The next higher level of cause and effect is interpretation -- that is, interpretation of the whole configuration of your life, which determines your interpretation of individual events. Interpretation is the mechanism by which we decide what anything MEANS to us. That decision, of course, determines what conclusions or beliefs we draw from our experience, what orientations we hold about any experience, what our intentions should be in the midst of experience, and what, specifically, we feel we should do.
For example, if you hit a major stumbling block in pursuing a plan, do you interpret it as a healthy challenge that only makes the goal more worthwhile, or a "sign from God" that you should give up? When you get a poor review at work, do you interpret it as welcome assistance in self-improvement, or proof that you are misunderstood? As you see, choices of interpretation can profoundly influence our beliefs, attitude, motivations, and actions.
This is very powerful stuff. When you don't have a problem of interpretation, you don't have a problem of attitude, you don't have a problem of belief, you don't have a problem of intention, you don't have a problem in your actions. And therefore, your effects are not problematical. All the levels are consistently beautiful, because like begets like. Each higher level spawned other causes, similar to itself, on the levels below.
Stages of Growth | Cause and Effect | Levels of Practice
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