"It is OUR false hope that overwhelms us not these people who've behaved the same way their entire lives..."

Someone wrote:

"You let go by accepting... Insanity is rooted in not accepting... Once you learn acceptance life becomes more a mechanical process and less of a drama... Life can only be overwhelming as long as we carry poisonous false hope within us... It is OUR false hope that overwhelms us not these people who've behaved the same way their entire lives... Replace false hope with acceptance and you'll be free... By accepting (accepting full responsibility for) the reality we create, we ensure this false reality will never be recreated... Focus on what makes you susceptible to these expectations shaped by false hopes... All of life really happens inside of you. Resist the temptation to look outside... looking outside gives others power over you and drama is born..."

Yes, I have come to learn that everyone in the world is on a different journey and lives in their own reality they create. So how they treat me or respond towards me is a reflection of how they perceive themselves and others, which is something I have no control over. Like what the above  post says, I can learn to accept the full responsibility for the reality I create so that I will not be easily disappointed or disillusioned by my false hope or expectation of "people who have behaved the same way their entire lives". 

It reminds me of the example Ralph Smart gave in his video “How to Boost Your Confidence—You Are Worthy…Time to Fly!” - he also learnt to let go of expectations and accepted the fact that not everyone will resonate with his videos. There will be some people who respond positively and there will be others who respond negatively to his videos. So he shared that our perception of ourselves is what really matters because it is what shapes and governs our reality. 

I was reflecting that how people treat me is influenced or determined partly by how I treat or carry myself - if I practise self-love and acceptance and carry myself with dignity, perhaps there is a higher chance people will treat me the same way because according to the law of attraction, I will be attracting more of the good vibes I cultivate towards myself. 

Another part of the equation is that how others treat me is also partly determined by how they treat themselves. For example, if people are kind and friendly to me, it is because they are kind and friendly to themselves first. Similarly, if people like us and show respect to us, it is because they first like and respect themselves, and they like that part of themselves they see in us. I learnt this mainly from Carlton Pearson's teachings, and I find this observation to be mostly true. 

So having this awareness helps me to manage my own perception of the world, and reminds me to focus on living my own life and creating my own world instead of dwelling too much on what people may be thinking about me or how they treat me, which is not really within my control. It is an ongoing process as I need to remember this as often as I can and practise mindfulness so that I can continue to live in inner peace and harmony. 

A metaphysical interpretation of incarnation

Someone wrote:

"maybe the incarnation is in fact, a moment of realization, for every human, in that when the word (ideas; constructs; mediation) becomes flesh (materialization) we realize that prior to this what we have been experiencing was not reality at all..."

Yes, I too would see the incarnation as symbolic of a moment of realisation for every human being that the word (idea or construct about who we are and where we come from) is made flesh (manifestation). Perhaps before the word was made flesh, before the incarnation, symbolically speaking, people were living in darkness, in the sense of living under the illusion of separation. The shadow self/vengeful god/ego that caused people to live in fear, guilt and strifes with one another is brought to light and this darkness of ignorance could not overcome the light of the truth of our innate oneness, wholeness and beauty that is made manifest through the incarnation (or realisation of our true identity). 

Embracing our divinity and humanity

"Salvation thus resides in transforming how we position ourselves in relation to this state. We can outline these various positions in this way,

We are broken and don’t acknowledge it (through repression, disavowal etc.)

We are broken and do realize it

We are broken and affirm it

This doesn’t mean that we simply accept difficult things in our lives and resign ourselves to them. Rather it means freeing ourselves from the idea that something will bring some final inner harmony and learning to work for small, incremental changes. In concrete terms this means that, if we are ill, we don’t wait for a sudden change, but take concrete medical action and attempt to face the illness. Or that we don’t hide away from the world in some compound (whether that is a real compound or our bedroom), imagining that it will be remade in a perfect way, but work up the courage to try and change how we live now.

The idea that there is some way of bringing wholeness and harmony into our lives is actually an ideology which acts against making real change here and now, thus rendering us more susceptible to those who promise that they have the diet, drug or divinity that would make everything perfect again."
~ From "Happiness is Not a Three-Step Dance" by Peter Rollins

My understanding of the above message is that we can embrace not only our divinity but also our humanity including all our brokenness and sorrows and pains. It is about accepting reality and being responsible for creating our own reality and working through our own struggles instead of waiting for some god in the sky to make everything alright. In doing so, we are working out our own salvation as we are our own saviours (or physicians).

Coming out of fear-based religion is like coming back to life and back to reality

"I'M GONNA HAVE A BAD-HAIR DAY!
somebody just message me and said you couldn't go to Heaven unless you were baptized in water after Praying the sinner's prayer...
So....I pulled out half my hair.
I....REEEAAALLY HATE DUMB RELIGION!!!"- Robert Rutherford

Yes, the christian religion can be dumb. As much as I am coming to accept that there is no one true or perfect spiritual path, so to speak, since every one is unique (due to the fact that each of us has a unique spiritual DNA and is responsible for our own spiritual path), I also see that some aspects of christianity - especially the fundamentalist ones - can be dangerous. For example, I heard about a case of someone being told by a pastor that he could "see" a tumour in her body. It is sad that many people who are still in the religious circles are being vulnerable to so-called pastors claiming or presuming to have the "authority" to speak in the name of God. I want to address the issue of this cultic mindset in my blog, so as to spread the awareness of such spiritual abuse that is still going on, despite the fact that many are coming out of organised religion in view of the global spiritual awakening.

Incidentally, I was reading this blog "Taking charge of how we experience life" earlier on a similar subject, and I like what it says here:

"I knew that no one had the power to make me feel anything, except for me and my brain. Nothing external to me had the power to take away my peace of heart and mind. That was completely up to me. I may not be in total control of what happens to my life, but I certainly am in charge of how I choose to perceive my experience."

Yes, those of us who have learnt to meditate and watch our thought life have come to a place where we realise the importance of not allowing ourselves to be affected by what others tell us - especially negative or fear-inducing things - and instead choosing to perceive our own experience and guard our heart and remain in peace and wholeness.

Indeed, coming out of fear-based religion is like coming out of the illusion of fear and separation and coming back to life and back to reality, as the song by Soul II Soul goes.