Well, there can be benefits in "acting as if" one is "X" when used in a spiritual sense - PROVIDED one does not delude oneself, nor attempt to delude others. (it helps to develop those characteristics in onself, almost as if it was a variation of an affirmation.) The issue I wish to consider in this post relates, in part, to how people behave with children, and I wish to take a different point of view to Rampa on this, but I also wish to consider the issue of "indigo children".
Now, Rampa considers that the world went off track in World War One because women went to work, and - in his view - family discipline broke down, and children were raised without discipline.
Now, in brief, my response to that point of view is:
- Problems with obnoxious children existed before then - to a significant enough extent, in my view, to counter the argument that social dysfunction is related to a change in family structure. Also, modern ideas on what constitutes a proper family structure are a relatively recent thing - go back a millennia, and see how family compared to tribe, for instance.
- ALL parents involved in a parenting situation (there may be one, two or more) have a responsibility because of their involvement in that parenting situation to do what they should, as parents: it is NOT just "the mother's" responsibility - apart from anything else, what if there are two mothers, two lesbians, raising children (which research shows leads to normal, but more inclusive and considerate children)? Men don't get to cop out of time with children and responsibility for doing what they can simply because they work elsewhere, rather than doing the work at home that housewives - and househusbands - do.
- As well as deferral of gratification [1], a major need in becoming mature (which is not the same as chronologically aging!) is realising the need for self discipline. There is an argument that this comes from the external imposition of discipline: that may be so for some, no doubt, but it comes MOST OF ALL from the example that parents set, and is absorbed by osmosis into the children (see my recent post here on the topic of osmosis). In fact, here in Victoria we have even had government funded campaigns about this happening in the case of domestic violence, where young boys may learn that behaviour by seeing it amongst those about them, and think that it is "how relationships are done".
If I was asked to rate the examples I have just given, I would put the second, the massive group thought forms created by massive suffering, whether wars, famines (as happened in China when Mao tried his agrarian reform) or natural disasters, is probably one of the biggest and yet least credited influences affecting the condition of this planet. (Not to mention the many people who are still earthbound in misery and pain because of their deaths in such wars etc.)
Before I go further, I would like to pose a solution to this particular problem that each of you, Dear Readers, can do:
- know yourself deeply, intimately and truly, so you can separate your feelings, thoughts and emotions from those that are from external sources;
- build your psychic health and strength so that you are more naturally immune to such influences;
- learn and USE the skills of flaming, grounding and shielding (see here and here);
- learn to meditate so you can be in touch with your Higher Self (or, if you prefer, you innermost, truest self) and thus be less swayed by what is happening or being said or done around you on the physical plane;
- send positive energy (including healing) to those who are in trouble, or worse off than yourself - even if all you do is light a candle for them, and make such donations or other help as you can;
- avoid a lifestyle of excess, meaning do not be excessively consumeristic.
Now, I actually consider the notion of "indigo children" to be largely myth. I consider the "improvements" being noticed are largely due to different circumstances - namely, that fewer people in developed societies have to struggle for survival, and as a result, other characteristics have the chance to come out.
It's a bit like diseases of affluence, such as heart failure: when people lost their teeth at forty and starved to death, they didn't have a chance to develop heart problems due to being overweight. When, a little closer to modern times, people had got past that, many were still struggling to have enough food to eat in winter and to have a place to live (I am thinking of the late Middle Ages, Industrial Revolution and Victorian era), and basic education that we take for granted now (such as literacy or numeracy - although some consider those not as good as they should be) was their equivalent of today's "indigo children". Now, we have more than enough to eat, a lot of reasonable education (although certainly room for improvement) and "indigo children", who may simply be manifesting what all of us can do if we had come into their circumstances, are the latest novelty.
I do not consider children now are inherently either better OR worse than at other times in recent history - in fact, I can quip that I find kids as obnoxious now as when I was growing up (which, incidentally, is why I chose not to be a teacher, despite several teachers suggesting it - I looked at the behaviour of my classmates and said "no thank you").
I do not consider them worse, although world circumstances may make it seem that way, but neither do I find them better: children are still mostly immature people (almost by definition, as it were) and in need of guidance, as has recently been said about "AFL girl" - see here).
The problem which may apply when kids are over-rated is that they may be over-indulged, which is not good for developing maturity or maturity's side kick, self discipline. (It could also actually contribute to inappropriate reactions to agape, as I recently posted about.)
Of course, this may actually be a variation of self indulgence, which is a particular shamanic sin according to Castenada, largely overcome by the philosophy of "feel the fear but do it anyway". I am thinking here particularly of what I have seen in China of the one child family, where having a male child is seen as something wonderful, which is compounded by not supposedly having more than one child. In that case, the attention lavished on the child is not actually about the child, nor about love, it is about feeling good about oneself for what one has done "for the family".
It's an easy enough step from that to extrapolate and say "is self indulgence the greatest sin in the world?" After all, that characteristic can be easily blamed for materialism, greed (wanting to do more than the Joneses, in a sense), selfishness, lack of self discipline, etc. So ... is self indulgence actually the "sin" underlying the world's woes? No.
No, I think the world is far too complex to say one thing is "it". We need to address ALL the genuine problems of this world, including world hunger and poverty, if this world is to become a better place.
What each of us can do is start looking after our little bit of the world, and making sure we are trying to make the world a better place by making ourselves better people, by dealing with problems, learning about psychic matters and considering spirituality (or our "purpose of life").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
Notes:
- [1] I started having lessons on this early. When I was at primary school, I was eating a sandwich for lunch, carefully leaving the best for last, when a friend of mine - who didn't have lunch that day for some reason - was hungry, grabbed my sandwich and bit into the best bit that I had been saving for last. He was actually very disbelieving that I was doing so.
Tags: personal responsibility, personal characteristics, self indulgence, selfishness, psychic health, energy work, society, socialisation, war, thought form, groups, family, prejudice, children,
First published: Thorsdagr, 24th February, 2011
Last edited: Thursday, 24th February, 2011
