Scarcity: It's a Worn-out Game

By Pamela Ziemann

What childhood games did you play when you were growing up? One of my favorites was called “Spoons.” I won almost every time.

It’s a fast paced card game where at a certain point everyone grabs a spoon from the middle of the table. Trouble is, there aren’t enough spoons for everyone. The player who doesn’t act fast enough, doesn’t get a spoon and has to leave the game. If you get a spoon, you’re safe and can stay another round.

Thirty-five years later, I had a chance to play the game again. Taking my familiar position, leaning forward, my eyes darting between my cards and the spoons, the game begins. The cards are quickly passed until someone gets four of a kind allowing him to pick up a spoon. That’s your clue to grab a spoon too, before the last one is gone. As much as I like the speed and focused attention it requires, it just wasn’t as much fun this time. My niece was the first “loser” and had to leave the table. I heard my inner voice, “Hey, wait a minute, I liked playing with her.” But this desperate need to win returned and one by one I eliminated each of my fellow players. I had the golden spoon, but no one was applauding. They made some funny remarks and went into the kitchen to have some cake. I sat at the table, realizing I’d been living a lot of my life like that game of Spoons. Grasping for what I thought would save me and feeling a bit let down when I got it. I could see how many of my actions had been motivated by a feeling of scarcity. Not a pretty sight… for anyone.

Since taking The Avatar Course, I have a reference point for what true cooperation feels like. When I work with people toward a mutual goal, it’s reassuring knowing everyone will win in the end. It’s not one person trying to get their piece of the pie, but everyone working together to create a bigger pie. Harry Palmer quotes in Love Precious Humanity, “Enlightened beings do not create out of fear or need, but out of the sheer delight of sharing and evolving.” And it’s not just a quote, it’s the energy I feel from him and his desire for our planet.

It reminds me of a Chinese tale you may have heard. A curious man asks if he can visit heaven and hell. When he reaches hell, he’s amazed to find people sitting around a huge banquet table. The finest foods are piled high on the table. “What a feast! Perhaps hell isn’t so bad after all,” he thinks. Then he looks more closely at the people. They are all starving. You see, each one had been given chopsticks that were three feet long! There was no way they could carry the food to their mouths with these long chopsticks. No one could eat a bite. What a hell indeed, to sit so close to a banquet and yet be unable to taste even a bite. Then the man is taken to heaven where he sees the same banquet, only this time people are using their extra-long chopsticks to feed each other.

Spoons or chopsticks; whether we live in scarcity or abundance, it seems to me that reaching out and opening up to other people is the key to more happiness, abundance and security.

If you’d like to join the feast and enjoy more of life, I invite you to make your reservations for the next Avatar Course. There’s plenty for everyone.

Pamela Ziemann, Seattle, WA

 

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