As I drove in to work yesterday, I was appalled by the number of people
who put personal convenience ahead of obeying the road rules - including
expecting other people to give way when not required to. There are all sorts of
arguments around whether some rules are actually safe or not, but the facts
are, everyone driving agreed to be bound by those rules when they got a
Licence: to break those rules is to dishonour one's own word, and thereby to
diminish one's soul - whether you're running late for work or not, and whether
the reasons for same are beyond your control or not.
This is, of course, PARTLY a conflict of worldviews: mine is that
personal honour is more important than personal convenience. There are others
who consider personal convenience more important, but there are also people
driving dangerously because their conception of honour is that, for instance,
being on time at work justifies taking risks that they consider 'safe'. My
response to that is:
(a) their judgement as to what is likely to be safe is quite possibly flawed by the stress of being late for work (and quite possibly a tinge of guilt, in some people);(b) prevention of being late is better than trying to cram more into a shorter timeframe (and underestimating travel time is one of the big problems here - often made when travelling for the first time in peak or inner city/suburban conditions ... or when failing to remember how long it took the last time :) );(c) these people are establishing a habit of 'bending the rules' rather than a habit of applying the precautionary principle and complying with road rules unless the road rules are demonstrably dangerous, which is both personally sloppy and also inclines them - or others they influence - more towards finally taking a risk that isn't safe;(d) much as adoption of the death penalty inherently undermines the principle of the sanctity of life, those who advance personal convenience ahead of honour are contributing towards a more stressed world, one where impatient, aggressive, intimidatory behaviour on the roads is claimed to be justifiable in some way, rather than contributing to a more relaxed, low-key, enjoyable world;(e) they are creating negative karma that will come back to them.
Spiritually speaking, honour doesn't get much of a run when people are
talking about values. Love, emotional warm fuzzies, 'highs', etc often do, but
rarely those attributes associated with doing the hard, gritty work which is
required in order for one to make serious progress spiritually. Addiction to
warm fuzzies doesn't help when facing up to deep character flaws in oneself or
the negative karmic debts one has accrued: that takes courage, honesty and
commitment to deeper spiritual principles - including the spiritual principle
of honour. Why honour? Because if you don't have honour, you may lie to
yourself, gloss over a problem, or kid yourself that a superficial response has
changed you or adequately addressed your problem when it hasn't.
And don't forget that Love (yes - capitalised!), emotional warm fuzzies, 'highs', etc are actually also important - despite my dismissive tone.
The thing about all these spiritual principles is that, if you want
them as part of your being, you have to work at it. If you want to be a person
who is connected to higher spiritual forces, you need to spend time making the
connection and refining your ability to do so (so ... lots of meditation :) ); if
you want to be an honourable person, you need to spend time being an honourable
person - and the time spent travelling to work, or doing other driving, and the
time at work, is often a significant chunk of your life. You cannot be
honourable at home for 2 hours a day, dishonourable for 2 hours commuting and
neutral for 9 hours at work, and then consider yourself an honourable person.
If you want to consider yourself an honourable person, allowing time for
mistakes and off days etc, I would consider you need to spend at least 80% of
your time being as honourable as you can - and that is going to include time
spent driving.
So ... honouring your commitment to obeying the road rules is, as far
as I am concerned, a part of being a more spiritual person.
Oh, and it is significant that so many 'fictional' books talk about the
erosion of power when serious Light workers/spiritual people break their word.
That erosion really does happen: I've seen it.
[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.
I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity.
- One size does NOT fit all.
- Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.
- Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Ban the dream interpretation industry!
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
- Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
- "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
- Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
- The means shape the end.
- As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Do not pray for easy
lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th
century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that.
Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in
their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If
you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech)
Too
much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and
community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air
pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our
highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the
joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the
strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the
integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our
courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor
our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except
that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: growth, honour, personal characteristics, personal responsibility,
First published: Fryrsdagr, 7th February, 2014
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Friday, 7th February, 2014
