Mind yo' beezwax

 

Most of the ills of the world could be prevented if we'd just let others be. Almost from the time we are brought into this world, we are inundated with others telling us who we are, without care for our inherent right to individualism and soul authentication. I was pondering the other day on a story I was reading about a man with a burning desire, who cultivated that burning desire into his son which allowed that son a life of richness, wonderment, and creation (which was what the burning desire was.) But how many of us are flooded with support and enthusiasm from those around us for whatever burning desires we may have as children? Imagine living your whole life with that desire, having quashed it due to others' negative words, and finally making the decision to enact upon that desire. All of a sudden, those negative people from your childhood attempt to be your biggest supporters. Rather ironic. (Or, alternatively, they demand you conform and if you don't, you are ostracized.) You've probably heard the story of Hitler the Artist. He wanted to be an artist but was rejected as sub-par, so he went on to be a dictator who killed and tortured millions instead. One thing I've noticed within me is that when I am not following my passion, I become controlling of all around me. Can you imagine how much that desire must have burned for someone who ended up as a dictator? And, yeah, I could probably find sympathy for all the worst-case people of the world if I understood their lost desires. Look at the state of the world though. If your Facebook feed is anything like mine, it's overwhelmed by complaints about the "other" who is so wrong and evil. Different news story, same post theme: I am right, they are wrong. Most of us try to control the other. Doesn't really work though, does it?

From birth, our world becomes about external validation. If not given the proper tools, our world continues its existence based upon that external validation, thought, and subliminal messaging. Some have said that school (at least the American school system) consists of an array of subjects to help guide the student to whatever vocation they are led to, but I, if not you too, have come to the conclusion that schools, in general, only emphasize the control factor of the external world on subjugating individual thought and expression. School becomes an external source for a child in the receiving of one of their first lessons in smokescreens or deceptive marketing. I've used a quote in previous posts that I've loved by Jaime Casap that states: "Don't ask kids what they want to be when they grow up but what problems they want to solve. This changes the conversation from who do I want to work for, to what do I need to learn to do that." Only recently have I come to not appreciate this quote as much. The reason I've come to not appreciate it as much is by seeing needs or problems actually creates more problems and needs. I mean, if you teach a child to see problems, there will definitely be problems to see. The more we are taught to fix problems, the more problems we find to fix. Eventually, this idea can lead to fixing the self and fixing others. If we didn't feel the need to fix problems but instead not see them as problems, the momentum of those "problems" could actually become fixable all on their own. Think about it. I very vividly remember a speech by Esther Hicks channeling Abraham in which she stated that we have a war on drugs, a war on cancer, and a war on terrorism, employing campaign after campaign to put an end to these huge problems in our society but, in truth, what have our wars ever done? Create more of a problem, exacerbate it. Perhaps if we came at these "problems" by only seeing the desired result and working within the context of that desired result, the "problem" would actually go away. It's an idea that's akin to prayer. When we pray (if you do consciously) for the healing of someone, we train our focus on the person's wellness, not their illness. Focusing on wellness matches the sentiment of the prayer. When we don't, it creates discord in the asking and invalidates it.

But, we're so trained to only see problems. We've been so trained to only see problems within ourselves that in the need to right the insufficiency within, we must find even greater insufficiency in another (or outwardly), creating an endless cycle of demoralization, antagonism, and invalidation. In our attempt to fix others, we fail to realize the only lack we've truly found is within.

I find the irony of the fact that I'm writing this, essentially saying we have a problem in society, knowing it points back to me. In truth, everything I write about is due to my own soul-searching and realizations of my own perception of self (even had I not consciously realized this.) I mean, technically, how we all individually view the external world is how we are unknowingly (usually) perceiving the internal Self. What is reflected back to us from the external is only a mirror image of the interior. This means that on some level every problem we perceive applies somehow to something going on within. Think of those external "problems" as symbolic of a subconscious perception of internal lack. (In my next post, I will be visiting this personal lack I perceive within my own self.)

Maybe we should start seeing instead what's right in the world and looking for the goodness in others (no matter how much we don't like them.) The more we see the good, the less the problems. But, it's highly important for us to learn to value our own self in the process, more so really. As individuals, we are integral parts of the whole. The whole, or the collective consciousness, is dependent upon those individual thoughts, perceptions, ideas, knowledge, actions, and emotions, just as any unit, group, or society should be. Every member has value, even if we have been taught otherwise or continue to teach otherwise. If we're the teachers of worth, what do our words and actions say about our own value of self?