“Complacency is not your friend. When you become complacent you turn yourself off. You begin to think that calmness is a way of life. You forget that the nature of life is chaotic change and then a season of calm, but then the storms kick in again. It’s not personal – it’s simply the cycle of life.” Carolyn Myss
We live in a human world of competition in which Greed, Violence and Corruption are the expected norms. Krisnamurti stated, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Choice is the absolute power we all have. We can change the world tomorrow if we choose to. So, why don’t we choose? The current time is one of the most pivotal and amazing points in human history, if we could but open out eyes and recognize what is happening around the world. The current Covid-19 crisis has awakened us up to the knowledge that this world is so connected, that anything happening in what was once a far-flung place can now influence our lives within days. Choices made in one place are now affecting the whole system. I am not talking about external choices, like should I have a regular or latte coffee, or buy this car over that car. The crucial choices we make are the Internal (inner-world) choices that define who we are. Do you recognize and know your true values such that you act in accordance with those values with integrity? Or, do you crumple at the first sign of discord and join with the crowd? Does how you live show principles of some kind of spirituality that shows kindness and compassion that empowers others? Are you aware and reflective of all you do and say – that is to be conscious or everything you do? When you are an awake and conscious person, you make choices that help others and empowers them. If you have a vision of what you want but make choices simply to not ‘rock-the-boat’ then you disempower yourself, and by default others.
We begin to Recondition Ourselves by seeing alternative perspectives for ourselves even if we cannot directly change the circumstances in which we live (see earlier posts about Reconditioning Ourselves). We disempower ourselves when we stay with excuses borne out of Fear, Stress, and a need for money. There is a right way that you internally feel is the correct path for you and then there are other ways.
Good and Evil: There are literally tomes written about this topic, so I’ll keep it simple. Good is when your deepest intuitive conscience tells you it is so – don’t need to look any further. If you are truly honest and understand your deepest feelings you will know what is the ‘right’ thing to do. Evil is simply when you use aware and conscious intent to do harm of any kind for any reason. Of course, there is a continuum, but the fine line would seem clear. When you make a conscious choice, you know if it is for the highest good or for some egoic satisfaction all the way to demon-like destruction of life. Some gurus call this a truth, but we negotiate the truth with reason and logic all the time. Think of the reasons you make not to make a choice that empowers people instead of satisfying some ego desire or ego need for security. Good limits your choices since it usually only has one real option. Evil has so many more options since we can reason to not do the ‘right’ thing in so many ingenious ways. Every choice we make is a choice between Light and Darkness. A spot of darkness in an illuminated arena is insignificant, but a single small candle in a dark auditorium is clearly visible – be that light in changing the world, your choices do matter. Less of good and evil and back to doing the ‘right’ thing. Clear cutting down a forest for economic benefit versus selective cutting of some trees, which is more expensive, to allow the forest ecosystem to thrive is a clear ‘right’ providing you can look at the overall benefit versus just making money. Sadly, the acquisition of power and money seems to dominate our world regardless of whether it actually helps life thrive overall.
We can choose to react with anger energy and create conflict at things going on in the world that merely continues more conflict. OR we can respond with reflective energy that creates a space for forgiveness and peaceful solutions that will work. That is a choice – react angrily or respond compassionately – there is no in-between. It is either victimhood or creativity. The core of everything is connection and oneness, not separation and fragmented systems.
Is it fair? is it right? is it just? We think through sociotype tags and then apply judgments to those tags. Being aware and awakened means to be conscious of one’s beliefs (see earlier post The role of Limiting Beliefs and Empowering Beliefs 1 – Becoming Empowered through Metacognition). We are obsessed with labels that hold a myriad number of judgmental values with them. So many are afraid of what others think about them. Even free speech is now about what is acceptable to say, which is not freedom to say what you think. I find it odd that strangers will happily divulge their life history and everything negative that has happened to them – to get sympathy or attention? Release the victim mentality and in demanding who is responsible for this suffering and what you feel you are owed because of going through a negative experience? I see so many lawsuits being run all over the world to prevent corporations and businesses doing this and that that cause harm. Yet, how often do we take the blame through acquiescing to what is happening through the choice to do so because it is easier to do so. After all, we are but only a drop in the ocean, but as I have quoted from David Mitchell (Could Atlas), What is an ocean but a multitude of drops. Imagine all the drops making the ‘right’ decision for supporting life before money.
Most gurus say the same thing about our decisions and choices and I will sum it up all up here. This is especially true these days in how we use information. Is the information empowering or controlling? Is it Love based or Fear based? Is it integrative or disconnecting? Is it positive or negative? The bottom line is, does the information work for you to enhance your self-understanding and empowering of yourself and speaks to your heart. Anything else is control outside of self. If information gives you anger, fear and sadness, it is OK to observe these emotions but not to linger in them. Look for information that promotes hope, happiness and Love. It is important to recognize and look at all the negativity in your thoughts and to understand where these negative thoughts come from – this is the shadow aspect of you that spiritual teachers and psychologists like Jung often talk about. Once you can recognize the shadow side you can release it and be in a place where you can focus on the positive thoughts that lift up your life and thinking to help you make life-affirming choices that empowers others. Then, we can begin to live a life of freedom, non-conformity, respect, and real equity within communities that thrive, not just survive.
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