A New Model

Buckminster Fuller, that wily genius: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality,” he said. “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” A friend just called me. He was down in the dumps because he’d ended a nascent romance that took a turn he didn’t like, a turn that resembled things in his past. What’s the cure? rnTea, sympathy, and a dose of reality à la Bucky Fuller. “Build a new model,” I said. “The way of old relationships didn’t work for you. Build a new one.” rnThis, of course, means that you have to face the question of all questions: What do you want? rnSo often we know what we don’t want, and that’s valuable, too, but it’s not a good platform for self-creating. The spiritual life boils down to this question in almost every scenario. What do you want? rnA lot of times we know what we want. It’s the opposite of what we’ve got! But then there are those radical times when all we have a feeling, a notion, a shift we want to invite, but not specifics for creating. rnTry this idea via St. Teresa of Avila: “Your life will change if with all your heart you say these words each day: ‘Teach me, dear God, all that you know.’” rnAll that You know. Wow. rnIt is for this same reason that Noah St. John’s brilliant afformations work— rnAnd whilst I’m at this, hold a vision for Noah with me please! That the word Afformations is in the 2011 version of Webster’s Dictionary. rnYou know that an afformation is a question about the reality we want rather than about the reality we don’t want. rnFor my friend, it’s not Why do I keep creating the same old relationship?, instead, it’s Why do I have the perfect romantic partner for me? rnHear the difference? Huge. One focuses my friend on what he doesn’t want; the other, on what he does want. rnWhen you’re not ready to make that new model Bucky recommends, ask God to teach you all that She knows about your inquiry. rnA change of heart is always a change of reality.