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That very thing has been on my mind: How do I make others afraid of me?

sure, have you been making anyone afraid?

i used to hide behind the door and scare my little brother when he walked in the room, so i'm pretty sure that karma seed will come back to me as something terrifying.

i just always start with i must have done something similar to someone else, and it probably was someone i don't think about as effecting my business--like kids, or a partner, or family... so maybe a neighbor or some associate at work no one talks to...

also, what's your motivation? i have to sometimes speak in front of large groups, and i've noticed that whenever i get nervous it's because i'm thinking about myself and not about how i can help people.

As I work with these principles I have begun to look at the fear I feel around cold calling differently:  rather than see it as something that just is, I now wonder what have I done to create the imprint and what can I do to end it.

Any ideas?

[a great humanitarian]

Hi Klynch44,

"I have recently read and thoroughly enjoyed the DC. However the thought that kept crossing my mind - even though I totally believe and understand and know intuitively that the idea of seeds and business karma is true - why are some people rich, who seemingly have never done very nice things or focused on anyone but themselves?"

Thank you for raising this issue. This is a tough one and a universal one. It's something we all do. We're all making judgments about other people. "I like this person, I don't like that person and that person over there - I'm amazed they are still alive."

When we start examining our judgments of other people though, our judgments start to look very shaky, even arbitrary...and sometimes even incredibly narrow-minded. Self-centered.

One of the simple ways to see this is to "put ourselves in someone else's shoes".

Notice how you've come to view Donald Trump in a certain way. Now put yourself in someone else's shoes and imagine how you would view Donald Trump.

See yourself as an employee of one of Donald Trump's casinos. Imagine that you are receiving a decent salary, medical benefits and a decent retirement program.

Imagine that you are able to qualify for a mortgage and buy a house. The first house you've owned.

Now that you have a house, you start taking care of a house. Which means you occasionally pay a plumber to fix something, you occasionally buy a new piece of furniture, you buy a lawnmover or hire the teenage kid next door to mow your lawn...

...all the purchases you make to maintain your house, that money helps support other people. A plumber; the owner and employees of a furniture store; the company that manufactures lawnmowers; the teenage kid next door who is saving money to buy her/his first car...

...and because those people have a bit more income, they too can make a few more purchases...which supports even more people.

In other words, "ripple effects".

In other words, we are all connected.

Let's say you decide to buy a lawnmower. Just look at that one item you purchase.

The store you bought the lawnmower from...it gets more income. Which really means that the owner of the store and all the employees - they get more income.

The company that manufactured the lawnmower - it gets more income. Which really means that the owner of the manufacturing company and all those employees - they get more income.

And let's say that the lawnmower manufacturer is located in the U.S.

Now think of all the parts suppliers to that lawnmower manufacturing company. The lawnmower manufacturing company can continue to place orders for more parts to all their parts suppliers.

Which means the owners and the employees of those parts supplier companies...they get more income.

Let's say that some of the parts supplier companies are in the U.S., others are in Mexico, a few more are in the Phillipines and  a few more are in China.

By buying a single lawnmover, you are supporting a vast number of people, literally around the world.

What is the source of your income in this hypothetical scenario ? The income that allows you to purchase that lawnmower ?

A company that Donald Trump founded and runs.

A company that directly employs maybe 10,000 people.

And each of those 10,000 people employed by Donald Trump's company...

...many of them can buy a house. Hire a plumber. Buy a new piece of furniture. Buy a lawnmover or hire the teenage kid next door to mow the lawn.

The "ripple effects" just got vastly multiplied.

From this perspective, you might be tempted to view Donald Trump as a great humanitarian.

Whoa.

One person views Donald Trump as a brash, arrogant, self-absorbed man who is not very nice to other people. Another person views Donald Trump as a great humanitarian.

Who is correct about Donald Trump ?

hi!

so i started a blog to write about some business topics that i'm interested in from a worldview perspective; if you'd like to follow along and read yourself or add comments, you can check it out at:

http://ericbrinkman.wordpress.com/

thanks!

love,
nyingpo

hi, thanks for this everybody. i just posted a link to it from DCI's facebook page, so hopefully others will get to see and use this information as well. thanks!

Thanks Ian, I appreciate your willingness to talk about it.

I liked what You said about the ego not being inherently good or bad...

So the original question asked was "Why is Donald Trump rich?", which Claran pointed out is the classic "Why do the wicked prosper?" question.....and anybody who has studied karma and emptiness knows that the answer is that there is a time-delay.....that someone who appears in my world to be unkind or selfish while they seem to be getting richer and richer at the same time is just enjoying the current ripenings of old good karma (no doubt great generosity, and possibly in a previous lifetime) and at the same time planting seeds now to experience themselves as dirt-poor in the future.    We know that it takes time for seeds to grow and ripen.   By the way I'm not suggesting that Donald Trump is unkind or selfish- I don't know him and for all I know he's the nicest, greatest person.     I'm just responding to the spirit of the question.

As for your view of the ego, I think it's great if You've found a way to work with the concept that is beneficial to You....  I guess one of the things I'm getting at is that we live in a samsaric cycle....a cycle of unhappiness.....going from happy to bored to unhappy over and over again, eventually ending in the greatest and most horrifying dissapointment: death.....  and we seem to be ok with this....  and the biggest factor keeping us in this cycle is our tragic misunderstanding of the causes of things - and our belief that the things and people we experience in our lives are "out there"...outside of us...that they exist with a nature of their own, without any input from us- completely separate.   ....and worse, we see ourselves as self-existent, we fail to look at our own emptiness or even consider it....and so I'm making the point that I think that it's possible that the ego is perhaps the greatest culprit in reinforcing this view of ourselves...that there is a self-existent "I" here that is separate from others...   and we act constantly, every moment of every day, out of what "I" want and what "I" don't want.    This is the grave mistake that keeps us locked into the cycle. 

Geshe Michael says that on the day that we realize, directly, the true causes of things we will see the lack of an existence of a self-existent "I".    ....and He has said that one of the most important steps to getting to that point is to look closely at how we think we exist, and begin to closely examine our own emptiness....

scott

Hey Noaim, I'm checking up on You.....have You had any luck working with these ideas since this last post?

Hi Joy!   I'm so sorry for the slow response....are You aware of www.lightcenter.tw ??    Jessica Sung and Her staff there are very good teachers of Karmic Management, and they are the ones who host Geshe Michael and take care of all of His events when He comes there.   As a matter of fact I think He may be there in December.   I would recommend contacting LightCenter and finding out more.    Let me know if You need more help!

Hey Dan....sorry for the slow response.    Do You do any Yoga?   There are some very strong teachers in the Toronto area that know Karmic Management very well and can probably hook You up or help You get started.  Let me know if You want to get connected.