A viewer asks: “This same dynamic of belonging would seem to apply to a lot of entitlement beliefs fostered by other human relationships. For example, two people agree to a business partnership to be shared “50/50.” The rational expectation is that both will be 50% responsible for making the business successful. But the reality is often that one partner will do the lion’s share, and even worse, have to actually compensate for the lack of action or even deleterious actions on the part of the other partner. Succeeding in SPITE of the other partner in fact. Yet, that deadweight partner by mere dint of the original agreement and being part of the enterprise in their head, will feel entitled to HALF, in spite of the fact they contributed nothing or next to nothing to the success of the operation, and may even be a detriment to it. We see this same dynamic often when a parent dies. A friend of mine was forced to liquidate the family sign business even though he ran it with his father for decades, was promised it in fact, but because there was a flaw in the will, the sister got half when he died, and immediately ordered its liquidation. She knew the business was promised to her brother but felt entitled to it nevertheless. Can Creator comment? Where does this unearned-yet-expected entitlement notion, which seems to be a major foundation of the evil mind, have its origin, and how is it best overcome?”

These examples show levels of insensitivity, the inability to think in a loving way towards others, and valuing the self and what serves the self above others involved in the situation. This is non-divine and is the hallmark of disconnection—a separation from the divine path in some respect where one seeks elevation over others without regard to their diminishment. There needs to be fair play and fairness, and ideally a sharing in a way that elevates both similarly and not at the expense of one another. That would be a divine and equitable solution that would have no karmic consequences that are negative. It would be harmonious and in balance. This is what nature seeks to achieve always and anything causing an imbalance will create a karmic future consequence demanding restitution. In family dynamics there is often karmic business afoot where past life obligations, failures, and shortcomings carry over into a new incarnation with the same family group who, by virtue of those karmic potentials, will end up in a similar dilemma and will have an opportunity to do better in reassigning the energies and solving the problems in a more equitable fashion and thereby heal the prior imbalance. If that does not happen, it will aggravate and add to the karmic energies, and those potentials will grow in intensity and will be certain to circle around to those same individuals in the future, and things will be worse and more difficult to heal in the next go‑round because the problem will grow, and that severity diminishes the likelihood of a successful healing. Most people are hugely burdened by such buildup of karma over the ages from many unhealed trials and tribulations. This is why life is so very difficult and often tragic, and why so many burn out and die young and have miserable lives of suffering. It is the karmic penalties showing up to take their toll, demanding a repayment they can only offer through their lifeblood when everything else is exhausted, and they will struggle and go under. The entitlement comes from expectations that are often seen with a distorted lens when there is a diminishment of love energy and people are not in a vibration of loving kindness to begin with. They will be more reserved, dispassionate, once removed, and unfeeling about others involved in a transaction. That will make it more likely for them to act selfishly if they can get away with it and will see themselves as a shrewd business person or having bested the other party by outsmarting them in some way and gaining the advantage, and walking away with the better end of the bargain. All such thinking is non-divine and will diminish the soul and will create negative karma for the person involved taking advantage of another. There is a fine line between using one’s talent and ability to excel and outcompete someone else, and taking advantage where you gain not by virtue of your abilities and contributions, but through, in effect, manipulating things to take something away from another through a kind of calculating manipulation to gain the upper hand through subterfuge or having some special advantage that makes it an unfair competition. There are many such circumstances that come along in life that tempt people to make a misstep because they know they can get away with it. This is always a mistake and in a divine perspective is not rational, but to the conventional perspective of rational thinking would very much be considered a rational choice. This is the flaw in the followers of Ayn Rand with objectivism, that what is best in outcome may not serve the soul if it comes as a result of diminishing others. In a world of scarcity and harsh conditions where life is fragile, many compromises occur out of seeming necessity. This is the purpose of living the way you are in the world you inhabit. It forces such choices on you. This is a kind of test to see how much you can show compassion for others and fairness and giving from the heart when it is not to your advantage to do so, and even greatly inconvenient, but the higher and best thing to do to achieve fairness in the outcome—that is a divine perspective and standard most will not meet very often in their doings. This is why human existence matters and needs to be experienced and absorbed into the awareness, with all of its failings and imperfections as an experience base. In knowing how to fail, one learns how to succeed.