Types of lexical transfer in Papiamentu

Dear Gail:

These letters are moving more into the personal element than those in the past. Now I’m going to briefly take up the study of problem solving; of course everyone has problems, but how they get along in life depends upon how well they are able to solve these problems! The human element in life is problem solving!

Often you hear the old adage, “No two persons are alike!”

This is a play on your emotions to gain your confidence by the user of the adage! It would be more likely to be correct if I said, “No two persons have the same attitude,” which isn’t exactly accurate but closer to the truth than the former! Due to the self-interest policy of the individual, his problems always appear greater than those of anyone else. First, let me point out that people and problems come under a classification called: “Morphology—that which is concerned with the fundamental pattern of all things.” A problem has an infinite number of solutions, no one of which is right or wrong. A question may receive an answer that is either right or wrong. The right answer to you depends upon several things—First, moral code; Second, environment; Third, childhood training; Fourth, education; Fifth, emotional entanglements or experience in problem solving.

All problem solving is done by creativity! What is creativity? It is the use of the imagination to make a picture within yourself, which enables you to see yourself in the right position, to correctly handle the problem. In other words if you desire to solve a certain problem, you create the image in your mind that it’s already solved, thus you see only the end result of what you want. In this manner, you take the

position of it having already been solved, and you simply play or act out the role of it being solved!

The creative force is actually the spiritual force at work within you. If you close your eyes and see the picture of a horse against the screen of your mind, you (The Real Self) is looking at that picture. You can make the horse do anything—run, walk, jump and eat! Therefore, if you have a problem to solve, it can be done the same way: Place the end result in your mind as a picture, look at it from the Self, and form what you want done—then act in your outer life as if it had already been accomplished! This does the trick. I’ve reduced this to its simplest terms because there is little need of getting into a lot of complexity.

Remember this! The spiritual force (your collective inner forces are your true spirit forces!) is the one which can form your life into whatever you desire. The old adage, thinking makes it so, isn’t entirely true, for it is only a part of that which makes up the whole. Imagination, emotional force and thinking comprise the whole. In other words, “The Mental Picture, Feeling and Acting” constitute the total, and this total is responsible for directing your life and solving problems! Endeavor to get any of Neville’s books, Power of Awareness, and Awakened Imagination, would be worth the effort expended, since it would provide a better understanding of the subject.

In order to make use of the imagination, one must become completely still. By that I mean, stilled inside, so that the churning of emotions and mental processes which tend to dart about like monkeys in a cage, will become tranquil. One way to do this is: work on a verse from the Shariyat, one which is properly fitted for this occasion. This is a particular treatment that the Shariyat verses are set to words to enable the reader to overcome any kind of difficulty. It can, if you

are willing, attune you to the level of consciousness to which it attains. It is the supreme Shariyat treatment against fear.

The object of contemplation or self-treatment is the raising of consciousness, and the spiritual exercise is the instrument that enables one to do so. This is the reason I’ve brought you to this step—through the actual repeating of some Shariyat verse, etc., until it can become a part of yourself. You will be able to consciously lift your consciousness to the point that troubles are not a part of you.

For example you are now having a slight health problem!

Why not give it a try and ascertain what you can do to regain good health again—for it costs money to be sick—and to be sick isn’t at all pleasant! You can start looking within yourself to find a way out. Try it, thereby, make your own discovery.

I’m trying to point out that the way to handle problems is to rise above them, into a clear area of thought, where one doesn’t see problems as part, but as a whole and can rearrange them accordingly.

This isn’t easy to do when one is upset, worried and fearful of results! I’ve seen things come to a head (crisis), time and time again, and slide past this point because the crisis didn’t exist, except in one’s imagination. What can happen to you? Yes, what can happen to you when you have naught to fear for yourself? Remember the verse in which it is said, “Nothing can harm the real Self, the Self will not die, it cannot be split with a sword, etc!” Once you understand this then nothing in this outer life matters. You can be supreme, above all things, for nothing can touch you. Pride is the only thing which can be hurt in the materialistic world—when this is injured there are great problems, but when it’s set aside so the self can shine forth nothing can harm the individual.

Now you see problem solving is creativity. Creativity is the basic ingredient of solving hidden problems within one’s self. Since you have in yourself the seed of unlimited creativity, if you are conscious of the problem to solve you also have within you the solutions and the means of achieving your goal. Most problems, rather I should say any problem begins in a state of hopeful confusion. Without faith in your ultimate success the problem becomes a frustration.

Whereas a situation is not a problem until you allow it to become perplexing. To bring meaning to the general chaotic beginning of a problem, first search for a generic statement of the problem and then specific statement. Solving a problem is much like writing a poem. Both begin with a feeling of inadequacy. This is part of the preparation stage in problem solving.

Many people today can’t solve problems due to having their imagination stifled in childhood, classroom or growing years. That is the reason many people are completely devoid of thinking or imagination. They can’t and don’t want to think—they feel instead. There are two types of minds: first, the concrete or factual mind—that mind which absorbs facts only, and secondly, that mind which is made up of whimsical materials—the kind which can use imagination. Writers know this and write non-fiction for the first type and fiction for the second type. You can tell how the minds of people are turning because of the number of non-fiction books appearing on shelves, and the disappearing of fiction books.

Problem sensitivity is a prime requisite of the creative person. It is associated with a questioning attitude. By the way, a person who has a questioning mind can never be a religionist for the act of questioning destroys faith.

VARDAN says you must never question, but accept what is given you. So problem solving, like creativity, involves the

theory of games, the laws of chance. Straight logical reasoning is not of the creative process. This is where you begin to tie together all the knowledge I’ve given you in the past letters. You must use that sixth sense, that is, the awareness that a problem exists. The awareness of a problem is only a feeling that one has. It is hard to define, but you approach the problem, and list your feelings with regard to something being amiss.

Then remember the rule that if you understand a problem, it can be solved, and if a problem can be solved you are capable of solving it. A highly creative person loves to solve problems. Not necessarily to find specific answers to specific problems, but a creative person is stimulated by a difficulty.

Hence the desire to solve crossword puzzles, anagrams, etc., for the pleasure derived from this type of problem solving.

I’ll continue with this in the next letter.

More later.

Sincerely, Paul

20. Spiritual Power