These 2 images were posted on facebook on the same day, and it struck me that they both illustrate just how far we have yet to go, as a society, in overcoming the 'us vs them' mentality.
Add to that, the extreme political polarizing taking place in the US right now. There has always been rivalry between Democrats and Republicans, but I don't recall ever seeing any president being labeled the 'anti-Christ' before. Yesterday someone posted a pic of Obama's mother, as a young woman, nude. As though that should somehow incriminate her son! The caption said something about "so that's why he is so immoral."
I found it very tasteless. Not the nude, but the caption. We have no idea what the circumstances were for her to pose nude...maybe it was for her husband! Even if it was for pay or whatever, how is that any worse than all the movie stars who routinely do nude roles in movies? If Obama's mother had been a movie star, he would be respected for it. Instead, this smut is being circulated around the internet, as though his mother's action somehow made him turn out 'bad.' It's senseless bigotry.
Why do people still not see the contradiction? The very same people who criticized Bush's wars (and rightly so) now cannot recognize that Obama is doing the same and worse. The very same people who were in an uproar over elementary school children being shot, look the other way when it's happening in another country...by our very own president.
I realize I just touched upon some hot button topics here, and if this discussion gets political, it will get moved to the Politics forum. But I'm putting it here for now, because what I'm really interested in discussing is the tendency to not recognize these contradictions...it's called cognitive dissonance...and what that means from a spiritual perspective. Is this catalyst unutilized? Is it a safety mechanism designed by our Logos? Is there a plus side to this coping mechanism?
In other words, why do people react with cognitive dissonance? Does anyone understand the Mind, as explained by Ra, enough to even begin to tackle this question?
And, what is the best way to respond to cognitive dissonance when we encounter it? What is the best way to respond to selective compassion? Do we simply look the other way? Or do we gently, lovingly speak up? If you were unaware that you were subconsciously walling off a realization about an important topic, would you want it pointed out to you? Say, for example, about US drones killing children...
I find this a troubling issue because it seems to be increasing, if anything. Maybe I need to quit reading facebook and remain blissfully unaware.
Which brings up another question: Is that the way to attune to 4D? How do we balance being proactive with not giving power to the negativity?
Just some musings...
I've been realizing this more and more these days. I used to live in a mess of contradictions because I was too scared to confront the massive amounts of contradictions in my life/ethics. When I woke up from my slumber I realized many contradictions in my self and brought them to light (which is half the battle) and then was able to move forward. I think if all of us were bluntly honest with ourselves without trying to make excuses for contradictions, but just acknowledging their presence, we could really change for the better.
We each have to change ourselves and become aware of our ignorance by ourself. No one else can shove it in someone else's face, we each have to wake up on our own. I hope that with focused intention on this issue and a shift in many people's consciousness, this world will change.
Momentum and consciousness has inertia and power. We are on fourth density earth, yet we manifest third density because of our consciousness. All is interrelated (For All is One). We are all mirrors for one another. Our energy effects each other. Yet when we do not realize it, it is too easy to fall into the group consciousness without even realizing it.
I think the cognitive dissonance we see is because people, at some level, are stuck thinking the ways others do. And they do not realize the effect of the mass consciousness and how it shapes their beliefs.
To most, these inconsistent beliefs are perfectly consistent and reasonable. Because, after all, others believe the same thing as well. Therefore, it must be consistent. But as I said, it's not a rational thing. It's a group think / energy transferring / mirroring / mass consciousness thing. Psychology explores this area of human nature when it tried to understand how everyday people went along with the atrocities of the Nazi Regime.
It is useful to learn to distrust group think - not that it is inherently bad, much like power is not inherently bad, but it has a tendency in this day and age to mislead one. I think part of being awakened as thinking outside the box. You hear that term a lot "thinking outside the box" in a lot of different areas, but sadly you see it put into practice by people on the street. I'm sure that day will come though, and I look forward to it
.
I think in conclusion, we speak up. Not self-righteously, but to open a door for those who wish to think outside the box to be able to do so. It's not so much as which position you support that constitutes thinking outside the box, but the philosophy that gives rise to the position. And I think that's much needed in this world - people think not just about the issues, but the deeper philosophical decisions as to the person they wish to become and the society they wish to live in. I think we'll be there sooner than we release. I have much faith in our youth
Yeah, selective compassion is really a tricky thing to overcome.
Like when the pope retired and all that negativity was just focused on him, regardless of what he did (or did not) do.
Like a mob that is out for blood. I find that distasteful, to be honest.
People aren't purposefully selectively compassionate. They're scared, and will jump and cling to whatever idea and belief makes them feel safe or empowered. Unfortunately, they're not always adequately informed on what it is they're clinging to.
In my opinion, all we can do is set a loving example.
My 'lense':
1. Worry about making yourself the person you want to be, let others do as they will.
2. Acknowledge your fears and in their place choose what it is you want in life.
3. Intend forgiveness when able. It's a process not a decision.
4. Always remember nothing really matters.
That's worked pretty well for me. It allows me to be fairly indifferent without turning into a completely heart-less monster.
...or perhaps this is not really 'compassion' at all, because conditional love (I'll love you and understand you and accept you, IF ____) is a function of being closed off....
Unconditional love doesn't really exist here, just like "knowing" doesn't exist here. Creating a condition is a prerequisite of experience - certainly with respect to facebook posts. "Compassion" IS conditional because "love" is inherently holistic, yet coming from an unbalanced personality it must only be expressed by what one has bothered to balance (which is not much at all here). And so the pot calls the kettle black.
That phrase 'pot calls the kettle black' doesn't really have nice origin.... But your meaning understood and accepted.
I guess I'm trying to understand it from a psychological perspective. It makes no sense on that level.
From a spiritual perspective, we all have preincarnational programming as well as biases; thus we often just don't 'see' something until we're ready, even though later we think it should have been crystal clear all along.
How does free will fit into the equation? We have free will, but only within the parameters of preprogrammed catalyst. For example, I read about a doctor who hypnotized 100 advanced-stage cancer patients, all of whom emphatically proclaimed their desire to be healed. Yet, under hypnosis, a certain % of them said no, they actually didn't want to be healed. The results of the hypnosis weren't disclosed to the subjects of the experiments. Those who said they wanted to live, survived. Those who said they wanted to die, died. This illustrates how out-of-sync many people are with their subconscious will and desires.
This makes me wonder how much of what people say is really in alignment with what they really mean, deep down.
I see this all the time in my business. People tell me they want pain relief, or desperately want to be healed of xyz illness, and will do anything to be healed, but then refuse to follow a simple protocol. They truly don't see the incongruency; they earnestly believe they want to be healed, yet clearly don't want it enough to give up their sodas or whatever. If someone told them they must not really want to be healed, they'd be shocked and offended. So I tell my distributors to leave them be...go on to the next person who appreciates what we have to offer and is ready and willing to receive it.
Despite seeing this on an almost daily basis, I continue to be baffled by it.
Oftentimes, we seek a solution but it eludes us. This happened to me for 15 years. I cried out with all my heart and soul for an answer. I was literally on my knees, praying in anguish. I got no answers.
Finally, at some point, I suddenly got an answer. Why? What did I do differently? Nothing. I guess my Higher Self finally decided I had learned whatever it was I needed to learn. Was I really just in denial all that time and didn't realize it? Did I think I really wanted an answer, but really didn't? How can I know?
Another striking example is religious beliefs compared to religious practice. We all know that Jesus said "love your enemies" yet look at how many religious people think it's ok to fight wars.
This is different from just not being able to forgive. A religious person will probably say "We are supposed to forgive...Jesus said to" and have the best of intentions, but simply be unable to forgive at that point in time. This is totally understandable, but it isn't incongruous. Their intentions are good but they just didn't quite pull it off. We're all guilty of that.
But openly, unabashedly supporting war is clearly going against Jesus' teachings, so it's not a matter of just failing to live up to the ideals; rather, it's a case of blatant hypocrisy. But they don't see it as such. They are absolutely oblivious that they're being hypocritical! They come up with all sorts of elaborate justifications for why they don't need to even try to follow that particular instruction from their spiritual master.
Many of these people are otherwise very loving and well-intentioned. So clearly, the tendency to be in denial isn't necessarily a result of not being polarized. It's something else, but I don't understand what it is. Is it a result of a blockage in a particular chakra?
This isn't about how much love one has, how well they are able to forgive or feel compassion, or how polarized they are. It's something to do with how well they truly know themselves...how honest with themselves they are...how much clarity they have about their own subconscious issues and biases.
But what determines those things? I can't quite put my finger on it.
Right now, I have another issue that continues to elude me. It's not something I wish to share publicly, but let's just say it's something I've been struggling with for a very long time.
On the surface, I truly believe I'm ready to let go of it. I've meditated on this countless times...done visualizations, cleared blockages, etc. I've even tried totally letting it go and accepting it. Yet it stays stuck.
I realize that I'm making it difficult to get any helpful suggestions on my particular stuck issue, and that's ok. What I'm really trying to understand is the dynamic. I see it in sick people and religious people, and, in a different way, in myself as well. I'm trying to understand the nature of it.
It seems that my issues shift and change almost randomly. Maybe it's the stars aligning. It doesn't seem to be directly related to my attitude towards the issue. That's the part that I find baffling. Sometimes I wonder if all that work on self even matters, and if that's the real meaning of acceptance.
(02-20-2013, 12:08 AM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]This isn't about how much love one has, how well they are able to forgive or feel compassion, or how polarized they are. It's something to do with how well they truly know themselves...how honest with themselves they are...how much clarity they have about their own subconscious issues and biases.
You don't know yourself without polarity. You don't have honesty without polarity. So yes, it is about polarization.
(02-20-2013, 12:08 AM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]But what determines those things? I can't quite put my finger on it.
Removing distortions determines those things and always has.
(02-20-2013, 12:08 AM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: [ -> ]Right now, I have another issue that continues to elude me. It's not something I wish to share publicly, but let's just say it's something I've been struggling with for a very long time.
On the surface, I truly believe I'm ready to let go of it. I've meditated on this countless times...done visualizations, cleared blockages, etc. I've even tried totally letting it go and accepting it. Yet it stays stuck.
I realize that I'm making it difficult to get any helpful suggestions on my particular stuck issue, and that's ok. What I'm really trying to understand is the dynamic. I see it in sick people and religious people, and, in a different way, in myself as well. I'm trying to understand the nature of it.
Monica, from what I've read, pre-life programming (even for Wanderers) involves maybe a whole lifetime of experience around a central one or two issues. These lessons are usually quite a hurdle for the individual, and are in no ways easy to overcome.
most of us have inklings of what these one or two lessons might be; but the fact that it is allocated 50-90 years of incarnate experience to work through shows that:
1) it is not a superficial lesson
and
2) that when we learn it, we want to learn it for good, and have it really sink down into our psyche, change who we are.
so by all means, we each struggle with our own 'cross' and burden, a blockage that seemingly does not yield to all the most exhaustive methods and approaches.
but it is by no means arbitrary and callous; there is a certain design to each life.
I'm sure I've just restated platitudes that you've read in countless books; but that's all I have to offer just now
- -
I really feel for your situation; I can see how hard you are trying to work with it; and like others recently, you've made it a public seeking, and so you've invoked the help of others now. (not all in the physical form lol).
I see how much compassion you have; I see the wisdom you apply to your everyday experience.
please forgive me if I've made too many presumptions and overstepped the mark into personal territory
if I may add one last thing; there are some things the intellectual mind cannot know for certain; (the intellect is just surface mind anyway : d). But direct experience of the light of the spirit can supply that lack.
(02-20-2013, 02:17 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]Monica, from what I've read, pre-life programming (even for Wanderers) involves maybe a whole lifetime of experience around a central one or two issues. These lessons are usually quite a hurdle for the individual, and are in no ways easy to overcome.
most of us have inklings of what these one or two lessons might be; but the fact that it is allocated 50-90 years of incarnate experience to work through shows that:
1) it is not a superficial lesson
and
2) that when we learn it, we want to learn it for good, and have it really sink down into our psyche, change who we are.
so by all means, we each struggle with our own 'cross' and burden, a blockage that seemingly does not yield to all the most exhaustive methods and approaches.
but it is by no means arbitrary and callous; there is a certain design to each life.
I'm sure I've just restated platitudes that you've read in countless books; but that's all I have to offer just now
I would agree with this. I have one particular issue that I feel I have worked on for 3-4 lifetimes at least, and it's still something I have a very hard time facing. I feel like this is the life where I finally get to make my peace with this side of myself, and I am incredibly grateful to have that chance.
all of us have major life issues that seem to be unyielding no matter what we do. and i do believe working on them is good. at some point i think we just need to let them go . when we were kids if a piece of candy dropped on the ground we picked it up kissed it pointed it to the sky and said i am kissing this up to god ha ha. then we ate the candy. same thing with these things that persist in us at some point i think we just have to kiss it up to god, love ourselves unconditionally, accept the fact that we actually are doing pretty good just the way we are and get on with the rest of our lives . just my take
norral
I think because we are aware of the Law of One, we are able to realize certain aspects of ourself, and therefore be at peace with ourself. I agree it we are learning lessons that might have taken 3-4 lifetimes to figure out.
(02-20-2013, 12:51 PM)norral Wrote: [ -> ]when we were kids if a piece of candy dropped on the ground we picked it up kissed it pointed it to the sky and said i am kissing this up to god ha ha. then we ate the candy.
I just raged and punched things or hit my head on something.
(02-20-2013, 02:17 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]Monica, from what I've read, pre-life programming (even for Wanderers) involves maybe a whole lifetime of experience around a central one or two issues. These lessons are usually quite a hurdle for the individual, and are in no ways easy to overcome.
most of us have inklings of what these one or two lessons might be; but the fact that it is allocated 50-90 years of incarnate experience to work through shows that:
1) it is not a superficial lesson
and
2) that when we learn it, we want to learn it for good, and have it really sink down into our psyche, change who we are.
so by all means, we each struggle with our own 'cross' and burden, a blockage that seemingly does not yield to all the most exhaustive methods and approaches.
but it is by no means arbitrary and callous; there is a certain design to each life.
I'm sure I've just restated platitudes that you've read in countless books; but that's all I have to offer just now
No, not at all! Actually I hadn't thought of it quite that way, so what you said was very helpful! Thanks!
(02-20-2013, 02:17 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]I really feel for your situation; I can see how hard you are trying to work with it; and like others recently, you've made it a public seeking, and so you've invoked the help of others now. (not all in the physical form lol).
I see how much compassion you have; I see the wisdom you apply to your everyday experience.
Thanks!!!
(02-20-2013, 02:17 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]please forgive me if I've made too many presumptions and overstepped the mark into personal territory
Not at all! Nothing to forgive! I appreciate everything you said!
(02-20-2013, 02:17 AM)plenum Wrote: [ -> ]if I may add one last thing; there are some things the intellectual mind cannot know for certain; (the intellect is just surface mind anyway : d). But direct experience of the light of the spirit can supply that lack.
Yes...thanks!
(02-20-2013, 12:51 PM)norral Wrote: [ -> ]same thing with these things that persist in us at some point i think we just have to kiss it up to god, love ourselves unconditionally, accept the fact that we actually are doing pretty good just the way we are and get on with the rest of our lives
I hope to get to that point!
i think as humans we have a tendency to obsess about our perceived shortcomings. i mean to exaggerate we could jump on the train tracks in the path of an oncoming train pull a person to safety save ourselves and them and we would beat ourselves up because our actions make us late for an appointment ha ha. im saying we see and magnify our faults and overlook our good points. its just human nature imho. kindness and gentleness with ourselves is key. and all of this stuff is very much related to our upbringings. i remember i worked with a fellow and his kid was very smart. and he was saying he was going to let her have it when she scored like a 95 on a test instead of her usual 100. i thought to myself how cruel. and he seemed to relish it. lots of parents withold love from their kids no matter what they do. and then the kids spend their lives doing things to prove to their parents, as adults, that they do deserve to be loved. but the issue is not really the kids but the parents inability to show love to their children. so we are definitely imprinted as children bu our family enviornment and spend a lot of our adult lives trying to make parents happy who can never be made happy ha ha because our parents were screwed up ha ha. we just aint perfect that be the truth. what i look for in people is the thrust to serve , is it there, is there a desire to be of service. the other stuff is just that stuff, whether its their stuff my stuff we all we having stuff . so i guess we just have to love and embrace our stuff ha ha well be happier . well find others who have similar stuff to us and then well have friends ha ha and partners and we can work on these things together. each day i feel we get a little more concious and self aware just as this thread is a great thread right now because the spotlight has been turned on ourselves which is honestly the only thing we can really change. look at all the dysfunctional stuff in the news, all the result of surface living . what happened in south africa with the guy killing his girlfriend , surface living both on his part and her part. why did she stay with him obviously the dude has lots of issues but her issues matched his issues and voila we have a pair. and im not criticizing her but people stay in dysfunctional relationships all the time. something in it works for them. again i am not judging or being critical i am just pointing out the truth as i see it. which is covered by my own veil called norral. its not perfect either ha ha . but one thing i do have is a healthy sense of self. i dont care who loves or likes me it doesnt matter i loves and likes myself even on my worst days. its not about perfection for me, its more about direction. if the general direction of the soul is good that works for me . lots of people look "beautiful" but their direction is not appealing to me at all . and then there are people who dont look so "beautiful" and yet they have a wonderful direction. ill take a person who never goes to church and works to save animals anyday over someone who lives in church and doesnt take care of the animals they have just to make a point. its not the appearances that count its the direction. just my thoughts sorry for being so long winded here thats me chatty kathy ha ha.
norral
I think this inconsistency is due to misalignment between inner self/creator spirit and the surface self. As only as there is misalignment distortion, people's behavior of surface self will always be inconsistent with inner self/unity to some degree. We are doing it all the time, like wanting to be one with the creator but behave in a different way from if you were completely balanced. It's just more obvious if one contradicts oneself vocally.
I get upset when I see people hurt dogs, especially german shepherds. But I keep it pretty much to myself. I'm neither an advocate nor vocal toward that cause.
the glitch is in the matrix again!!!
(re repeating posts, duplicate entries)
Indeed, that was the first glitch I encountered. It was just clocking, and I thought didn't post.
And here I thought others were just posting duplicate material because they liked it.
But norral, you're right in that I'd take one who cares for animals over one who goes to church.