Month: May 2016

Imagine you’re out and about, and you encounter someone banging their head against a wall, bleeding but persisting in their actions. Naturally, you’d feel sorry for the individual and want to understand what’s wrong so you can help. Now, imagine you go a little further and see a hundred people doing the same thing. You’d start to wonder how it’s possible that so many people are banging their heads despite the bleeding. Take it to the next level, and you see billions of people doing the same thing. At this point, you might begin to question your own mental health because you feel like the odd one out. If you start to think something might be wrong with you, hold on and assess the situation for yourself.

I know my voice may be weak and small, but what makes sense to me carries great weight. If banging your head until it bleeds is wrong, it remains wrong regardless of how many people are doing it. It’s easy to passionately defend ancestral knowledge and traditions, but it’s much harder to stand up against what is wrong, especially when it involves your own group or community.

The sense of belonging is a powerful phenomenon that envelops everyone, leading them to staunchly defend even when they’re in the wrong, driven by a self-centered attachment to their group.

Doctor Wayne Dyer offers an example about squeezing an orange: when you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice; squeezing an apple won’t give you orange juice. Similarly, if you harbor hate within you, squeezing will produce hate. A strong sense of belonging can obscure your sense of impartial justice for all human beings.

Self-discovery can reveal what lies within you: a spiritual being or a fervent follower of a sense of belonging, whether you’re an apple or an orange. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either, but problems arise when they pretend to be something else or judge each other as wrong. While this may not harm anyone else, it certainly leads to personal unhappiness.

Regardless of your identity—whether male, female, young, old, rich, poor, white, black, yellow, brown, gay, straight, or anything else—we should all take pride in and celebrate our lives because each of us is working towards a spiritual essence within.

For example, if you’re an orange, you rise early in the morning and invest effort into your daily activities. You perform best in the early hours and retire early in anticipation of the day ahead. Conversely, if you’re an apple, you prefer staying up late, energized into the night after sleeping in. There’s no fault in being either an apple or an orange. However, problems arise when you judge or act contrary to your natural inclination, leading only to personal suffering.

If you’re an orange and you begin to criticize an apple for not waking early, labeling them as lazy, or if an apple hangs out with oranges and wonders why they’re fading before midnight, it’s you trying to extract apple juice from an orange, or vice versa. Throughout life, we often resign ourselves to saying, “that’s just the way it is.” But it doesn’t have to be that way for me. If you’re an orange, be true to being an orange; if you’re an apple, embrace being an apple. If waking up early isn’t your thing, consider an evening job and enjoy the company of apples at night. Just refrain from judging each other’s differences, because it’s your own well-being that’s affected by living with or without judgment.

If you pray all the time and think that those who do not pray like you are lazy and not worshiping God in the way you do, consider this before judging others: they may be engaged in practical prayers and doing good for humanity, helping others more than you. Perhaps someone is busy developing medicine that could help many people live healthier lives, thus making themselves more useful to God through their actions than through prayers alone. Being helpful to humanity constitutes spiritual prayer, whereas praying for personal security, controlling the uncontrollable, and financial well-being are material prayers.

If you have a big ego, you will always believe your way is the right way because you feel that knowledge has been completed for you. Consequently, you judge others and impose your perspective instead of empathizing with them. Human beings have been both plagued and blessed with ego since the beginning, largely due to their sense of belonging to a group.

When you examine the growth and pitfalls of human societies, you’ll find ego playing a significant role. Individuals, regardless of mortality, strive harder to get ahead, seeking security and importance driven by various factors, including ego. Regardless of happiness and contentment, life continues just to end, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to live in a mode where you rob yourself of happiness and contentment in life.

If you believe that your belonging group is always right in its teachings or actions, you’ll continue following those beliefs even if they don’t contribute to your personal happiness. It’s crucial to understand that accumulating happiness should be your foremost priority, followed by considerations of life after death. If life after death is your primary concern, it likely stems from the group politics of your affiliation, rather than genuine spirituality. God placed you on Earth as a living being to reciprocate by fulfilling others’ prayers while enjoying life’s blessings yourself. If you opt otherwise, you must examine your motivations; often, an uncontrollable sense of belonging drives actions, even leading to spiritual transgressions.

Governments of belonging groups and religions benefit from frugal, conservative lifestyles, as they gain more power and resources. Individuals who work hard and live for the next life become diligent workers, consuming less and leaving resources for others. Collective prosperity seems beneficial, yet historically, humanity has often deprived other groups of resources, as evidenced by Canadian government actions towards indigenous groups.

While it’s commendable to sacrifice for one’s belonging group, greater still is sacrificing individual resources for all humanity. Many agree to contribute more to their groups, such as through taxes, yet this can lead to injustice for individuals. If an individual isn’t happy, it’s their responsibility to balance all aspects of life, doing good for others and oneself alike.

Living a selfless life is noble if rooted in genuine spirituality and devoid of ego. However, if the motivation behind selflessness is to gratify one’s ego, it would displease God. Such actions would not yield the expected spiritual rewards, leading to inner discontentment. God could then remind that free will was given to exercise justice for oneself and others.

Free will carries the responsibility to deepen our understanding of life, whether on an individual or collective level. If prioritizing collective interests over personal well-being strengthens your ego, free will also empowers you to navigate these choices. Understanding whether you resonate more with being an apple or an orange can provide clarity. Remember, perpetual inner conflict and deprivation are personal choices.

As human beings, we are created not as angels but with the imperative to understand ourselves and societal expectations. Always acknowledge that as a living human, you perform God’s physical work, making choices that angels cannot. Therefore, honor your intrinsic worth, comprehend your role in the broader context, and resist any attempts by your group affiliation to belittle you.

Even if everyone in your group engages in harmful behavior, akin to banging their heads until they bleed, you have the autonomy to dissent. Seek logical reasoning and avoid blind conformity. You were created as an independent entity with free will; embrace this freedom to evolve towards a more humane existence beyond mere group affiliations.

The belief system of the insecure individual

Throughout our history, we have been preached to about right and wrong. When preaching is considered as law, we run into more social problems because enforcement of the law requires clear definitions and assurance that no injustice is done to the innocent. Stealing should be against the law because, as we examine our history as creatures, it can lead to life-and-death situations. We don’t need to delve deeply to understand that stealing is a crime; simply observing the responses of other creatures and even human beings to the unjust loss of any possession reveals this. Basic rules can be applied, but when it comes to nature, our rules must align with it. For instance, when hungry, you must eat to survive; even having children is a natural order where placing right or wrong upon it is irrelevant. It will occur regardless; there has been no success with any rules against this natural phenomenon. Chinese could not control their population despitWe cannot train ourselves according to ethics, and our world has been shrinking for a very long time. It’s about time that we learn that our ethics and laws should be separated. We cannot continue clashing over our rights and wrongs.

Our strong desire not to be associated with other animals has taken its toll. We push so hard to go to the other extreme and become fundamentalists. We believe so passionately that we are right, to the point that it leads us to cross the lines of humanity, making us worse than the animals we perceive as inferior to us.

We are created as humans with an animal side, and we cannot be any other way. If we choose any extreme, we go against God’s will. We cannot simply be animals, nor can we be completely other than that. We must follow nature—not necessarily like other creatures, but as humans. We function like other creatures; we need oxygen, we bleed, we eat, and we have a strong natural desire to reproduce. These fundamentals have not changed since the beginning and will not change. Therefore, claiming that our way is the right and only way is plain arrogant and egotistic.e the strictest rules, and no religion has succeeded in regulating it, regardless of moral education.

There are hundreds of different cultures and societies of human beings, each with its own ways of doing things. Saying they are all wrong because they do not follow our ways means we are wrong as human beings. If a couple is married with traditions other than Muslim or Christian, we cannot claim their children are all bastards. It is simply wrong not to accept differences. When it comes to common crimes like killing or robbing, they are illegal in all societies, but having children is an ethical issue for all groups, not a matter of law. Enforcing rules by killing people actually goes against the law of nature.

Every society faces social problems, and the more we attempt to control them, the worse they often become, eventually necessitating adaptation over time. Ethics serve as self-created boundaries and can benefit individuals or groups, but enforcing these ethical norms as laws is problematic because everyone comprehends life differently and comes from diverse backgrounds. To live together harmoniously, we must delineate boundaries; in social settings, we require both legal rules and general ethical guidelines for self-regulation.

When examining the root causes of contemporary social issues, they invariably trace back to individual behavior. Our control mechanisms are frequently tainted by fear-based politics. For instance, consider two groups or gangs, each comprising twenty members. The first group adheres to a traditional hierarchical governance structure where the leader wields absolute power with an iron fist. Workers refrain from voicing dissent due to fear, even for their lives, fostering loyalty out of fear. The leader eliminates any potential challengers to maintain their power and may designate a family member as successor should they become incapacitated. If the chosen family member cannot manage the responsibilities, the group risks dissolution.

On the other hand, the second group fosters leadership qualities in every member. Each member has the potential to lead. Both groups are vulnerable to dissolution for various reasons, but the second group’s loyalty is not rooted in fear. A fearless environment encourages lively discussions and debates that can steer the group in any direction. It has the capacity to fragment into smaller entities or coalesce into a stronger single entity by resolving issues through dialogue. Strong individuals can strengthen the group by resolving their differences. This dynamic defines how our world operates. Are we successful in addressing our challenges? We are in the process, leaving it up to individuals to determine how they wish to live their lives.

Throughout history, strong leaderships have often faltered due to natural aging or the leader’s demise. Weaker, fearful individuals struggle to sustain a group without a strong leader, causing groups of weak individuals to disintegrate. A group’s strength correlates directly with the strength of its individuals; it is only as robust as its weakest link. Ultimately, it all boils down to the individual.

Whether in small groups, gangs, larger scales like nations or religions, our human nature significantly influences systems of security and control. Understanding our nature is as crucial as mastering intellectual strategies. Insecure individuals breed insecure groups. The concealed insecurities of individuals within groups dictate the group’s political policies. Internal conflicts over policies have historically marred humanity, rooted not in devilish forces but in human cunning, which can obscure truths within political realms.

If you create or encourage secure individuals to form a group, their discussions are not tainted by the sense of belonging to group politics because they are all CEOs. They can think beyond the differences of group politics and reach for the good of humanity as a whole. As individuals, if we learn about our insecurities, we can find the reasons for our strong need for a sense of belonging to a group. Understanding the reasons for this need can help us break boundaries and recognize our individual connection to all humankind. Otherwise, people like Donald Trump can become leaders by exploiting security concerns. He talks about building walls, whereas Ronald Reagan used the famous phrase, “tear down the wall of Berlin.” Humanity needs to become united to evolve.

When we feel secure enough to stand alone, independent, and self-reliant, we can understand the need and the price we pay to belong. History shows, and it still clearly exists, that an individual is not recognized as a force by society. In traditional group politics, the individual is insignificant, and so the wars between groups continue. If we, as individuals, start to question our group politics and acknowledge individual suffering, we will begin to seek peace as a basic human right.

Human wars will not stop unless the individual feels secure from within. This is not possible unless we start to unite as a human entity. The internet is a God-sent opportunity and can be used to further the cause of the individual. It is time to move beyond nationalism and promote internationalism. We must denounce politically charged organized religions and spread their original messages of humanity and spirituality, free from politics.

We must work against the belief that we are better than others. Through education, we can raise awareness of the true purpose of our evolutionary soul. The divine aspect of humanity has not yet been fully recognized. It is our responsibility to discover our potential and fulfill God’s will. You cannot grow as an individual if you do not seek growth.

Every society has its own laws, manifestos, and systems to function. We make amendments to improve and change as times demand. Religions should not be part of societal laws; they should remain individual responsibilities.

Tolerance toward each other, and the importance of humanity and spirituality over group belonging, has become essential for today’s societies. Tolerance is a mandate from God. Just look at our progress as humanity—we have been evolving gradually, and this evolution requires flexibility. Extremism is unacceptable for humans because we are all in the process of evolution and are not yet complete. Until we reach our full potential, we cannot take a solid stand in any area of our lives. While we may need to make judgments, they must evolve as our knowledge evolves. Growth is an ongoing process. In this context, we should respect each other’s faith and live together in harmony. World peace lies in the hands of the individual, because an individual with inner peace is always tolerant and capable of spreading that peace. Today, the need for tolerant people is greater than ever. You cannot claim something as truth until you have grown enough to embody that truth within yourself.

Since faith, religion, and God are areas where we need to evolve and learn more, we should all be humble about our lack of knowledge. Claiming that one’s religion and God are superior to others is like a child starting to compete and compare without a full understanding. The more we dig, the crazier we can become because we lack the capacity to understand everything yet. While competing and comparing can drive us forward, the realms of God, spirituality, and humanity transcend these pursuits. Interestingly, the essence of this knowledge points towards altruism, yet religious wars have taken the greatest toll on human life. Practice what you preach—it can’t get simpler than that. All major religions are not living up to their teachings. All the morality, ethics, compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love are lost when religions become political entities.

Comparison is off-limits in spirituality. The best aspect of all religions is that they began with teachings to do good for others, even for other creatures. Spirituality initially emerged through religions until they became tainted with group politics, leading to injustices against others. Spirituality is about doing good for humanity, not just for a certain group of people. It is about serving humanity and God, as I believe God lives through each individual, and thus through humanity.

We are often taught to protect our religion at all costs, yet religions have been fighting each other and are plagued with internal conflicts. If no one knows 100% about God, why do we fight so passionately over God? It is time for individuals to shoulder the responsibility; it is our duty to understand that our knowledge is evolutionary, and at any given time, we cannot claim to know everything.

When we are locked into rigid ideologies of right and wrong, our capacity to explore diminishes, and we deny our evolutionary nature, which is evident in our everyday lives. There is no doubt about the knowledge contained in the Holy Books, but we must understand that as evolving humans, our ability to grasp this knowledge is incomplete. We have interjected our partial knowledge, tainted with a strong sense of belonging and an attitude that our beliefs are superior to others. If an individual can reach an altruistic stage, inner peace fosters tolerance, and this peace flows outward regardless of faith.

Goodness does not belong to any one particular group, race, gender, nation, or religion; it belongs to the individual. We need more people who are immune to the competitive stage of our growth. As individuals, we all need to understand the process of our growth and the importance of free will.

The role of a CEO carries significant responsibility; you can’t just claim to be a CEO. You must be able to do justice to all aspects of life. Can you make decisions without the influences of external forces like religions and internal forces like a sense of belonging and freedom?

A CEO believes they are constantly growing and changing as required. It is against human nature not to grow over time, but this stagnation is quite popular and egotistic in conservative societies. God did not intend for human beings to have free will and be like other creatures. We can take charge of our lives as we please, for better or worse. Given this, we are more responsible than we are led to believe. If we take it to an extreme and think that we are the ultimate authority, that our knowledge is the ultimate knowledge, we start to regress as spiritual beings. History shows both extremes. We have been progressing and regressing back and forth, yet still progressing overall. Our evolution is multi-pronged, which makes us natural and God-created CEOs.

When you start to juggle all the departments of life, you automatically become a politician of personal life. One department can become more important at any given time and can be attended to without losing sight of the other areas of life. Our connection to our inner and outer worlds needs attention, so the focus can shift back and forth among various departments, yet they all remain important. If a person gets sick, the “health department” should become the priority because, without health, everything else fails. Therefore, our priorities change temporarily as needed.

With free will, we become the decision-makers who know how to deal with inner problems while staying connected to the larger picture.

Despite our self-importance, humans are quite insignificant and fragile. Everything in our lives is highly dependent on the harmony of several natural events. Even our next breath is beyond our control. Fortunately, oxygen is provided freely by nature, and the ability to absorb oxygen is another intricate dance dependent on several automatic systems running simultaneously. An abundance of confidence hormones can make us forget how fragile we actually are.

We plan our whole lives as if we are in total control until something happens to make us realize where we stand in the bigger picture. A good CEO should understand this, so they can make decisions accordingly. Politics is always needed to either bow down or stand up in various circumstances. If this is the case, human truth can change at any given moment. Since I suggest that a person should live life in total control and take charge of everything, we first need to learn about ourselves, our limits, and our abilities. A good CEO should be able to see the potential and limitations of the project of their life.

If you are working on a computer and it does not do what you want it to do, you don’t just start to pray to God for it. Either you call someone who knows more about the computer than you, or you do your best to figure out the problem. If God were fixing every little problem you have, you would leave everything to God to run your life, which is against God’s will. God has done His duty by giving us free will and potential; we should not undermine God by not giving our best before asking for help. If we believe God is doing everything good for us, we will blame God for everything bad in our lives as well. Sure, our life story includes both good and bad, but our will helps us to be good CEOs and make the best with whatever we have.

We are far too controlled by group politics. It is time to bring the individual’s importance and responsibilities to the forefront.

The trouble is that good and bad are often dictated by group politics. Being considered good within your group does not guarantee that you are truly good. For example, if your group says you will become a hero by killing innocent people, you might go ahead and do it, thinking you are a good person. If someone asks why, you might say you were just doing your job, meaning you did not take personal responsibility for your actions. However, in today’s legal system, if you are an adult, you are responsible for your actions even if your group or boss ordered you to kill someone.

We are blessed with free will, which makes us all responsible for our actions. We often don’t even follow the orders of God because of our free will, so why can’t we say no to following wrongful group politics?

We need to work hard to understand free will, the sense of freedom, the sense of belonging, group politics, and above all, humanity. We can’t blame our sins on the devil or other people. God has done His job by giving us the power to choose. As individuals, we have the responsibility to act as CEOs of our own lives and reciprocate to God and humanity during our temporary lifetime.

We all start as a drop of rain on a mountain, which has come together through the actions of the ocean and the clouds. Whether God existed as an ocean or became an ocean with a mass of believers, the majestic powers belong to God either way. Disasters or other incomprehensible events should not be blamed on the devil or credited to God; instead, we need to work on our understanding.

Just as the ocean can cause rain, so too does the drop of rain belong to the ocean. Similarly, we start and finish in the ocean of existence. Our journey of life is like a drop of rain that can turn into a raging river, yet it is interconnected with the people around us. Pride, honor, and ego are side effects of a strong sense of belonging. There is nothing wrong with pride and ego until they start to hurt the individual or others.

As we reach higher and closer to our potential, we understand more and more over time. Whether inside the box or outside, if you are a curious individual, you have the responsibility to make your own choices. These choices should be made without the influence of a sense of belonging, ego, pride, sense of freedom, desire for revenge for lost loved ones, land disputes, or simply differences of opinion. We are all different and are influenced by the knowledge and group politics that surround us.

I wanted to end here, but the news from Quebec compelled me to mention that even today, in a modern country like Canada, we still deal with intolerance and language issues. These are prime examples of the politics of group belonging. Yet, we should be secure enough to belong to all of humanity as one entity.