The theme this month is long and drawn out
Being yourself –
What is that? Why is it important? It's importance, How do you do that? How we think has a great influence on our lives, positive or negative, personal or collective
That's huge, complicated and in many ways unhelpful. I narrowed it down to:
Being yourself. What does that mean? Why is it important? Or rather is it important?
I think it can be
argued that being yourself could be to your detriment in the current
society, if you are relatively, moderately or possibly even completely satisfied with your
life.
If you are a slavish
follower of fashion, think that the size of your body is more
important that it's health, that others finding you beautiful is more
important than how you treat people, if you believe economics, have
set opinions about other religious beliefs, genders, groups of
people, if you think some nationalities or ethnicities are superior
to others, if you are a deeply religious subscriber to the OMG
doctrines (One Man God), if you believe that western society is the
best on offer at the moment, or if you believe that you live in a
secular democracy or meritocracy then possibly you would be very ill
advised to get to know yourself. You are contented being one of the
sheep!
Self knowledge is
only something for the much despised goats in Christians mythology.
Those who go against the grain. Those who think that there is a
purpose beyond breeding to life. The ones who are pained by what they
see in the world around them and wish to find another way. Self
knowledge is for the desperate, the unhappy, the depressed, the non
violent crazies.
New age philosophies
are always propounding the ideal of love as the means to save
everything and everyone. It is a much touted and little practised
Christian concept. How often do you see Christians demonstrating that
love conquers all? When have you seen in practise on a political or
international level from supposed Christian countries that love,
unconditional love of course, is the answer?
The people who
propagate this ideal are in general over privileged. Have only ever
wanted, never needed, been denied but never had to do without. Grew
up with the knowledge of opportunity and availability rather than
scarcity, unavailability and being dis-encouraged.
There is lots of
love in this world, huge amounts on constant display. Genuine,
abiding, deep and fervent love. Love has changed nothing, improved
nothing and brought nothing except more two leggeds, animals treated
better than people, vegetables treated better than animals. Supposed
equalisations that only create more suffering.
What this world
needs is more courage, compassion and wisdom. Courage is the most
noble and admirable of all human virtues. Through true courageousness
we acquire compassion. Courage and compassion engender (or the child
of courage and compassion is) wisdom.
When one is truly
courageous, one is driven to the defence of one's personal sense of
justice. To be truly courageous one needs to know oneself
Most people define
the things that are important to them by comparison. Comparing
inevitably creates some kind of a hierarchy. This is to do with the
way our minds have been programmed.. Westerners and those brought up
in a OMG (One Man God) ideology are trained to see things in duality.
There is a grudging lip service to the idea of trinity but this is
firmly in second place to the highest single point of order – the
One Man God.
This ideology is
mirrored in society, a single person usually a man at the top and
when a woman her modus operandi shows how constructed the notion of
gender is. Men are forced to take the lead, be strong, emotionless in
control. They retain this power and position even when they choose to
name themselves women. (Cis) women waver in the power structure
somewhere between and under boys and gay men
Self help
philosophies define life with the Mahayana Buddhist concept that the
purpose of life is to learn how to be happy. Which raises the
question, what is happiness?
When the point is
learning, lessons are the usual method. It is generally agreed that
trial, failure and re trial works. Only those within whom the idea of
an all pervasive perfection constantly surrounding them will expect
(as most of our children and ourselves seem to do) to get anything
right the first time they try.
Very occasionally,
we all have those moments when it is as if some new action or task is
coming back to us, as though we have done it before. Or the times (as
children to young adulthood, then increasingly rarely with age) when
absorbing something new is effortless.
The One Man God is
the all pervasive perfection that constantly surrounds us. Unlike the
Goddess/Earth it is a standard impossible for humans to reach. We are
told that it is striving for that perfection that is important.
Trying to be perfect is all that matters. However if you are
trying to be something else it is impossible to understand that our
humanity is perfection in and of itself.
Life itself is
perfection. We are constantly reflected back to ourselves in myriad,
wonderful ways just observe the planet, nature and animals. That is
the Goddess. Perfection on a Earth bound, human scale is the
awareness that the notion of perfection in reality is trial, error,
cause and effect.
Anyone who seeks for
something above and beyond an Earth bound, human scale, communicating
through a pyramidal structure is actually only in search of a way to
enslave their fellows.
The church from it's
inception has been designed to restrict and control the masses. To
instil fear, subservience, a sense of helplessness, need, dependence.
When I speak of the
church I am not referring to the teachers whose words have been
(trans)formed to create rigid structures. I refer to the bodies
defining and maintaining those rigid structures
A good OMG believer
rejects the idea of self actualisation – which is what everyone at
radio Alwareness is encouraging and busy with. That is what we
believe will save the world and for that Self knowledge is essential
