of your family’s history made the decision to accept a particular faith or belief. How was that decision made? It was probably done on the basis of experience, study and faith. Whose experience? Whose study? Whose faith?
If an ancestor claimed the right to make such a decision for himself, this was fine. It was probably right for him. It may also be right for you, but if he had the right to make such a decision for himself, do not you also have that right -- the right to decide on the basis of your experience, study, and faith just what you want to believe?
An interesting thing often happens (and I stress 'often', not 'always') when a person begins to look at faith with an open mind -- really experiencing, studying, analyzing personal beliefs. Often that person will find the faith in which he grew up to be basically correct (for him) and will therefore remain in or will return to the “faith of his fathers”. Usually there will have been growth and some ideas will be understood differently than they had formerly been. They often find that the thing or things that had made them leave or doubt the faith in the first place were human errors on the part of parents or teachers, particularly “pushing religion down someone’s throat.”
Part 2
Last time we discussed holding onto old ideas just because you already believed versus opening your mind to investigate both old and new ideas. Now let’s look at holding onto “things” and the effect it has on a person.
Things are absolutely necessary in the world in which you live and yet they can become a trap, so a careful balance is needed. Recognize the need where it does exist but be honest about what you 'need' and what you 'want'. (It is not wrong to want, just be honest about it.)
When things are accumulated to fill the need of impressing others, then they become a burden mainly because the motive is not a good one. Beauty is very beneficial to the world, so such “things” are not bad, especially if they are shared with others in a way that is not bragging about the things that you have.
But what if you are struggling to get along financially? Your attention, your love, may still be on the money rather than on higher things. In some instances, you must learn the proper management and attitude toward money before you will ever have any!
Now look around your room, apartment, house, etc. and really look at the things that you have! Especially look in the closets and any storage areas. Why are you keeping each particular thing? That shirt or blouse that you haven’t worn in a couple of years; that book that you’ve read and really have no intention of reading again; all those play programs, pressed corsages, football schedules, etc. that you have saved all these years since high school but which you never look at. Do you 'need' them; do you want to provide storage space for then with today’s high rent and the world’s crowded conditions?
OK, so you have decided to remove some of these things from your life. What do you do with them? Again, look at them honestly. Some things will be very useful to someone else so see that those things get to the proper hands. Others may be put to a different kind of use -- don’t burn old clothes. Even if you don’t need rags, any place that has greasy, inky, dirty machinery has an endless need for rags. Some things you can successfully turn into cash at a yard sale or flea market. But don’t work at this angle too hard unless you really enjoy the activity and the money is a side benefit.
Since you have cleared your “space” of unnecessary things, you have also opened up space for those things you need (and want). A universal law states that two “things” (composed of matter, not spirit) cannot occupy the same space. Now you have room for more useful things. If you begin to work with this law, you may not even have to buy the things for the new space. Often times they just “happen” to be given to you by a friend, neighbor, relative, etc.
Have a good time clearing out, anticipating, and finally enjoying the new things in your life. Ramsingh