Thousands of years ago, in the days of Aristotle, people ardently believed that the planets and the sun revolved around the earth. This belief was foundational to civilization. Astronomy, as a science - the study of the planets' and the sun's revolutions around earth - was born.
Centuries later, Copernicus and Galileo challenged Aristotle's view of the world and astronomy. They discovered and introduced the theory that all planets, including earth, actually revolve around the sun. This theory was denounced and Galileo almost burned at the stake because of its revolutionary view. Today, of course, we know that Copernicus and Galileo were right.
Why did it take so long for us to find the right answer? Why didn't other astronomers discover this long before Copernicus and Galileo? The reason those astronomers couldn't find the right answer was because their definition of astronomy precluded them from seeing it. They were looking for the answer through the wrong lens, the wrong paradigm. As long as they looked through that lens or paradigm, they would never find the solution.
Consider the problems we are facing today — both as a society and in our individual lives. How many people do you know who regularly feel they don't have enough money or time or energy? Overwhelm, exhaustion, and excessive busy-ness are hallmarks or even "honor badges" in our society, especially in the homes of two-career couples. The rates of suicide and depression are at all-time highs — as are levels of debt — in much of the world. A growing percentage of our population lives in poverty while, simultaneously, the level of monetary wealth on this planet is unprecedented.
We talk about the problem and we spend money on solving the problem, yet we seem to be making little progress toward a lasting solution. Perhaps it is because we are taking the wrong approach. Much like the astronomers before Copernicus and Galileo, perhaps we are viewing the problem with the wrong paradigm. Could it be that the very lens through which we are looking at the problem prevents us from seeing the solution?
Paul Zane Pilzer talks of this (as well as the ancient problems of astronomy mentioned above) in his book Unlimited Wealth - The Theory and Practice of Economic Alchemy. He discusses the "lens" or "paradigm" currently operative in economics. Classically and historically, economics is defined as the study of scarce resources and the science of economics is the distribution and allocation of earth's scarce resources.
Notice that the paradigm of economics is one of scarcity. In truth, scarcity is the dominant paradigm of our society and culture. But what if this understanding of economics and life is just like the Aristotelian view of astronomy? What if our "scarcity lens" actually prevents us from finding the solutions to the problems in our personal and collective every day lives?
What if the solution requires that we take another approach and look through another lens — one as revolutionary as the theory of Copernicus and Galileo centuries ago? What if we replaced scarcity with abundance as the pre-supposed constant in our formulas for economics and life?
What if, instead of scarcity, there is actually unlimited abundance available to all of us? What if the abundance you need — in any area of your life, including financial — is already available to you? You don't have to create it, compete for it, hoard it, fear losing it, or work hard for it. Instead, all you have to do is access it.
What if accessing abundance instead of fixing scarcity is the approach that will make our lives — and the lives of every man, woman, and child — abundant and fulfilling?
It is time for us to challenge what has become as much the bedrock of our lives and civilization as Aristotle's view was thousands of years ago. Our definitions and paradigms for life have precluded us from finding the answer — the abundance — we have sought and continue to seek.
