11-06-2011, 11:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-07-2011, 02:32 AM by Tenet Nosce.)
I had an enlightening experience today which I think relates to this issue.
As a preface- I will say that I can see the validity of various viewpoints expressed here which appear to be in conflict.
To unity100's point, I have done a fair amount of travel outside the U.S. and can attest to the striking difference between Americans and pretty much every other culture with respect to "respect" in conversation.
Quite paradoxically, while Americans tend to be the most boisterous of their beliefs and the right to speak them freely, they also tend to be the quickest to take offense. We do this by perceiving an "attack" where there is none.
Few things seem to be more offensive to an American than to tell them that they are wrong. Many people treat the word "wrong" as if an expletive and/or insult. In a number of ways, we have taken the idea of free will and applied it to the mental sphere in a very extreme sense.
Even among "spiritual" communities, there is a particular American brand of relativism which has become expressed in a nutshell as "You Create Your Own Reality" or YCYOR. As with all spiritual truths, there exists a twisted- or bastardized- version of it which is ascribed to by a certain percentage of the population.
In this particular case, YCYOR gets twisted into a belief that whatever one believes becomes true- even if it flies directly in the face of Cosmic Law.
Some beliefs are wrong. As a rule, wrong beliefs are rooted in the illusion of separation. Furthermore, it is not an assault to call something for what it is. In other words, your choosing to believe in a flat out falsehood does not ethically require me to entertain such a belief out of a distorted sense of respect. In actuality, to actively withhold the truth from somebody who is demonstrating their misapprehension of it is not a compassionate act. It is a cowardly act.
In truth, those who would feign offense at the drop of a hat do so because deep down they know they are wrong. This is because the deepest part of themselves cannot be lied to, nor can it be fully suppressed. As such, when a person's faulty core belief gets challenged the typical reactions are either of anger and lashing out, or sadness followed by self-deprecation.
Both of these reactions are maladaptive.
When faced with such a perceived threat, it is no wonder when these outbursts and/or withdrawals occur. In the case of YCYOR it is particularly perplexing because, to such a perspective, if a communication is perceived as offensive, then it must actually be offensive, and there is little to be done at that point to convince such a person otherwise.
On the other hand, I can deeply identify with the viewpoint of the mods and others that the intention of this space is to allow seekers to seek. This requires an environment where one feels that it is safe to converse on subjects which are taboo in many outer social circles.
As both an observer and a participant in this forum, I would like to draw attention to the fact that a handful of core individuals appear to be expressing the same conflict in multiple threads. It is both quite perplexing to watch as an observer, and rather easy to get drawn into as a participant.
If I may offer a humble opinion on this matter, it would be for all of us who have become embroiled in this seemingly endless reiteration of communication breakdowns to deeply search within ourselves for the correction which is necessary in order to bring our own mental framework into balance.
If you are one who believes that this problem is the fault of everybody else, and that your own perspective is the "correct" one, then you are part of the problem, and not the solution. If you are one who insists on putting the same mask forward on every issue, then you are by default limiting yourself to a very narrow portion of your being, and in essence, lying to yourself- and others- about who you really are.
You are not "the skeptic" or "the rationalist" or "the believer" or "the mystic" or whatever label you currently perceive yourself to be. You are the One Infinite Creator. You are All Things. This is the Law and the Prophets.
As for myself, I am one who has received much feedback over the years to the effect that I can "come across as arrogant". This has always been a source of confusion to me because, according to my understanding, to be arrogant is to believe oneself to be "better than" others, and I hold no such belief.
When recently faced with the notion of a "cosmic deadline" with respect to certain waypoints of spiritual development, I felt compelled to seek deeply into the heart of the matter. A confluence of catalyst demonstrated to me how this one particular issue was expressing itself in multiple areas of my life.
Indeed, when I had reached the point where the rest of the garbage had been cleared away, this was the last thing remaining. At which point it became obvious to me that this was also the very issue I had been avoiding dealing with for my entire life. Everything else was either downstream from this, or a total distraction.
What it came down to is the realization that I came into this life with an innate ability to channel my Higher Self. The "problem" as it has been playing out, is that I have been largely unaware of this.
Shining the lamp of awareness on my own communication patterns caused me to become aware that I frequently go in and out of this state. even within the same conversation or post. Though I have the ability, I have not learned how to use it consciously, and so in a sense it has been using me.
The problem is this: if/when I go into the state of channeling my Higher Self, and am unaware of it, then I falsely perceive the words to be my own. This causes a certain distortion in the channeling which can be perceived by a change in the timbre of my voice as well as my body language. In the written form, my words will take on a particular flair and I will tend to choose words more for impact, rather than for meaning.
The solution, as I am finding it, is this: if/when I maintain awareness of this state when it comes upon me, then I consciously realize that it is not my idea which is being conveyed, but rather that I am the caretaker of an idea from my Higher Self. As such, this immediately puts me in a state of humility, and I notice that my words no longer come off as offensive to others.
Surely, there is more work to be done on my part to understand this phenomenon, and no doubt I will come to even greater understandings as this new experience continues to unfold.
I would invite all who come across these words to explore what it means to channel their own Higher Self and to find their own understandings, which will certainly be more attuned to each person's particular needs than these mere words.
Adonai.
As a preface- I will say that I can see the validity of various viewpoints expressed here which appear to be in conflict.
To unity100's point, I have done a fair amount of travel outside the U.S. and can attest to the striking difference between Americans and pretty much every other culture with respect to "respect" in conversation.
Quite paradoxically, while Americans tend to be the most boisterous of their beliefs and the right to speak them freely, they also tend to be the quickest to take offense. We do this by perceiving an "attack" where there is none.
Few things seem to be more offensive to an American than to tell them that they are wrong. Many people treat the word "wrong" as if an expletive and/or insult. In a number of ways, we have taken the idea of free will and applied it to the mental sphere in a very extreme sense.
Even among "spiritual" communities, there is a particular American brand of relativism which has become expressed in a nutshell as "You Create Your Own Reality" or YCYOR. As with all spiritual truths, there exists a twisted- or bastardized- version of it which is ascribed to by a certain percentage of the population.
In this particular case, YCYOR gets twisted into a belief that whatever one believes becomes true- even if it flies directly in the face of Cosmic Law.
Some beliefs are wrong. As a rule, wrong beliefs are rooted in the illusion of separation. Furthermore, it is not an assault to call something for what it is. In other words, your choosing to believe in a flat out falsehood does not ethically require me to entertain such a belief out of a distorted sense of respect. In actuality, to actively withhold the truth from somebody who is demonstrating their misapprehension of it is not a compassionate act. It is a cowardly act.
In truth, those who would feign offense at the drop of a hat do so because deep down they know they are wrong. This is because the deepest part of themselves cannot be lied to, nor can it be fully suppressed. As such, when a person's faulty core belief gets challenged the typical reactions are either of anger and lashing out, or sadness followed by self-deprecation.
Both of these reactions are maladaptive.
When faced with such a perceived threat, it is no wonder when these outbursts and/or withdrawals occur. In the case of YCYOR it is particularly perplexing because, to such a perspective, if a communication is perceived as offensive, then it must actually be offensive, and there is little to be done at that point to convince such a person otherwise.
On the other hand, I can deeply identify with the viewpoint of the mods and others that the intention of this space is to allow seekers to seek. This requires an environment where one feels that it is safe to converse on subjects which are taboo in many outer social circles.
As both an observer and a participant in this forum, I would like to draw attention to the fact that a handful of core individuals appear to be expressing the same conflict in multiple threads. It is both quite perplexing to watch as an observer, and rather easy to get drawn into as a participant.
If I may offer a humble opinion on this matter, it would be for all of us who have become embroiled in this seemingly endless reiteration of communication breakdowns to deeply search within ourselves for the correction which is necessary in order to bring our own mental framework into balance.
If you are one who believes that this problem is the fault of everybody else, and that your own perspective is the "correct" one, then you are part of the problem, and not the solution. If you are one who insists on putting the same mask forward on every issue, then you are by default limiting yourself to a very narrow portion of your being, and in essence, lying to yourself- and others- about who you really are.
You are not "the skeptic" or "the rationalist" or "the believer" or "the mystic" or whatever label you currently perceive yourself to be. You are the One Infinite Creator. You are All Things. This is the Law and the Prophets.
As for myself, I am one who has received much feedback over the years to the effect that I can "come across as arrogant". This has always been a source of confusion to me because, according to my understanding, to be arrogant is to believe oneself to be "better than" others, and I hold no such belief.
When recently faced with the notion of a "cosmic deadline" with respect to certain waypoints of spiritual development, I felt compelled to seek deeply into the heart of the matter. A confluence of catalyst demonstrated to me how this one particular issue was expressing itself in multiple areas of my life.
Indeed, when I had reached the point where the rest of the garbage had been cleared away, this was the last thing remaining. At which point it became obvious to me that this was also the very issue I had been avoiding dealing with for my entire life. Everything else was either downstream from this, or a total distraction.
What it came down to is the realization that I came into this life with an innate ability to channel my Higher Self. The "problem" as it has been playing out, is that I have been largely unaware of this.
Shining the lamp of awareness on my own communication patterns caused me to become aware that I frequently go in and out of this state. even within the same conversation or post. Though I have the ability, I have not learned how to use it consciously, and so in a sense it has been using me.
The problem is this: if/when I go into the state of channeling my Higher Self, and am unaware of it, then I falsely perceive the words to be my own. This causes a certain distortion in the channeling which can be perceived by a change in the timbre of my voice as well as my body language. In the written form, my words will take on a particular flair and I will tend to choose words more for impact, rather than for meaning.
The solution, as I am finding it, is this: if/when I maintain awareness of this state when it comes upon me, then I consciously realize that it is not my idea which is being conveyed, but rather that I am the caretaker of an idea from my Higher Self. As such, this immediately puts me in a state of humility, and I notice that my words no longer come off as offensive to others.
Surely, there is more work to be done on my part to understand this phenomenon, and no doubt I will come to even greater understandings as this new experience continues to unfold.
I would invite all who come across these words to explore what it means to channel their own Higher Self and to find their own understandings, which will certainly be more attuned to each person's particular needs than these mere words.
Adonai.
![[+]](https://www.bring4th.org/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png)