Zachary
06-02-2015, 09:55 AM
How many of us have treated some differently due to perceived expectations of a person based on their past behavior? You get to know someone, you collect conscious and subconscious data/feelings on/towards a certain person. Perhaps they are good thoughts and feelings, perhaps they aren't; maybe they are rather neutral feelings. You may perceive blockages in a certain person, how do you feel about this? You may seem to notice certain patterns of behavior within a certain person...you then might even step into the realm of expecting or projecting thought forms or ideas of what you perceive to be coming from a certain person based on your observations of past behaviors. Our emotions also play a role in this. Over time you may even develop a feeling of subtle judgment towards a person. Perhaps even a subtle sense of hopelessness or even making a deity of a certain person, in your mind, for their wisdom; or rather, what you perceive as wisdom.
I feel when we begin to think we truly know or understand another person based on our past experiences with them, we step into "dangerous territory", we step into the realm of entertaining our own thought projections. We fail to see how infinitely complex each soul is and that in each moment that soul is different than he/she was moments before..however subtle...however seemingly unnoticeable. I feel that when we begin to treat someone different based on what we think is true about a person or what we think is right for a person to hear/experience based on how we have perceived their actions in the past we begin to step into the realm of entertaining our own thought projections and expectations and perhaps even subtle judgments. Is this Unconditional Love?
I have caught myself doing this before. It is something though, I strive to avoid. Especially being someone with a very unique set of karmic/mental distortions in which I have had some difficulty finding people to relate to about. To me Unconditional Love is the ability to fully accept and see the highest potential in a person, in the moment, regardless of how you feel about them based on past events, regardless of what you expect or project in your mind- things you perceive they are going through. I think it is dangerous territory to begin to entertain these thoughts and I think we then step into the illusion of short-shortsightedness. No one is their past...if they were they wouldn't ever change. We are all constantly changing and evolving in our own unique way, even if it doesn't seem so externally. However small the changes are, they are there, existing in every moment.
Unconditional Love doesn't project, expect or judge subtly. Unconditional Love doesn't react with emotions of distaste towards anothers expression. Unconditional Love seeks to release such thoughts and feelings by seeing them as clearly and fully possible and "understanding" them within ones own mind. Unconditional Love, to me, is striving for a clear, fresh perspective in every moment. A FULLY accepting perspective. Do you fully accept your neighbors total being/expression or do you just think you do? How much do projections or things you think you know about someone play into how you treat them, think of them, or feel emotionally toward them?
On top of all that, considering the various karmic experiences we bring into our current lives... Things perhaps we are balancing from another life, or things we chose in this life to give ourselves a little challenge (or a big challenge): We cannot truly know anothers challenges down to the details they experience. Each soul is infinitely complex and mysterious. I desire to see this and accept this, myself. Everyone was brought up a certain way with their own unique expressions and distortions that developed from childhood till now. What we bring to this life karmically, what our parents teach us, how we we treated as a youngster, how we have interpreted it all. Even our genetic/racial distortions/memory can play into this more than we think/see. Its good to understand the limits of our perception and consider EVERYONE has limits to their perception, and biases that they don't see. We are not here to "know" another, we are here to "know" ourselves. How much can we truly know another and what their going through? I think the best we can do is drop any projections or things we think we know about another and seek to Love and accept them with all biases aside. Since we are all so complex, and coming from many different backgrounds and biases, both as a soul and as a the unique expression we are in this life, it is humbling to accept and understand the limits of our perception and seek to Love others Unbiased, Un-expecting, and accept the Infinite and Eternal mystery that is every single soul. A humbling experience indeed.
I feel when we begin to think we truly know or understand another person based on our past experiences with them, we step into "dangerous territory", we step into the realm of entertaining our own thought projections. We fail to see how infinitely complex each soul is and that in each moment that soul is different than he/she was moments before..however subtle...however seemingly unnoticeable. I feel that when we begin to treat someone different based on what we think is true about a person or what we think is right for a person to hear/experience based on how we have perceived their actions in the past we begin to step into the realm of entertaining our own thought projections and expectations and perhaps even subtle judgments. Is this Unconditional Love?
I have caught myself doing this before. It is something though, I strive to avoid. Especially being someone with a very unique set of karmic/mental distortions in which I have had some difficulty finding people to relate to about. To me Unconditional Love is the ability to fully accept and see the highest potential in a person, in the moment, regardless of how you feel about them based on past events, regardless of what you expect or project in your mind- things you perceive they are going through. I think it is dangerous territory to begin to entertain these thoughts and I think we then step into the illusion of short-shortsightedness. No one is their past...if they were they wouldn't ever change. We are all constantly changing and evolving in our own unique way, even if it doesn't seem so externally. However small the changes are, they are there, existing in every moment.
Unconditional Love doesn't project, expect or judge subtly. Unconditional Love doesn't react with emotions of distaste towards anothers expression. Unconditional Love seeks to release such thoughts and feelings by seeing them as clearly and fully possible and "understanding" them within ones own mind. Unconditional Love, to me, is striving for a clear, fresh perspective in every moment. A FULLY accepting perspective. Do you fully accept your neighbors total being/expression or do you just think you do? How much do projections or things you think you know about someone play into how you treat them, think of them, or feel emotionally toward them?
On top of all that, considering the various karmic experiences we bring into our current lives... Things perhaps we are balancing from another life, or things we chose in this life to give ourselves a little challenge (or a big challenge): We cannot truly know anothers challenges down to the details they experience. Each soul is infinitely complex and mysterious. I desire to see this and accept this, myself. Everyone was brought up a certain way with their own unique expressions and distortions that developed from childhood till now. What we bring to this life karmically, what our parents teach us, how we we treated as a youngster, how we have interpreted it all. Even our genetic/racial distortions/memory can play into this more than we think/see. Its good to understand the limits of our perception and consider EVERYONE has limits to their perception, and biases that they don't see. We are not here to "know" another, we are here to "know" ourselves. How much can we truly know another and what their going through? I think the best we can do is drop any projections or things we think we know about another and seek to Love and accept them with all biases aside. Since we are all so complex, and coming from many different backgrounds and biases, both as a soul and as a the unique expression we are in this life, it is humbling to accept and understand the limits of our perception and seek to Love others Unbiased, Un-expecting, and accept the Infinite and Eternal mystery that is every single soul. A humbling experience indeed.