The relationships we crave in life, because we are humans, often begin with preconceptions. I don’t want to call this prejudice or bigotry. Preconception has a milder connotation than either of those words, even though it’s technically synonymous with prejudice. It has the sense of a new yet incompletely formed thought, idea — it’s a process. Prejudice connotes a thought that is a preconception yet it’s a solidified opinion.
Why do I bring this up? I don’t know if it’s possible to be a conscious, thinking human being without some pre-thought, some mental process already going on. I suppose it is in a super enlightened state, but I’m dealing with normal life, just discovering things that make us tick. And my point is this. Our response to our preconceptions determines if they become prejudices, and those are avoidable. How could that be? Quite simple, really. We make a choice: will we respond to our preconceptions with Heart or Ego? Which filter and operating system will we use to process our preconceptions? Decisions about people or situations based on ego will produce division, perpetuate differences, promote hatred, and foster further disgust and alienation. Ego energy, words, and actions spread to society and leaven it. Enough negative attention creates societal impressions about issues like racism, ethnic biases, and others. This in turn colors impressions and opinions of the preconceptions of individuals. It’s a nasty little cycle, but totally preventable. When we choose Heart, we choose love. We grab hold of our preconception, whichever way we were leaning, and expose it in the light of love. This does not necessarily mean a sappy, milquetoast acquiescence to people or things we don’t believe in, but even if we disagree, love responds differently than hate, Heart responds differently than Ego. Heart does not fear, and Ego responds based on unfounded fear. Of course, with Heart, no fear is founded. Many will ask how could we respond differently to “bad” people. How do you define bad? What is sin? Preconceptions, because the energies of hatred, murder, jealousy, thievery, all of them sweep through us at times. I know what some will say; we don’t do them, at least not mostly, but Ego assuages us — “You’re better than they are.” Shut the f — k up, please. I would remind religious folks that prophetic messianic passages, which christians believe refer to Jesus of Nazareth, has Messiah completely identifying with sinners, being sin himself. Why? Heart understands the unity and core Self of all is eternal Spirit. All arrive on this Earth scene to fulfill and experience various purposes. Evil people can experience evil and then awaken to Heart. Or they can live and die without ever doing that, but inside, true Self, takes it all in. This is why we must, if we desire to experience full, significant, meaningful lives, choose Heart. It makes a difference to all others, especially those who walk in a lost, searching, consuming darkness. For those who walk in Ego and believe others are so inferior, I have a word of caution. Jesus identified with and accepted all brands of those labeled wicked and evil. However, two groups who competed with each other and believed they were superior included the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Pharisees believed they had all the answers, and they were self-righteous a-holes; Jesus condemned them because their beliefs held people in the bonds of guilt and fear of eternal condemnation. Guilt and fear are useless human emotions, even though we experience them from time to time. The Sadducees basically said there was no eternity, no hope of going on. We do go on; there is hope. Jesus condemned these, too, who would hold souls down in hopelessness. Now, when many codify preconception into prejudice and systems of belief, they make others guilty and would hold the oppressed down in hopelessness — because such people operate out of Ego, which means that somewhere deep inside, fear motivates them — fear of the different, the other, fear of being inferior, fear of risk, fear of faith and believing in something you can’t see. Yeah, that ain’t no way to live. It’s safe, but it’s not life. Heart, though, Heart is the choice that forges connections and produces relationships founded on love. I have more to say about this, and I will probably continue this tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to apologize for the Morning Pages post today. I did it very quickly, even though I didn’t put it up until later. I had a funeral to attend today, and everything was rushed and different. Actually, some of the typos are funny. Until tomorrow, all blessings to you
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Questions to consider:How many times have you asked yourself or simply thought about the following questions?
Who am I, really? What is my truth? How do my actions reveal what I really feel and believe? What would I do with my life if I could do anything? What is my passion? Why am I here? How can I discover answers to any of these questions? If you have considered any of these questions, I hope that my experiences and writing will give you some guidance. Please read my blog and comment and share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you! Archives
December 2019
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