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Mind Set Central Podcast – Dreams Part 2

Check it out!

Mind Set Central Podcast – Dreams

Any government or oppressing body is stupid to think that, in this day and age of “relative” freedom of speech, the information super highway and better inter global communication than ever, people will just roll over and accept everything thrown at them. Martyrs serve to reinforce ideology and give courage to others. In some religions, life after death is more promising so there is no fear of death. In actual fact, on the contrary, it’s welcomed.

People, just like you and I, all over the world  - and I’m not talking about governments or religious institutions who would maintain the status quo – are constantly looking for philosophies and ideologies of freedom. I use the term “freedom” very loosely. Yet, no matter how flawed this freedom may be “in practice”, it has always been something to aspire to.  I’m not necessarily talking about all kinds of excesses that come with this “relative” freedom we have, but at least the freedom to travel from one country to another; the freedom to look for a job wherever we’d like to work, the freedom to pray in the house of a chosen Divinity, the freedom to live without fear.

Yet, in reality, there is no such thing as Democracy or real freedom anywhere in the world. We are all observed, controlled, monitored and manipulated by higher powers that be.  Our movements are easily tracked. Our conversations can easily be tapped into, and with the Internet, our private data and habitual behavioural patterns are all recorded. From the moment we are born, we are all bagged, tagged, numbered and accounted for.

Maybe in the East, there are still people who manage to escape from the system; but as soon as they need something from the system, their fate is sealed. In Holland now, we even have human chipping; reducing us to nothing more than a local pet that once lost can be found by GPS.

In all countries, without exception, we can only speak out to a certain point before our jobs,  homes, families and lives are put on the line. And, unfortunately, we all depend on a job to have a home, raise a family and live life in our modern world of commodities and materialism.

The only “relative” freedom we all have, as human beings, is our freedom of choice and our freedom of will. Yet, the older I get the more I realise that many of our “standard” choices are already being manipulated for us, and much of our free will is curbed at the onset for fear of the consequences.

Moreover I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that we’ve become (generally) such a lazy society, we just allow ourselves to be steered one way or the other by way of all the propaganda that’s in our face 24/7.

It would appear that over the decades, and maybe with the advent of television and radio, we’ve become so accustomed to being spoon fed what “we should or shouldn’t do, have or be” that now we just sit back and let it come at us; without even questioning why.

In 1989, we were all shocked by the horror of students being attacked and massacred in Tiananmen Square and yet, when students protested in London they too were attacked by the police. In Syria, Libya, the autonomous region of Tibet and many other countries, people are being massacred, as I write, for expressing their free will and exercising their right to have a free voice.

Why doesn’t the world find this so shocking? – Is it because we’ve become so complacent that if it doesn’t directly affect us, we don’t care! Is it because governments have managed to divide us (as one human nation) to the point of it always being “us and them.”  Or, is it because, nowadays there is so much “crap” – (excuse my choice of word) going on in just about every country around the world, including maybe ours, we don’t know where to turn to. So, we don’t turn any which way. We just turn off completely and let them ( the governments) get on with it.

Of course, we’re not happy but we let others do the protesting. We don’t like our governments, but we let others go and vote. It’s always others. It’s because of this attitude of letting others sort things out that we (on a worldwide scale) are in this mess. We’ve become apathetic.

If it’s not our mother, brother, another family member or a high profile person that’s being brutally beaten, killed or imprisoned without just cause, we just don’t care. I have to question to what point, as human beings, are we prepared to let others get on with it; especially when the ripple effects will eventually affect us all.

When I talk about ignorance, I’m not just talking about rudeness. I’m talking about all the negative qualities that impede us from being positively and potentially the best we can be; especially with regards to others.

In today’s article, I’m talking about arrogance, inflexible mental attitudes, false beliefs and this innate desire we have to make others look wrong. In doing the latter, we are guilty of a sin far worse than trying to belittle someone, which we have a tendency to do to hide our own shortcomings, we are actually planting seeds that potentially make other people feel insecure about who they are, what they do and what they know. Worst of all, we insist to the point of trying to convert someone to our way of thinking by resorting to quoting unreliable leads, misinterpreted information and speculative and/or somewhat dubious facts.

We resort to any tactic possible in the name of attempting to show we have superior knowledge; even when we don’t. Worst of all, and ironically so, most of the time we are perfectly conscious of what we are doing. And, we all know it’s not what we say but it’s the way we say it.

We could make the most outrageously absurd statement in the whole wide world, but if we said it with conviction, proper stance, confidence and good posture; nine times out of ten we’d probably get away with it. Have you ever closely watched someone who wants to be right? Have you ever noticed how someone behaves when they know their back is up against the wall? Have you ever stopped to analyse your own behaviour when you want to win an argument or when you’re feeling insecure about something and become a little more agressive than usual?

We’ve all done it at some point in our lives. It’s a part of human nature; only some people eventually learn to control it and others never do. If we are face to face with the offender of our intellect, we adopt a more authoritative position. We plant our feet firmly on the ground, stand tall, stick our chests out, and as if we were some kind of peacock, we start ruffling our feathers in preparation for the “blurt” about to exit our mouths.

Naturally, the other person takes the same stand right back at us and nothing is ever won. In fact, most of the time any discordance led down this path leads to arguments, bickering and in some cases physical violence. If we are not face to face with the offender of our knowledge, then, in this day of the information super highway, we cltch at straws by sending emails full of links that could potentially back up our claims.

Problem is, most of the time when we send an email along those lines, we ourselves might not have even read the articles we’re quoting. We just copy/pasted them in a hurry to reach the “being right” finish line. So, now, the situation begins to border on the ridiculous; especially if the perpertrator quotes the articles back at us in their favour. And, so this wonderful heated email argument flares up and so much good positive energy, and time, is wasted on finding and sending links backwards and forewards.

Of course, the best part about arguing online with someone is the delete button in the email inbox. Yet, as if drawn by some magnetic force our self centred ego and our desire to reach that “right” finish line won’t allow us to just hit delete without first having a sneak preview of the email’s contents.

Whatever happened to: “We agree to disagree”? Whatever became of: “Maybe I am wrong and I should look into it properly before I reply?” What does it matter who is right or wrong? Is there ever a true right or wrong? Most importantly, whatever happened to a little humility?

All of you out there who have ever eaten humble pie and learnt from it, I take a bow in your presence. I honour you, I really do.

It takes a much bigger person to back down of any situation and admit their mistakes, faults or even lack of knowledge than it does for someone to fire back; when confronted. It also takes a much bigger person to remain silent when they know they are right.

It’s easy to blab. We open our mouths and our thoughts come out. All we have to do is open our mouths and words come out. Most of the time, we have a tendency to say the first thing that comes into our mind. What’s not so easy is to “control” the blab we vocally emit and use selective blabbing.

If someone undermines us or tries to belittle us, instinctively, in the heat of the moment, our first reaction is to lash right back; especially when we know we are right. But, what if we were to just remain silent? What if we didn’t add fuel to the already stirring fire? What if we just turned our backs and walked away very politely without further engaging in the dispute?

Similarly, if we’ve allowed ourselves to enter into an argument with someone, what if we just learn to consciously recognise what we’re doing and stop ourselves mid tracks. In Buddhism it is said that we need to be mindful or our thoughts, actions and words. I agree. The world doesn’t collapse just because we’re the ones to back down. Disaster doesn’t strike if we walk away leaving another person thinking they are right; even when perhaps we know they’re not. Yet, disaster will surely strike when two people enter a heated confrontation.

Being a bit more humble, and backing down, doesn’t mean we’re allowing people to walk all over us. It just means we avoid unnecessarily hurting someone else for the sake of our ego. We all learn our lessons in life. Some sooner, some later. It’s not up to us to decide when someone will learn.

The Master appears when the student is ready.

All that remains to be seen is whether the student recognises the lessons in front of him or her.

It can be particularly frustrating when both our professional and personal life are out of balance or when we feel others collide too much with our world.

I think we all take our frustrations out on someone near and dear to us at some point in life. We basically use someone else as an emotional punching bag. The sad thing is that most of the time, we don’t even know we’re doing it.

It’s only when we’re on the receiving end or when we take a step back and reflect on our behaviour, that we realise how it feels. By then the damage is done though.

Instead of getting to the point where we lash out at an innocent bystander in our life, we should analyse ourselves, what we think our shortcomings are and our behavioral responses.

First of all, we should learn to worry less about what people think about us. We don’t need to validate who we are in comparison to others. Everyone on this planet is an individual human being with a personality and character of their own. It’s not always necessary to fit in. After all, if we were all the same there would be no diversity and, quite frankly, I think the world would be a boring place.

There are people in this world who are different, they don’t conform to social norm expectations and I believe they should remain different. Their differences are what separate them from generality and the masses. Also, there is no right or wrong way to be. The point of life is to be happy and that includes being comfortable with all our differences in comparison to others.

I’m also a great believer that people should worry less about what they call their
shortcomings and what they think they have, or do not have, to offer. As long as someone is alive, they certainly have something to offer. Perhaps, a shift in perspective is needed in order to appreciate one’s own qualities rather than one’s material possessions. This is where self-esteem and self-respect come into play.

Another fundamental issue to remember is that everything happens for a reason. So, whatever is happening in one’s life right now is there for a purpose. We just need to learn to see the purpose. We need to be able to appreciate the learning opportunity every challenge provides us with. We need to learn that lesson as quickly as possible and move on.

Most importantly, we need to learn to let go more. We need to let it all go; all the baggage and resentment from the past serves no purpose in our memories; except occupying good space that could be filled with positive change and an optimistic outlook towards the future. We need to keep moving forward with your eyes a little more open; our minds a little wiser and hearts filled with peace.
Nothing that we consider bad happens for a bad reason, but we need to see the positive side instead of persistently focusing on the negative aspects.

We need to forgive ourselves and others for whatever has gone before, and let go of the past. Built up guilt, anger, resentment and dare I say jealousy are all negative
qualities that hold us back in life. Generally, they spring from things we’ve done that we’re not proud of or that we’re ashamed of. Instead of accepting them as an integrated part of who we are and regarding them as another opportunity to know and love ourselves; flaws included, we turn against ourselves.

We start a cycle of self-loathing and self-depreciation, which in turn, over a long period of time, turns into lack of self-esteem and lack of self-respect. We become our own worst enemy. We no longer have a good relationship with ourselves nor with others. Hence, from there on in, we begin to think that life is taking a downhill slide and that everything is going wrong. It’s not life though. It’s our attitude towards it.

Life and it’s journey are not consistent by nature. They are subject to change and many unstable factors. It may seem that it doesn’t always go the way we want it to, but the one thing we can do, is make it the way we want it to be. It takes determination, a series of choices, motivation, time, effort and the input and interconnection with others and the world around us.

So, before you shout at someone you hold dear. Stop yourself and analyse why you’re doing it. Is it really their fault or are you trying to compensate for something missing within yourself?

May you always have peace and love in your life. God Bless you all.

Venerina