Why some problems persist no matter what you try.

Which of these apply to you?

1. You have poured a lot of resources and tried just about everything to solve a problem but it persists like you’ve done nothing.
2. You have been fired many times but have no idea why. You believed you gave it your all. Why does this keep happening?
3. Opportunities fizzle out at the last possible moment. It is a pattern you have noticed. Everything looks good and promising. It’s like things are going to be different this time around… and then something small and inexplicable causes everything to collapse.
4. Your finances just can’t seem to grow above a certain level. When you have saved and are excited about the progress, an unexpected disaster pops up and devours the increase. You end up back to square one.
5. Different family members and relatives across generations are beset by similar crises. For example, men in the family die when they reach a certain age or in a similar fashion. Marriages do not last. Despite earning well, people can’t seem to make ends meet.

Catastrophes happen to us all at one time or another. However, when they happen with regularity and in such quick succession, they point to something bigger and more pervasive. It is not that you’re an unlucky person. There is a reason for that persistent misfortune. The causes are not natural. They are spiritual.

The three concentric circles model.

Your problems fall into one of three categories. Where they are located determines whether or not you can fix them at all and the ease with which you can do so.

Think of three circles one nested inside the other. Geometry calls such structures concentric circles. The smallest inner circle represents what you know. Not only do you know what you know, you also know that you know it. The second middle circle contains what you know you don’t know. For example, a medical doctor who is slapped with a lawsuit knows he has a legal problem. He also knows that he does not know how to solve a complex legal problem. That is, he knows what he doesn’t know. Falling within the third circle is what you’re totally clueless even exists. You don’t know what you don’t know.

A problem that falls within the first smallest circle should be possible for you to solve. You have the expertise to do so. You’re also aware that you do. You cannot solve a problem that sits in the second middle circle because you do not have the expertise to do so. What’s important is that you know you do not have such capability. That is why you go out to hire a professional with the requisite skills. All things equal, you can solve a problem that sits in the first circle of what you know that you know. You can also fix a problem that sits in the second circle because you can identify what it is and then bring in the right set of skills to solve it.

A difficulty that sits in the largest circle presents a unique challenge. You are totally clueless about the cause of such a problem. You see a mess but can’t imagine what it is caused by. All attempts are fruitless. The solution sits in your blind spot. You cannot fix what you don’t even know is there.

You take more spiritual actions than you take natural actions.

Here is the first truth many people are not aware of that will completely change how you see the world. As a human you’re a spiritual being that lives in a physical packaging called the natural body. You are made up of two components, natural matter and spiritual matter. Your body is not who you are. Your true being, your essence, is spiritual. It is the spiritual that gives life to the natural. You experience the natural world through your natural senses. You experience your spiritual world through your spiritual senses.

The problem is we live in a world that celebrates the natural and ignores the spiritual. For this reason, our spiritual senses are weak because they have not been exercised as much. For many people, such knowledge sits in the third circle of what they’re not aware even exists. That is, they do not know that they don’t know.

For example, for a person who can’t read braille, the dots on a piece of paper mean absolutely nothing. However, for a blind person who has been reading braille for years, the dots represent so much more. The senses in her fingers are trained to decipher the meaning in the dots. For you who can’t read braille, the dots mean zilch. Why? The lack of exposure and practice. In the same way, blind people hear more things and their sense of smell is more discerning because they have trained themselves to use these senses better.

What’s the point? That you can’t sense it does not mean it is not there. There is a lot happening around you that you aren’t aware of and don’t even know you don’t know.

Spiritual is that which is not physical and cannot be perceived through the natural senses. In the Belief-Action Spiral model replicated below, everything that comes before Actions is spiritual. This is the most basic explanation. The spiritual influences the natural and the natural impacts the spiritual. They work together.

Beliefs ⇒ Mindset ⇒ Thoughts ⇒ Feelings ⇒ Actions ⇒ Results

Note also that in the same way that you have the natural world of different living organisms around you, you also have another world with invisible spiritual beings all around you. This sounds crazy when you hear it for the first time. Don’t forget, though, that you were equally surprised when you first heard that the earth is not flat but round. The experience of widening your horizons by shifting knowledge is often accompanied by a sense of amazement.

As a spiritual being with a natural body, you live simultaneously in the natural world and the spiritual world.

It may sound strange that you live in two worlds at the same time but this is not a unique concept. You’re already intimately familiar with it. A tree lives in the “unseen” world below the surface of the ground and the seen world above the surface of the ground. The life of the stem, the branches and the leaves that you see above the surface, is determined by what happens in the unseen realm below the ground. Think of the root system as the “spiritual” component of the tree and what you see above ground as the natural component. You already know that the source of a tree’s life is the root system.

In the same way, your spiritual component is the seat of your life. You also know that a successful tree harnesses the power of both components, not just the natural part.

Therefore, your visible reality is not only shaped by the natural actions you take. It is disproportionately determined by the spiritual actions you take each and every day. You take far more spiritual actions than you take natural actions.

The critical question is whether the actions you take bring you closer to, or away from, the goals that are important to you. But how would you know that?

This is where universal principles come into the picture.

Universal principles: the path to the results you want.

Universal principles are the absolute truth of how creation operates. They promise a specific outcome if you take a particular set of actions. What you may not know is that there are two classes of principles. One class regulates how the natural world operates. The other controls the spiritual world. Most people confuse them. They apply universal principles of the natural world in matters that are spiritual, and vice versa. This is a recipe for shipwreck. You won’t ever get the results they promise!

You take the action and the outcome is shaped by applicable principles. It is not important who the actions are taken by. What matters is whether they align with the truth of the principles or not. If they do, the results will be successful. If not, the actions will end in failure. Taking action is the first step. What really dictates success or failure is the compliance of the actions with the requirements laid out by the principles. 

Let’s look at gravity, an example of a spiritual principle that governs the natural world. The planets are held in their orbits by gravitational forces. Because the principles are so precise and unchanging, the distances can be calculated with incredible precision. This is how we know how long the earth takes to revolve around the sun or the earth rotates around its axis. These are possible because of the fixity of the principles that govern them. They have been the same for eons.  

Since universal principles never change, it is not possible to cheat them. Aeroplanes fly because they are in compliance with gravity, not operating against it. Any attempt to violate a principle meets with unpleasant consequences. That the results sometimes take time to be noticeable does not change this truth. If you neither exercise nor eat right, your health will deteriorate. If you violate a principle, you will pay the price, sooner or later.

If you break a human law, you can get away with it if you do not get caught. That loophole does not exist when it comes to universal principles. They are totally unyielding.

What explains such persistent problems?

So far we have identified two truths that may have been in the third circle of what you didn’t know and didn’t know that you didn’t know. The knowledge now sits in the second circle of what you know and also know you know very little about. The first is that being a spiritual being with a natural body means you live in the seen natural realm and the unseen spiritual world at the same time. The second is that it is universal principles that determine whether your actions result in success or failure. If you want your recipe to turn out right as a delicious meal, observe applicable principles. If you want your relationships to prosper, find out what the core principles are and align with the truths they prescribe.

The conclusion

You are stuck because the knowledge required to break through, is situated in the third circle of what you’re not aware exists. This is what you don’t know and don’t even know you don’t know. The purpose of this article was to make you aware of this knowledge. My hope is to bring it into the second circle of what you don’t know but are now aware you don’t know. It is your responsibility to go out there and seek a deeper understanding of how these principles work. If you do, you will be handsomely rewarded.

The assumption that your life experiences were determined only by the natural actions you took is false. You now know that your spiritual actions play a far more dominant role. Make a decision to learn more about how the spiritual world works. As you do, the solutions that have evaded you will move from the third circle to the second and even to the first.

Focus on learning how to make sure you take the right spiritual actions. Also, make sure that your actions, both natural and spiritual, are aligned with applicable universal principles. This is how you will get the breakthroughs that you have been striving for.

Make sure your beliefs are based on the truth of how principles work. Similarly, ensure that your actions are based on what those principles stipulate.

Principles are the universal truths of how the entire universe operates. It is because of their predictability that scientists can launch spacecrafts to far away planets. It is also because of their fixity that the tiny cellular processes inside our cells occur with absolute precision day in and day out, decade after decade.