Lack VS Scarcity.
Once you understand this difference, it will change your life.
(Keep in mind, though — you need to understand and apply this understanding. Leaving it in the field of ideas will accomplish jack shit)
So, in life, there is lack and there is scarcity. These two things exist. But only one of them will be harmless to your mental health. Can you point out which one? I’ll give you a minute. Scroll down once you’re ready for the answer.
Think of foraging. Even if it’s not your cuppa, imagine it is and follow the metaphor:
What’s the very first step in foraging?
Perhaps some people will say, “identifying the mushrooms/fruits/plants/etc around you so that you don’t pick the wrong thing”. And to that I’ll say… Aye, that’s important, but it ain’t the first step. It’s like the 3rd or 4th, not the 1st. Let’s go even further back in the sequence of events. What happens first?
Maybe some people will guess, “knowing where to go” — and again, that’s important, a place simply having what you want isn’t good enough because maybe it’s polluted by a nearby sewage system or even something as simple as dog pee. Okay, we agree that this step is important, but it ain’t step one either.
Step one is: deciding that you want to forage.
It’s obvious once we put it into words, isn’t it? Without this step, nothing else happens.
Observe that, in order for you to decide “I want to go get X thing”, you’re assuming you don’t have it. If you had it, you wouldn’t be planning to get it. Therefore, you lack this thing. The very word “want” implies lack. When you say “in want of” something, it literally means “lacking”.
So, now I ask: what context are we dealing with? Where is it lacking?
Well, in our foraging example, perhaps it’s lacking in your kitchen. You don’t have the ingredient, and you want it in order to use it. And if it’s a foraged ingredient, it’s definitely abundant where you live; Otherwise, you wouldn’t forage it, you’d buy it instead (imported from somewhere else).
So, you see, lack is a lot more temporary than scarcity. Something could be lacking in your kitchen, but present in huge amounts just 5 minutes down the road. Once you go there, get it, and bring it to your kitchen, that’s it: the lack is gone. The lack was useful for a moment, so that you could notice the need to go foraging.
This is the part where I say “gotcha”, in case you thought I was going where manifestation coaches usually go with this.
Lack is positive. Lack is your friend.
We allow ourselves to be manipulated into silence and complacency in the context of injustice because we misunderstand lack.
You see, this is my biggest pet peeve with manifestation coaches: they are (accidentally, and not intentionally, I HOPE) enabling a whole host of problems because they refuse to take an objective look at the idea of “lack”. Instead, they give in completely to the first emotional reaction, say it’s “bad”, and give it no second thought.
I mean, sure, emotional impulses (or “feminine energy”, if you will) are an important guiding light in life; but so is critical thinking (or “masculine energy”) if we don’t wanna fall for cult after cult, after cult…
Understand this, once and for all: lack isn’t a negative vibe. It’s just information. It’s telling you, “hey, you’re missing this thing. Go get some of this thing”. If you ignore it because it’s “negative uwu” and focus your attention away from the lack, what do you think is gonna happen? You’ll create scarcity where it wouldn’t need to exist, that’s what.
Scarcity is when something is at a premium. It’s not only lacking, it takes lack to a whole new level. And here’s the uncomfortable truth about scarcity: more often than not, it’s fabricated.
Ever heard of how diamonds are only expensive because of a deliberate move to keep supply low (because of a monopoly) and demand high (with all the hype around engagement rings and other “traditional” jewellery)? Well, that’s more or less what we do, on a much smaller level (but still damaging), when we nurture an irrational negative reaction to lack. Instead of admitting, “okay, I lack this thing. Am I sure there isn’t anywhere I can get it near me?”… We jump straight to, “oh god, I lack this thing. That means I’ll never find it. Woe is me”.
It’s a hell of our own making.
This is not to say there isn’t natural scarcity in the world — yes, it exists — but that’s not the kind of scarcity we react to, is it? I mean, I don’t know when I last despaired because I couldn’t find any Uranium nearby. Probably never.
On the other hand, I have despaired many times about the scarcity of love and kindness around me. Except… I didn’t realise it at the time, but this scarcity was fabricated. I created it! I turned the lack of love and kindness around me (in the family I knew, among the people I knew) into scarcity (as if the whole entire several billion people on the planet were just like my family). It’s ridiculous to turn lack into scarcity before checking the facts; And yet, we fall for this bad habit all the time.
It’s as if I wanted dandelion root and started despairing because nobody is selling it near me, oh no, I’ll have to import it online… But wait! That’s freaking dandelion. It’s not sylphium, for god’s sake. It’s dandelion. There’s some growing on my lawn, if I just care to walk there and pick it up.
Maybe some people who are “keen on manifestation” are laughing at what I just said, because it’s obvious, and they agree, and already know it… Yeah, but… If they already knew it so well, why is it that so many of these people get all jealous of my spiritual path when we’re talking? Jealousy is a byproduct of a scarcity mindset — it assumes that just because you don’t have something, and someone else has it, oh no, oh gods, that’s it, that’s the end of it, you’re the only possible person who doesn’t have it and/or the person you’re envying is the only person on the whole entire planet who has it.
Can you see how stupid it sounds when I spell it out like that?
Another common mistake I see “spiritual, wiser-than-thou” people making on the internet is insisting that there’s Only One Way to learn the life lesson they’re teaching, or Only One Truth about [insert philosophical question here].
Ahemmmm *clears throat*
That’s a scarcity mindset too, susan. Why are you assuming all out of a sudden that there’s only one insert-thing-here? Where’s this scarcity coming from? Certainly not facts.
So, this was today’s PSA. Stop being afraid of lack: it simply lets you know that a situation isn’t good enough, and you deserve better, and there’s probably a way to FIND something better just around the corner. Scarcity, on the other hand, will take you to the dark side of the force if you allow it to control your life. We don’t love that. Stop it and get some help.
