Interest

I’ll be teaching a two-week class on The Mental Equivalent by Emmet Fox starting tomorrow.  A mental equivalent is basically the belief structure we hold around different areas of our lives.  We have mental equivalents for our work, our relationships, our finances - everything we experience in our lives is in our lives because of the mental equivalents we have established and sustained.  For example - the time it takes you to run a mile is the time it takes you because that is your mental equivalent of your level of running prowess.

That mental equivalents create our experience means that anything in your life that you want to change you can, by ceasing to sustain your current mental equivalent and establish a new one.  This is done by first having a clear idea of what you want and then energizing that idea.  Emmet Fox suggests that the way we energize the idea is with interest.

Interest is an….interesting word, which is defined in two primary ways:

1. the state of wanting to know or learn about something or someone.  "She looked about her with interest."
   
   
2. money paid regularly at a particular rate for the use of money lent, or for the delaying repayment of a debt.  “Her savings earned interest.”
   
   

Lets use that “running a mile” example.  Say you run a mile in 10 minutes.  Within you is a belief that you cannot run a mile any faster than 10 minutes.  But, you want to change that.  So, you get a clear picture - running a mile in 9 minutes!  The picture alone will do nothing.  It needs your interest.  If you are interested in running a faster mile, you would probably start running more, maybe get new running shoes, look up videos on running or stretching techniques, etc.  You would be in a “state of wanting to know” what its like to run a mile in 9 minutes.  That, coupled with your vision of a 9-minute mile would - if you were truly interested in such an accomplishment - build within your consciousness a new mental equivalent and your time would be reduced to 9 minutes.

However, there is that second definition of interest.  In the spiritual context this says that the time, focus, energy, intention, effort, etc. that you invest in building a new mental equivalent will return to you a greater result than you anticipate.  The work you do to get yourself from a 10-minute mile to a 9-minute mile can also take you to an 8-minute mile.  Your improved cardiovascular health from the work you did will bring you more energy, the flexibility increase from your stretching will help prevent injury, the extra muscle you built in your legs will help you to feel that much more attractive.

In the application of spiritual principles to your life, it is never 1 + 1 = 2.  You always get a return on your investment with interest on top of interest on top of interest.  That interest (definition 2) can spark even greater interest (definition 1).  It can be a self-perpetuating cycle of learning, upliftment, and growth effecting you on all levels of your existence.  

I’m interested in that.  I’ve been interested in it for a while.  The interest I have received and continue to receive is a blessing beyond what I thought possible when I began.  Are you interested?