“Chance occurs in your life when there is no other attribute in your consciousness to change it.”

This is a quote from Lee Carroll that I modified. It fits in perfectly with the vibrational universe concept. It says that if a person does not apply the co-creative power of consciousness to make free will decisions about their life, chance (probability, entropy, and randomness) will result. What happens to you will seem coincidental. One will often feel like a subatomic particle subject to the quantum mechanical laws of probability. One will naturally feel that you don’t have any control of your life.

And you will be right. In the absence of conscious intent, randomness reults.

There are two major paradigms of thought in human consciousness. They have been around for 6,000 years of recorded human history.

The first paradigm is materialism. Materialism says that there is nothing beyond the five human senses. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  Materialism rejects anything that has not already manifested. Why? Because it’s not apparent to the five human senses. Quantum mechanics is, essentially, the mathematical formulation of the materialist concept. Of course there are various interpretations of the theory. David Bohm’s classic book, “Wholeness and the Implicate Order,” is a brilliant attempt to place a higher perspective on a set of mathematical statements. Like anything in the human meme structure, quantum mechanics can have a dull, materialist focus or a higher focus.

The other paradigm is what some people call “spiritual.” This paradigm says simply that there is more to perception and knowledge and wisdom than the five human senses. Unfortunately, this paradigm cannot be proven (yet) to those with materialist leanings. And so religion, philosophy, and spiritualism have often been rejected as evidence-free by the scientific community, the medical community, and skeptics.

There is one distinction that connects these two paradigms: Scientific proof relies strictly on the manifestation or behavior of some phenomenon in the physical universe, whereas “spiritual” phenomena are almost entirely subjective.

Belief, religion, and spirituality rely on a wisdom that transcends mere physical manifestation, and is therefore regarded by materialists as pure delusion.

Both sides are correct!

For the skeptic who relies on probability to run their lives, belief really has no part in it. “I’ll make a plan, follow the plan, and hopefully things will work out.”

Faith is a concept that has no place in a purely scientific approach to life.

Those who have faith, however, have an inner wisdom derived from many incarnations on the planet. They remember, even if vaguely, the process of death and rebirth. They know they’ll come back. Warriors throughout history understand this very well. Our Native American ancestors, in their ritual battles to the death, knew this very well.

The Consciousness Factor

Chance is simply the events that occur to a person when he or she relies on probability to run their lives. In the absence of a life plan, the random interactions of people will determine what happens to you on a daily basis. However, those who have coherent life plans firmly seated in their consciousness introduce attributes that can alter events that would normally have been simply random. This is often called “luck.”

 These attributes of consciousness are created by conscious meditation or visualization. I’m not talking about magic. Magic is when a person makes a statement and the physical universe immediately responds. “I want a new Porsche” and bam, there’s one sitting in your driveway.

This is, of course, absurd.

In a human race with such low consciousness, where war, struggle, and conflict are a part of the collective reality, one cannot wave a magic wand or make a half-hearted incantation and expect immediate results. However,  by placing consciously created attributes in one’s consciousness, one can interface with the universe’s operating system to alter results which would have normally been a result of pure chance or probability.

This paradigm comes from an attribute of, “I am a child of the Creative Source, and I expect that what will happen to me will always be benevolent.” It comes from an inner knowing that God is much, much bigger than we think, and that there is a Higher reality all around us, waiting for us, using free choice, to manifest it.

To a materialist this idea is absurd, for consciousness itself (according to Paradigm 1)  comes forth from the physical world. To say that consciousness can change physical reality is a meaningless tautology: “A is A because A is A.”

You choose Paradigm 1 or Paradigm 2 depending on your attitude toward yourself and life.

If you choose Paradigm 2, understand that any success you have with it will be purely subjective. By this I mean that you will never be able to prove that your thoughts or expectations had anything to do with any success you have. “Oh, you just worked very hard.” “You got lucky.” “You’re a member of an oppressive class and I’m a victim. That’s why you’re successful and I’m not.”

You can never show to others how your conscious efforts (visualization, meditation, intent, expectation) to place attributes on the path of chance causes a diversion in your favor, because the process is invisible to the five human senses. Paradigm 2 requires wisdom that goes beyond the purely physical world.

But that’s OK, because the more you do this, the more certain you get that good things will happen. And perhaps, good things that are even better than what you imagined.

A Higher Reality

The difference between Paradigm 1 and 2 is simply the understanding that a human being IS connected to a higher reality, and that free choice determines the content of your box of beliefs. Beliefs are just thoughts that you think over and over again, to the point where they become accepted data points in your consciousness that determine your attitude, intent, and expectations toward a particular subject. Over the years many people simply become fixed in their beliefs, and this sets up a vibration that broadcasts itself to the universe. With this mindset, life doesn't change much.

My 91-year-old stepmother, for example, has three or four beliefs that rule her life. Among them is, “No one ever calls or comes over to see me.” This is simply not true, as her children call her almost every day, and I go over there fairly regularly to see her. We have been trying for years to get her to go to the senior center, which has a free bus that picks up seniors and gives them a ride home. However, she has set up a belief system that leaves her dissatisfied no matter what happens!

In this way we create beliefs that can act as roadblocks to our happiness. Similarly, we can just as easily create beliefs that interfere with chance and probability, and which can propel us along a path of greater happiness.

It’s our choice to be miserable or happy.

One of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read on this subject is a little story by the great writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, titled The Dawn of a Tomorrow. Written in 1905, it describes how a wealthy but miserable man who contemplates suicide is saved by a dirt-poor but enlightened woman living in a hovel. Burnett was Deepak Chopra before Chopra was born. (Also check out The Secret Garden, one of the best children’s books ever written, and quite enjoyable for adults as well.)

Paradigm 1 is easy: float along in life and hope for the best. Paradigm 2 is harder at first, but becomes easier the more you practice. Paradigm 2 is quiet, not loud. It is also more subjective because the methods you apply are not quantifiable or observable. It’s a funny thing though: you can discern your connection to the higher power and how it is working for you. That understanding provides great happiness and satisfaction.