Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Book 2 (My Opinion, Your Self Is My Self) - Chapter 2, Part 4

Continued...

An acquaintance didn't feel well as they were walking home, and had an accident. Afterwards that acquaintance still had to walk a few blocks before reaching home. The worst part was described as the thought “what if someone will walk next to me right now. How embarrassing!” Here is the question that in my opinion we should all ask ourselves; why was there any shame at all? Why was there any embarrassment? Why was there an expectation of judgement, or rather why did they care? We all have accidents. We all have days when we are not feeling well. Why then do we feel like we have somehow done something wrong? In my opinion the acquaintance should have focused on “why am I not feeling well? What should, or could I do to make me feel better?” How others were going to react should have been the last thing on their mind, if at all. Instead of being first, the “I” was the last to be thought of. The last to be concerned about. The last to be cared for.

If in this situation it was easy to see how the person should have been more concerned with themselves. Or you find yourself thinking “yeah, who cares about someone walking by”. Consider all of the times and situations in which you were more concerned with what those around you would think than with yourself. All of those times and situations in which you were more concerned with the opinions of those around you than with what you needed. Consider all of the times and situations when you were more concerned with the opinions about you, rather than you. Consider now, that there were two main opinions or thoughts possible. Thought one “I'm not feeling well, I might need help”, and thought two “I had an accident, how embarrassing I hope no one sees me”. Likewise, two types of people may have been attracted to cross the acquaintance's path. Someone who would have been concerned and asked if they needed assistance, or someone who would have possibly made a face and or a comment. Consider that the people in both cases would simply be mirroring what the acquaintance was feeling. They would merely be mirroring the person. Why then choose to have shame reflected back?

Speaking of attracting interactions. A neighborhood will be as safe or as dangerous as we want it to be. Two people may live in the same neighborhood, on the same street, and even on the same block. One person believes that the neighborhood is a safe and wonderful area. A second person believes that it is unsafe and that sooner or later something bad is going to happen. The only reason person number two doesn't move is because they believe that they can't and that they are stuck. They believe that they are stuck, despite the fact that they feel unsafe and that something bad is just a matter of time away. Sooner or later the second person's belief will attract a mugger onto their street. The mugger is passing through and the meeting with the second person is just a “coincidence”, otherwise known as synchronicity. The mugger does what he does and does something “bad” to the person who was “just waiting for it”, thus validating the person's beliefs and opinion of the neighborhood. The first person comes home some time later when everything is calm. To them there was no mugging. They are not acquainted with person number two and thus never find out about the event. Not caring about the statistics, which can be seen as records of manifestations, they never find out about the mugger. To person number one, the neighborhood remains safe and just as they have always perceived it. Each person has their opinion reflected back to them.

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