Barbie World

It is with much trepidation that I start this week’s blog.

If you have been reading my blogs for a while, you will know that I often get my inspiration from songs.  Two nights ago, my husband was trying out a new MP3 player he bought, when he discovered that it had two songs already recorded on it.  He was thrilled to find that one of those songs was a song by Aqua that he had heard for the first time during our trip to Aitutaki.  As these were the only two times he had heard this song, he thought it quite remarkable.  It brought back wonderful memories for him of our trip, and as he quite liked the song, he searched out information on it and a youtube version, and insisted on showing it to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A

I, on the other hand, found the song to be really annoying and plastic, just like the Barbie doll which the song seemed to parody.  Even more annoying was the way the song seemed to play over and over in my head.

But before long, it was forgotten, thank God.

Imagine my dismay, then, when I finished my meditation this morning, only to find the song playing in my head again.  Naturally, I swore, and then tried to get rid of it by singing other songs – any other songs.  But they all turned into the same Barbie Girl song again.  I began to know the connection to the spiritual lesson which I was to teach with this blog, but I kept saying “no, please, no”.

I said to spirit: “You don’t really want me to do a blog about this song, do you?”

The answer came: “No, but you do.”

So, here I am, writing my blog about a song I really don’t like, because this is what I want to do.  I think the song might be growing on me, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.  Please accept my apologies for inflicting it upon you.  Perhaps you might find it enjoyable and fun, just as my husband does, or maybe it will grow on you, too.  Sorry.

This song’s message for me perfectly matches the message of the section of A Course in Miracles which I have just been studying, about our investment in reality (T-12.III).

The song tells us that “life is your creation”, and this is the case in this plastic world which we have created in our own minds.  In this plastic world, nothing is real.

We think that life is about our big pink cars, our designer clothes, and our giant houses with pools.  We show off our acquisition to our friends and they then have to have one the same, or even better.

We are reminded in A Course in Miracles that, in the Bible, Jesus asks us to sell everything to give to the poor, and follow him.  This teaches us, and the poor, that to invest in anything of this world is to invest wrongly.

This plastic world we have created is all about our ego identity.  We have created a world where we don’t really understand what is real.  We think that who we are is what we have, or what we do.

In the world which God created, love is the only thing that is real, and this is what you are.  In the end of the song, even Barbie seemed to understand that the only way to be her real self, and to experience the real world is to give love.

A Course in Miracles teaches us that if we identify with our ego-selves, we will always feel deprived.  When we feel anger or depression, it is a sign that we are identifying with our ego-selves.

Becoming angry with anyone is caused by us believing that we are our ego, and that it is saved by attack.  If we perceive anger in another, we are overlooking their real need.  No matter what they may think they lack, the only lack in the real world is lack of love.  In fact, there is no real lack of love; it is only a perceived lack of love, which we experience when we believe we are separated from God’s love.

Likewise, our depression, too, is caused by our perceived lack of love.

The only cure for any perceived lack is to extend God’s love which flows through us all.

All the major religions teach us not to become invested in things of this world.

As well as the Christian reference quoted in A Course in Miracles, Islam, too, advises believers to give alms to the poor as “God will provide for us from his own abundance” (The Qur’an 9:55-60)

As we give to others, we reinforce our wealth, as we give of our perceived abundance.  We are allowing those to whom we give, to understand that, they, too, live in a world of abundance.  It also allows us to remember that love is our only real need.

Buddhism teaches us in its four noble truths that suffering arises from attachment to desires, and that suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases.

We are not only talking about non-attachment to things but also non-attachment to situations.

A Course in Miracles explains that when we are asked to do something outrageous, we should do it anyway, because otherwise we are investing in a certain outcome.  Once we become attached to a certain outcome, we identify with that outcome, believing that we can only be happy and fulfilled if that outcome is achieved.  We then lose sight of the fact that love is the only thing that matters in this world.  In the words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet “there is nothing either good or bad [or outrageous], but thinking makes it so”.

If we can change our thinking so that we focus only on love, we can never perceive a lack.  If our only focus is on love, we will perceive it wherever we look.  If we perceive anyone experiencing any sort of lack, we will understand that it is only a perceived lack of love, and that we have the cure within us all.

If we can change our thinking, we can understand that things we don’t like, even songs like Barbie Girl, are filled with blessings.

If we can change our thinking, we can change ourselves from a Barbie girl, living in a Barbie world, to a real loving person, living in a world filled with love.