Lessons from Harry Potter for These Tumultuous and Transitional Times: Lesson 9

It’s Dudley’s eleventh birthday, and he’s counted the presents waiting for him, discovering there are just a few less than his prior birthday. Seeing her son about to have a full-on tantrum, Petunia Dursley promises to buy him two more presents when they take him out to celebrate, which appeases him—for the moment. What a contrast Dudley’s behavior is with Harry’s, when Harry receives his few presents at his first Christmas at Hogwarts.

How much is enough? Dudley never had enough. Harry didn’t concern himself overmuch about this; he did the best he could with the what-is of his life and moments. The answer to how much is enough is as individual as we are. And enough isn’t just about quantity, but is also about quality. Dudley received all manner of expensive gifts that he valued differently. Many were broken quite soon after he received them then discarded in the extra bedroom that held so much of his toys and so forth, having received over the years more than his own bedroom could contain. He could have shared these with Harry, but he didn’t.

Dudley believed he was entitled to more and more and more—very much a Status Quo Tick-Tock mindset. That he held little to no genuine appreciation for each item, and practiced waste, and had little to no genuine appreciation for the thought and cost that went into each purchase never disturbed him…because he believed he was entitled, as his parents and others of the same mindset had encouraged him to feel.

Harry, on the other hand, received gifts of true value and appreciated them as such: simple gifts that declared friendship—the biggest gift of all, as he’d never had friends before, much less people who were kind to him in his life (once he went to live with the Dursleys, that is); the gift of a knitted sweater with his initial on it, created specifically for him, one that all the Weasley children received, thereby establishing his place in their family and hearts; and a cloak of tremendous power that once was his father’s, which connected him to his father, mother, and heritage in deeply meaningful ways.

Status Quo Tick-Tock promotes rampant, mindless consumerism. It promotes wastefulness and creation of waste. It promotes feeling less if you aren’t able to purchase and consume as much as some. In the mindset of SQTT, unless you participate in this way, you’re deemed not very worthy or valuable, at least not to the SQTT system. To the Earth and The One Source and celestial beings that assist you, when you practice conscious awareness about this, you’re like the beautiful little flower growing near or within the junkyard or trash heap, at the start, that is. Eventually, you find yourself growing and flourishing in a beautiful field with other flowers, grasses, and trees.

We are not supposed to go without. Going without isn’t holy, not in a Universe of Infinite Abundance. We are meant to have enough that supports our having experiences we want or need, but from a deeper understanding of usage, re-usage, and recycling of the energy involved in this. We practice this well when we appreciate deeply everything that comes to us or ever did, especially because we understand the mystery and magic of the “tangible” coming to us from the field of the intangible—the field of Infinite Possibility we come from and exist within, as soon as we shed any belief that says we don’t, or that we’re limited. If everything in the Universe is yours to use, do you have to have it where you live, cluttering the space and gathering dust?

Dudley’s over-consumption mindset affected him in all manner of ways over time, whereas Harry stayed fleet of foot and mind. Dudley believed his value and worth were established by how much he had. Harry didn’t worry about his value and worth. Instead, he valued and knew the worth of what he had and had access to, revealed to him or underscored by his deep appreciation. Yes, he did discover his parents’ vault at Gringott’s Bank made him wealthy, but he told no one. He didn’t see it as anything that made him better than anyone else, nor did he flaunt it in any way. What he did was use it to meet his needs and some wants for the pleasure of the experiences, and to share with others in a non-infringing way. He used his wealth—and only as he really needed to—rather than let his wealth use him, just as he did in every aspect of his life.

Dudley suffered from a typical SQTT malady: self-importance. Harry, though wealthier in every possible sense, never did, even when he was aware of his history and his destiny as The Chosen One. He just got on with his life, faced and met his challenges as best he could, learned from his mistakes, followed through with his caring about others, and focused on what was important.

If you find yourself succumbing to the SQTT malady of self-importance, pause—maybe walk in nature, or watch birds from your window, or get up close to a flower and really look at it with a soft mind and energy. Do something that heals you of this malady and returns you to the humbleness of belonging to something vast and magical that has no need for self-importance, just significance.