Personal Meditation No. 155

“It’s not all in your mind but if you don’t control your mind, then the rest doesn’t matter.”

Embrace the Within

I have friends that believe a lot of things. I have friends that are blue-pilled, red-pilled, black-pilled, king-pilled, they’re using a lot of allusions to The Matrix to explain their world view. I have friends that gladly allow their children to sign into the system and friends that are ready to burn the system down. I see a lot of ideologies where I sit. And I have never wanted to silence their ability to speak.

Even though I think that worrying about conspiracies all day means you need a new hobby, I won’t ever force you to take up gardening. Even though I think that allowing your child to join the military is promoting violence, I won’t ever force you to change your mind. But I will not go along with either mindset. I can’t endorse wasting time trying to convert and awaken folks. To use another allusion to The Matrix, Morpheus explains to Neo as he is about to offer him the choice of the blue or red pill, “You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

Folks get so inside their own minds that they lack the perspective to see where they once were. Folks like to believe that the same journey they are taking is the same journey that everyone should take. Whether it be politics, religion, health, wellness, education, philosophy, whatever else, folks think that their way is the correct path and that other folks not traveling their path are incorrect. It’s a sort of xenophobic view of the world where we in-group bias everyone and want to convert the masses because they’re just ignorant, uninformed, uneducated, or too dumb to get the truth we’ve found. And I have been down that road before. And I think what we all could use a lot more of today is empathy.

I can understand a lot of these beliefs from personal experience and there are a lot more that I don’t understand because I never thought or acted that way. BUT, in either case, I still feel for folks that want to remake the world in their image. I mean where is the fun in everyone believing and doing and saying the same things? That would be like having the mainstream media talking to me all day and I already do everything I can to avoid that as much as possible. BUT folks on all sides seem to want to share with me their latest news in order to prove their point and convert me.

BUT, I am past conversion. I’m not looking for a new belief because beliefs are mind killers. Beliefs stop folks from learning new things. Beliefs allow folks to write off things because they don’t fit their system. I just want to learn and learn and learn. I want to read and think and converse and decide and choose. Isn’t that enough?

I am tired of all this forcing folks and incentivizing folks and manipulating folks and influencing folks to conform to your world-view, your mindset. I just wish we could stop trying to force people into spaces. I wish folks could have some empathy for ideas we don’t understand or respect or believe. I wish folks would start allowing everyone to be as different as they like. I wish folks would start to see the other person across the table as a person and not an ideology. And in order for that to happen, I think we need to stop believing that any type of media is bringing us together. I think we need to stop being divisive about what we believe and realize that fundamentally all people want are a few things.

People need to feel needed.

People need a sense of hope.

People need to feel noticed and understood.

People need to feel a sense of power.

People need to be right.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain

Personal Meditation No. 154

“You’re never going to get what you need if you’re constantly looking for external approval.”

Embrace the Within.

The fourteen days did a number on mental spaces and mindsets. Some folks found a healthy way forward by investing in themselves and making changes. Some folks found unhealthy ways to cope with the isolation. Those unhealthy mindsets are not just going to disappear anytime soon. Those fourteen days gave a long timeline for reinforcing unhealthy decisions and making them into habits. And habits are very easy to form and very difficult to break.

Isolation leads to socialization problems. And I know folks like to think that social media is a substitute for conversation BUT it just is not. Folks would be better off having conversations with themselves over the banter on social media that qualifies as conversation. No depth, no body language, no social cues, no learning . . . Social media might supplement your social life BUT it is no substitute for having conversations.

Once upon a simpler time, Sir Francis Bacon mused about the importance of knowledge and wrote that, “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man”. Of Studies goes into detail about Bacon’s ideas about the purpose of studying and learning. Bacon considers all the pitfalls and triumphs of being singularly focused on one mode of learning and one outlet for sharing that learning. And I think most of us today could learn a little about being one-dimensional from that essay.

Some of us are so desperate from the isolation, from the fourteen days, from our unhealthy choices, to find something external just to plug into and recharge ourselves. BUT those external sources go away, they leave, they fade, their joy disappears, and we find ourselves left with just ourselves again. And that is probably the best place to start working and looking for meaning if the purpose is going to last.

I see folks every day looking to latch onto some one, some thing, some meaning that is more popular, more powerful, more important than themselves. And that life is just going to keep you searching until you die. Looking around for meaning and purpose outside of you, when that meaning, that purpose, that boon is inside you. That realization is as liberating as it is frightening. Ultimately relying on you and owning you and owning all that is you can set you on a wonderful journey once you allow yourself to get beyond the doubt and the noise.

I hope you’re working on making the healthy decisions because there are a lot of unhealthy ones out there today. Around half of Americans are obese today, alcohol consumption has risen, there are a number of prescription and other drug addictions on the rise, families are breaking apart, and people are doing worse mentally today despite the resources and strides forward in psychology. The fourteen days did not cause any of these problems BUT the fourteen days did not help.

We can place blame for why all these issues are growing and breaking us or we can start with owning our choices and moving forward. We can’t help anyone unless we first start helping ourselves. So, I hope you start healing yourself today. You are the only person you need to save BUT saving yourself can definitely provide the hope needed for others to save themselves. Be the light?

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain