I personally don’t believe in being good out of fear of hell or greed for heaven. For spiritual entities like human beings, we should evolve beyond the carrot-and-stick philosophy. Animals can be trained using this approach, but as humans, we are not in the same category. We have the capacity to control our instincts through education and understanding of our spiritual responsibilities. The proof is in the pudding: societies with the lowest crime rates are not necessarily religious. These societies promote education over strict punishments because barbaric punishments are beneath our compassionate human nature. Being good is a personal and individual responsibility, directly tied to our reciprocity with God. In reality, our good deeds are not defined by prayers or pilgrimages; they are reflected in the practical help we provide to those in need who are praying to God for assistance. Religions may preach prayers as a holy duty and demand absolute and unquestioning obedience, but God and humanity require physical, action-based good deeds. If you are good because of fear or greed, you adhere to the carrot-and-stick philosophy, which I find demeaning for a human individual endowed with their own spiritual essence from birth.
There are three main issues with the carrot-and-stick philosophy. First, you would need to die to find out about your consequential results. Second, being good is often done for others and typically out of fear or greed, lacking personal responsibility or a sense of duty. This means there is no guarantee that everyone will follow or adhere to the prescribed rules. Third, we are not created like simple animals who need carrot-and-stick training. We are human beings with our own “atom of autonomy,” akin to mini-gods. Each of us possesses our own spiritual essence, so treating us as if we were genetically programmed animals is demeaning. Being told we are irrelevant or even born sinners cannot be based on truth but rather on a political agenda designed to control society. How do you view your belonging to the group you were born into? It’s your prerogative, but personally, I feel offended when treated as a mere physical creature rather than a spiritual entity.
Now, let me ask you personally: Do you see yourself as a conforming being molded by the demands of your society, or do you see yourself as a PERSON IN CHARGE OF YOUR MORTAL LIFE? Are you a CEO who understands what it means to be a human being, or an independent entity carrying a personal “God particle” or atom of autonomy within? If so, how does it feel living among people who consider you irrelevant in the context of spirituality? God and the Devil have long been dominant realities in our world. Politically stripping individuals of their relevance has consequences. When society makes individuals believe they are irrelevant, it leads to a loss of self-respect and self-esteem. An individual lacking self-respect and self-esteem becomes dependent and loses their sense of personal responsibility and place in the spiritual picture. Without individual responsibility, society cannot flourish. Crime rates and moral ethics related to personal responsibility would be compromised, regardless of strict punishments. Logically, no governing system can hire enough police officers for each individual; eventually, things fall on the individual’s shoulders. Discouraging personal importance and relevance leads to social chaos because humans are unique entities. Religions have had their heyday, but as people question everything, they seek answers where they can find them. Remember, God and the Devil are metaphorical realities, not physical entities like living, breathing humans. Not everyone agrees on their importance or human irrelevance. It is essential to recognize that while there is undeniable need and place for our metaphorical realities, they should never outweigh our physical realities. Therefore, killings in the name of metaphorical realities are unjustifiable.
I personally dislike categorizing people because I strongly believe in our evolutionary nature, individualism, and the individual as the foundation of community and even God. Consider this: if you hypothetically ask a human cell, “What is God?” it would say that God is the human body, which provides oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood to keep the cells alive and functioning. The cell’s survival depends on the living, breathing body, and the body’s survival also depends on the cell’s well-being. Life becomes complicated, leaving room for political influences to undermine individual importance. This relationship can be seen as one of give-and-take or simple reciprocation. Now, imagine yourself as a cell of God to make sense of your life. This metaphor may help you see things more clearly. If you ask me what God is, I might say I don’t know because I genuinely don’t know. I don’t like making assumptions, but I use this metaphor to illustrate my point. Although there is a wealth of knowledge about God, much of it is tainted by political agendas related to the sense of belonging. I admit that I don’t know everything because I believe I am still evolving and learning. Unfortunately, many people blindly believe they know everything about God, the Devil, heaven, and hell. For these individuals, everything is already figured out, and questioning or further learning is unnecessary. Often, things seem real to us because we are pressured to respect authority, leading us to accept ancestral knowledge mostly out of loyalty to our groups. Questioning myself has helped me view our spiritual picture critically, and I believe that if there is spiritual injustice, that picture is no longer holy.
Nothing scientific, but my logic suggests that if I don’t even own my own breath, why am I so certain that I am doing everything? My claim to know everything doesn’t stand on solid ground because if I did it all, I did it with the help of that very breath over which I have absolutely no control. Does this mean that what a human being does has some external assistance, whether good or bad? This would imply that God is complicit in everything that happens in humanity. Try to digest this for a moment and then consider your own relevance. If God were pulling our strings, we would be genetically programmed to do certain things and be unable to do others. As human beings, there are no such boundaries for us, so if everything is decided by us, shouldn’t we take on more personal responsibility for our actions?
Belief in God or not is not a measuring stick. The proof is in the pudding—these days, everything around us is changing. We can track storms and even name them. We have advanced in knowledge about artificial insemination, test tubes, stem cells, and space travel, even for pleasure. Yet, we still claim to know everything about God and the Devil. There is a balance we can create between our physical and spiritual realities. If my breath is not mine and my whole life is on borrowed time, how I spend it is my prerogative. However, functioning as a dependent and feeling irrelevant is not my nature. I would do justice to myself by believing in my relevance and importance and taking responsibility for my personal actions. I would rather believe and reciprocate to God for my oxygen and the gift of a functioning body. If this give-and-take is the game of spirituality, I should play with honesty, carry my load, and fulfill my responsibilities according to the time and era I am born into.
Sure, we have been shaped by the politics of our belonging groups and trained to follow their traditions, customs, rituals, and rules. However, the evolution of time is helping us think beyond our group boundaries. Despite our political conditioning, most of us desire to live in a peaceful society. Politics has been involved at every stage of our growth, making our evolution and social conformation never purely spiritual. Politics has been used by our groups to the extent that even individually, we may see political prejudice and discrimination as normal. Despite our level of evolution, many today still fail to see the damage caused by the politics of belonging. We are often brainwashed to the point that we are blind to our responsibilities as human beings. Our loyalties make us unable to see the political taint even in our personal spirituality. We can’t use our personal sense of justice and become prejudiced and discriminatory. We fail to acknowledge that as individuals, we have personal responsibilities to ensure we don’t do to others what we wouldn’t want done to us or our loved ones.
As physical creatures influenced by insecurities and wrapped in political influences, we are fearful and insecure. We fear loneliness, and our societies use this fear as a tool for conformity. This fear is the most powerful motivator for us to conform and compromise. Regardless of our personal traits, we learn to see the merits of living within our group environment. We have created a world where individuals have ceded their personal power to their groups. Until recently, we followed our groups’ traditions, customs, rituals, and rules without question. Today, we live in melting-pot societies, and as evolved human beings, we are more inclined to grant equal rights to each other, viewing racism, prejudice, and discrimination as flaws. There has been a significant shift in humanity’s attitude, but there is still a long way to go. Even though conservative populations may still pull us back in time, there is now a struggle or tug of war that wasn’t there before. Remember, religious people have burned witches and even killed innocent children in the name of conformity. We should take comfort in knowing that we have evolved to this level because of those constant inner battles.
The journey from killing each other to learning the need to love one another hasn’t been easy. If you look at our history, there have been many pitfalls. We still kill each other, but humanity is gradually coming to accept the concept of one shared humanity. Our current issues—such as the quest for equal human rights, infectious diseases like the coronavirus, global warming, and new internet-related crimes—point to the needs of present-day humanity to conform to the demands of the times. Unfortunately, humanity is divided in many ways. To succeed, we must confront our deep personal insecurities, deal with our nature, and evolve spiritually to understand our influences.
I’m not going to rely on the powerful nature of shapes because I personally believe in our evolutionary nature. As individuals, we all have the potential to grow with our knowledge. If you find yourself molded into a particular shape, understand that you are not genetically locked into that shape and its related boundaries. You may have created those boundaries out of insecurities or been conformed due to early brainwashing. It is an undeniable fact that human beings have been evolving. We have not grown horns or wings, but we are evolving every day. If you see yourself conformed to a certain shape or category, or if you behave and believe that you are merely an extension of your group, you may need to step up, expand, and evolve to find your place in today’s world.
Before we proceed, my first message to you is this: Don’t let your insecurities and the politics of belonging spiritually bankrupt you. Remember your mortal nature and understand it this way: if a flower blooms and dies, its short life should not be seen as a doom and gloom for its temporary beauty. Beauty is beauty, regardless of its mortality, so be beautiful while you have the chance. The flower’s bloom and demise are highly perceptive to us human beings. If you remember to appreciate its beauty, you can see the spiritual picture; otherwise, personal life can feel like a drag. The flower’s nature teaches us about ourselves. If you can’t or don’t want to enjoy your beauty, it’s wrong on all fronts. Remember, you have been blessed with free will, so you can’t blame your creator. If your desire to control the uncontrollable is robbing your happiness, it is under your free will to choose.
Keep your personal sense of justice and responsibilities in front of you at all times, especially if you want a successful mortal life. Whether you believe in hell and heaven or not, if you achieve a level of comfort from within your mortal self, you have nothing to worry about. Whether during or after physical life, things will be fine for you—especially if you have lived reciprocating honestly, whether with God, your loved ones, or others. If reciprocation is done as a personal responsibility without the fear of hell or greed for heaven, it will ensure peace of mind from within. This peace of mind will persist throughout your life by removing fears and greed about the afterlife. Remember, your atom of autonomy is within you, helping navigate life honestly. You simply need to acknowledge, value, and nurture your spiritual side to connect with this personal source of goodness. Since we have not fully emerged from the spells of our political conditioning and have not yet taken on the responsibilities of being the CEO of our own lives, it will take more time for us to evolve. We are still grappling with personal relevance and self-esteem issues. This is largely due to politically motivated policies from corrupt religious authorities. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to keep us insecure, not only in our living years but even in the afterlife. Does this mean I don’t believe in life after death? Not at all. I believe that area is part of our ongoing evolution, so I avoid making assumptions and will find out when I get there. Not knowing is not a problem; it is a fact. Denying this human fact is political. Reality is, we are not living in the bush or caves, nor are we in mud huts. Our progress shows that our knowledge is constantly evolving, and we are moving forward. I personally believe that it’s not all doom and gloom, so the fear and greed-based carrot-and-stick philosophy is not necessary for any individual.
If you start to name God and the Devil, you automatically believe that all good comes from God and all bad comes from the Devil. Let’s examine this with some common-sense logic: How does good and bad take physical form or actually happen? If you can’t see that all good and bad are performed physically by human beings, you may need some spiritual awakening. To me, the human individual is the main character in this holy picture but has lost status due to the politics of belonging to our groups. God and the Devil would mean nothing if there were no human beings to act on their behalf. If you believe God and the Devil are responsible for everything, where do you fit in, especially your free will? If you still think they should be at the top of the hierarchy as your religions suggest, you have the right to believe that, but you must also grant the same rights to those who disagree. Since human beings are the ones who physically make things happen, they should be at the top corner of this holy triangle and respected as a key player. Today’s humanity recognizes this, and human beings have become a physical reality. Thus, you cannot place a physical reality below metaphorical realities like God and the Devil. If your religion preaches that human beings are irrelevant, unimportant, or even born sinners, and you believe this to the extent of losing your personal respect and self-esteem, look at your makeup and abilities. It’s your own fault because you are blessed with free will directly from God. So remember, nothing good or bad happens other than natural accidents without the help of human beings. For physical help, human beings are at the very least an equal partner or a key equation in this triangle. Spirituality becomes impotent without human beings, so the holy picture only makes sense if humans are present, contributing physically, and are respected accordingly.
I started this blog project with the title “Who Flipped My Triangle?” for this reason and have been trying to explain it all in simple words. Interestingly, this does not stop at our original politically flipped triangle. The second politically flipped triangle relates to our individual lives as well, where you are the CEO and should be at the top corner, with your sense of belonging and sense of freedom at the bottom. Unfortunately, this has been politically flipped as well. Visualize this triangle: the right-side-up triangle has the CEO at the top corner.
Sense of Belonging Sense of Freedom
CEO
Sense of belonging Sense of freedom
Being human comes with significant personal responsibilities. Each of us needs to view ourselves as responsible adults, capable of questioning and choosing beyond the beliefs of our belonging groups. Spiritually, an individual is an ocean in a drop; our responsibilities extend far beyond merely belonging to groups. As human beings, every single one of us has the capacity to exercise free will. As long as you are healthy and functioning, this free will makes you an entity in a class of its own. Unlike worker bees or warrior ants, who lack choices, you have the freedom to decide because you were born a human being. If the politics of belonging have influenced and molded you, you may live and die like a genetically programmed entity. Nonetheless, it is still your choice, because you possess free will. This free will not only makes you responsible for your actions but also places you in the role of CEO of your life. In this context, your place in the triangle is at the top corner. If you feel otherwise, it is because you have not embraced your responsibilities as CEO. If your sense of belonging or freedom is dictating your actions, your triangle is politically flipped, meaning you are not in control of your life—your belonging groups are.
If you genuinely believe that we should act on behalf of our groups, what does that make you? A worker bee, a warrior ant, or a human being who is supposed to have free will, personal justice, compassion, and love? It is important to recognize that failing to take responsibility for our personal actions is not an option. Being in control of our lives makes us feel good, and anything that makes us feel good can become addictive. These controlling addictions, given our mortal nature, can lead to constant inner conflicts. Living with these inner conflicts can deprive us of much more than just personal comfort and happiness. Research shows that our stress levels are scientifically connected to various physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual disorders. Since our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health is at stake, we need to critically assess our personal lives. For instance, if you do not accept your mortality yet deep down recognize it as a fact of life, you are both the cause and the solution. The sooner you accept this undeniable reality, the better, as you will want to maximize your time rather than sacrifice your happiness during your temporary visit.
Our reality is that we come into this world alone and leave alone. Aside from our assumptions, we do not truly know where we come from or where we are going. The time in between is our personal and individual time. We can make better use of it by choosing to become the CEO of our lives. Otherwise, we may live and die in vain without even realizing it. While we can form emotional attachments to our families, communities, nations, and religions, none of these can prevent our departure. No individual or group can stop or alter our mortal nature; therefore, how we spend our time is entirely our prerogative. If you are being politically manipulated or influenced in any way, remember that you are the one with free will. Whether you allow yourself to be used or not is your choice. Controlling addictions can be overwhelming, but it is up to you to recognize them as such. If your desire for control is worth the sacrifice, it remains your choice. Our understanding evolves as we age; we learn and grow both individually and collectively. If you understand this, you can keep your politics of belonging-related addictions in check to lead a universally healthy mortal life. Otherwise, you may end up contradicting the will of your atom of autonomy and causing yourself various internal ailments.
You may seek help from various professionals, gurus, fortune tellers, horoscope experts, or psychics, but the true authority lies within you. Your atom of autonomy can reveal your real story. Personally, what I have learned from my atom of autonomy is to keep it simple and maintain awareness of your mortal nature at all times so that your decisions are spiritually influenced. Understand that you have no control over your next breath, yet you have been blessed with free will. It is not merely for making decisions but for recognizing the hidden politics of belonging to our security-related addictions. Every tradition, custom, ritual, and rule of your belonging group is infused with politics. Personal awareness teaches us that we not only possess free will but also have the ability to show compassion, love, and personal justice. If you are spiritually aware, you would naturally know that you should not do to others what you would not want done to yourself or your loved ones. Now, the question is: if you live a spiritually aware life, should you worry about not reaching heaven or fearing eternal hell? To me, if you live honestly and reciprocate with integrity during your lifetime, you should be comfortable in your mortal existence and see yourself as a beautiful life. If not, you should examine the reasons behind your dark and fearful feelings. As human beings, we can live without the fear of death or hell and without the greed for heaven, especially if we cultivate a habit of living honestly. Contrary to popular belief, our practical prayers are our actions, not merely the rituals performed in mosques or churches. Helping practically is the essence of life. Are you contributing metaphorically or physically? Since you are the one converting spirituality into physical actions, you need to engage in practical prayers because even God requires human physicality to be present for those who pray and ask for help.
I believe that spiritual reciprocation is the purpose of our lives. We may not be genetically programmed, but we are spiritually programmed to feel guilt if we receive but do not give—meaning the responsibility of reciprocation is ingrained within us. Since we translate spirituality into physical actions, good things do not happen by themselves or without the help of living human beings. It is not about following every tradition, custom, ritual, and rule of our religions but about taking personal responsibility to convert spiritual thoughts into physical actions. Always remember who is performing these actions. Whether it is a religion, a group of people, or even God, without human individuals, they all lose their importance and relevance. Reciprocation is not attending a place of worship but rather about translating spiritual thoughts into physical actions as a duty. Unfortunately, we have been taught everything except being equal partners in the creation of physical reality. Without physical action, there is nothing but empty silence. Even God and the Devil mean nothing in that state because there is no one to benefit or suffer. Understanding the true nature of reciprocation will positively influence your everyday and personal relationships, benefiting you spiritually.
If we have been taught that the politics of belonging form the foundation of our belief systems, we would naturally adopt a mindset of taking from our groups. Our wars have not been fought for God but for groups. We consider ourselves smart, especially when we get things for nothing, so using people and even God has become a common practice. Imagine if we all honestly reciprocated directly with God; there would be no need for religious beliefs. Everyone would intuitively understand spirituality better than any political religion can teach. If I enjoy the blessings of life that God has given me and am able to reciprocate, to me, it is a life well spent. Whether you believe in God or not, I am not here to preach religious beliefs or a manifesto for living. However, I personally choose to believe in God because, to me, life—even at its lowest level—is so sophisticated that it astounds me. How one believes in God and where God is placed in their life is a personal matter, but I feel like a part of a bigger picture, much like a cell in a body. The supply of oxygen and the functioning of a body as complex as it is cannot be a fluke. As long as I see myself as relevant, important, and purposeful in my creation, I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities, whether within or outside the boundaries of the religion I was born into. Will I go to heaven or hell after I die? I will leave that worry for after I die. Should you believe as I do? That is not for me to dictate because you have your own life to live, and you are the CEO of your personal life.
To me, behind human physicality lies the wisdom of the Creator, which is to accomplish tasks through physical means. Where you place God in your life is your prerogative, but if you receive without reciprocating, either spiritually or practically, it is fundamentally wrong. While the natural and physical world often operates on a “dog-eat-dog” basis, as spiritually aware beings, we are in a class of our own. We don’t fit into the category of other animals, and “dog-eat-dog” or “carrot-and-stick” philosophies are beneath us. We have an evolutionary duty to create and manage things spiritually.
As spiritually aware beings, if we fail to reciprocate, we experience guilt and confront our “atom of autonomy,” which can impact our spiritual health. Our deep happiness and satisfaction come from helping others, which suggests that we are spiritually programmed. This implies that we are much more than just genetically programmed entities; there is a great deal more to us than we are often taught to believe. Internally, we each have a unique jigsaw puzzle of God and human existence. Ignoring these facts means living out of balance and failing to fully embrace our humanity. You will still live and die like any other living creature, but remember, you are the CEO of your life, responsible for what happens in your personal and inner universe while you are alive. You may choose to ignore your spiritual side and live exclusively as a physical entity, but there are aspects of life you cannot fully address without acknowledging this dimension.
I encourage everyone to ask themselves these questions, particularly in the quiet of the night when you can truly confront yourself. This is a personal, one-on-one conversation with yourself. Ask if you truly believe in God and, if so, how God fits into your daily life. Do you view yourself as an independent entity, and where do you see yourself in the grand picture of spirituality? Are you aware of the immense power of the sense of belonging, and how does the politics of belonging fit into your life? Are you honest enough with yourself to acknowledge and recognize that your truths are not politically tainted?
Regardless of your religion, can you openly and honestly discuss your beliefs with someone else without becoming emotionally upset or crossing religious boundaries? Can you question your religious traditions, customs, rituals, and rules, especially if they seem outdated in today’s world? For instance, consider the practice of throwing virgins off cliffs to appease God because leaders claim God is angry due to bad weather.
What about your views on making money—whether it is legal, illegal, unethical, or unspiritual? Religious societies don’t always excel in individual morality or have lower crime rates. If they did, we would see marked differences in societies with or without religious beliefs. Should we adjust our deeply ingrained religious practices to accommodate today’s rapid evolution, or slow down progress to match outdated religious frameworks? If a religious leader commits a social or spiritual crime, they are personally responsible, but if a religion itself commits crimes in the name of conformity, should it be held accountable, and by whom? The recent discovery of mass graves of native children in residential schools raises the question: are such acts the responsibility of individuals or the entire religion? The United Nations may be our top authority, but it lacks enforcement power. When nations and religions commit crimes against each other, how can we reconcile our past and ancestral disputes?
Do you go out of your way to fit in, impress others, or seek admiration from your group, even at the cost of harming yourself or others? Do you accept everything at face value, or do you critically question everything? Are you willing to kill over nationalism, religious beliefs, or God? What do you believe a human being should be?
If you have questions but feel it’s inappropriate to ask because it might upset your community or challenge authority, do you believe upsetting your group is a form of self-imposed punishment? Is it natural for a social creature like us to have differing opinions? Should we prevent people from becoming educated or forming opinions, as seen with those trying to escape from Afghanistan? Personal opinions about God, religion, or the politics of belonging can be contentious, as humanity has long fought over them with significant death tolls. Yet, we still evolve and continue to kill each other in the name of nations and religions. Perhaps if we had engaged in open, honest discussions in the past or even now, things might have been different. If we recognize that our knowledge is always incomplete, why do we engage in such extremes? When will we stop killing each other over our incomplete knowledge? Starting with personal and individual questioning, removing appropriation, and having open discussions can lead to a new paradigm. Otherwise, maintaining the status quo with modern weaponry could become increasingly dangerous.
We should seek answers that benefit humanity as a whole, not just specific groups. We need a push to advance to the next level of human evolution, addressing current issues like infectious diseases, global warming, and internet crimes with collective responses. We cannot build walls against or solve these issues as singular nations.
Living with emotions like anger, jealousy, hate, envy, and disappointment may not only harm others but also lead to internal destruction. Personal and inner conflicts can initiate a process of self-destruction from within. I have been writing about the politics of belonging and freedom because I believe there is a disconnect that can create or exacerbate many individual and collective problems. These opposing senses are within all of us, but you have the responsibility of a CEO to create personal balance among them. If your senses are extreme and uncontrollable, this inability to manage them can be destructive. As a mortal being, your spiritual tranquility and personal satisfaction are invaluable. If your sense of belonging leads to spiritual bankruptcy, you must seek the reasons and work to heal from internal chaos. Reflect on how much you have been conditioned by conformity throughout your life, and examine your ego, pride, and honor to understand their origins and effects. These are often double-edged swords, related to our education and influenced by the politics of belonging. If you constantly worry about others’ opinions and shrink your potential to meet societal demands, your atom of autonomy is aware of the imbalance. Going against it can be destructive. As a mortal being, it is unwise to wage war against something within you. Utilize your strong sense of freedom to create internal balance. If you are not in touch with your sense of freedom, you face a significant personal problem. You risk becoming a slave to your group’s whims and losing your humanity. We are meant to be sophisticated, evolved, and independent, unlike worker bees or warrior ants. The politics of belonging can render your atom of autonomy inactive and spiritually diminished, reducing you to the level of genetically programmed creatures.
If you are hurting from within, the least you can do for yourself is to be a friend who stands by your side. If you recognize that your ego, pride, honor, anger, jealousy, envy, and disappointments are causing you pain, it’s important to understand these emotions thoroughly to address the root of your problem. Remember, your life is temporary and limited. If these issues are causing you distress, they could jeopardize your entire mortal existence. So, what can you do about it?
First, you must acknowledge that you have a problem. If your sense of belonging is causing you to hurt others, recognize that this not only harms others but also affects you personally in multiple ways. It depletes your potential and drains the spiritual vitality from your life. It’s crucial to understand why you have your own unique “atom of autonomy.” Your ability to use free will, personal sense of justice, compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love all stem from this unique atom of autonomy. Ask yourself: Are you worthy of having this personal autonomy? Are you spiritually evolved enough to be an independent human being? If so, why are you behaving like a genetically programmed entity, such as ants or bees?
Understand yourself so you can confront your fears related to “what ifs,” rather than spending your entire life worrying about what will happen when you die. Consider why our religions emphasize fearing hell and desiring heaven. The purpose is to live this life as a good person. If you commit spiritual crimes in the name of your religion, regardless of what your group says, you will be living in a personal hell because of your atom of autonomy. Instead, recognize the importance of translating spirituality into physical actions. This approach will open the spiritual doors you have been waiting for.
You are, in essence, a mini-God who translates spiritual concepts into physical actions. The purpose of your life is to embody the beauty of the flower, as if God is experiencing the physical world through you. God’s beauty shines through your living actions. These facts are crucial as they can greatly influence your happiness, even as a mortal. If you focus on understanding your mortal beauty, regardless of its duration, you will find that the Creator’s wisdom behind your physicality is about reciprocation. Your God-like abilities are there for you to maintain balance and independence.
The politics of belonging can be more powerful than the individual due to political influence. While the odds may seem against you, you still have to choose and act spiritually because you hold the atom of autonomy within you. One might wonder why God would create beings with God-like abilities. Despite the conformity we face, why do we all have free will? Since no one can fully comprehend God’s wisdom and the mysteries of life, we start to make assumptions. In the past, we performed human sacrifices to appease God, including throwing virgins off cliffs. Even bad weather was attributed to God’s displeasure.
I was shocked to discover that twenty-five unrelated human communities historically practiced human sacrifice. We now know that bad weather is not caused by divine anger, and that these practices were misguided. Unfortunately, many are still manipulated by religious leaders, willing to kill and be killed based on these false beliefs. If we view the purpose of physical life as performing and converting spirituality into action, then this should be our reciprocation in return for oxygen and a functioning body. Ideally, if we are in balance, we should be comfortable in our own skin. Unfortunately, politics of belonging often lead us to rob each other of life and love.
If your love is taken by an opposing group, you might be motivated to inflict the same pain on others. Conflicts persist not only due to group politics but also because of the desire for revenge over lost love. Your group might convince you that your loss of love is the work of God or the Devil, ensuring your loyalty to them. Political groups often exploit these beliefs for their own purposes.
Even if you mean well, you cannot assume the nature of pure spirituality and God. Spirituality, justice, and God should be understood as truths, not influenced by political realities or metaphoric constructs. Robbing someone of love in the name of God is a human degradation. If you justify violence against others to defend God, you are disregarding physical reality for metaphoric concepts. Even with the best intentions, such actions do not involve God or spirituality. Instead, you are undermining God’s work.
Your politically taught assumptions are tainted by the politics of belonging. Dig deeply into your motives to uncover the true causes of your assumptions. Consider that the idea of believing in God is universal; therefore, God is a universal entity, just as love, compassion, and justice are. These concepts are not exclusive but are distorted by the politics of belonging, which insists on group superiority and the idea that God is on their side. This fosters prejudice and discrimination, which we, as belonging individuals, perpetuate.
If you cannot understand your realities and their implications, imagine yourself on the receiving end of your actions before committing them. Remember, the “dog-eat-dog” world is for animals; as human beings, we possess an atom of autonomy that makes us spiritual entities with a physical twist. This duality requires us to create balance. Our hormones may fluctuate with our group affiliations, illustrating our deep connection to our groups. This connection can lead us to defend our groups fiercely, sometimes at the expense of reason and self, as seen in American divisions over identity.
We are taught that our belonging groups are our safest bet, so we endure their abuse and continue to follow them. However, humanity evolves with individual education and the advancements of the internet. With increased transparency, it’s harder to cover up wrongdoings, such as the discovery of mass graves of native children—a horrifying example of religious and political malpractice. We must address the root causes of these issues and understand why our emotions fluctuate over trivial matters like sports scores.
Before I continue, it’s essential to remember that we are not like other animals. Otherwise, they would have mega-cities, advanced cars, planes, and cell phones as well. We are human beings with our unique atom of autonomy, which grants us free will, personal justice, compassion, freedom, and individuality. Therefore, before committing spiritual crimes for the sake of our belonging groups, we must take personal responsibility for our actions. Those innocent children were entirely blameless. If killing an innocent being is a spiritual crime, how can such acts be justified in the name of God and spirituality? This is pure politics, nothing more. Human killings have been occurring long before recorded history, and the politics of belonging to our groups predates our religious beliefs. Consequently, our religious beliefs are not as pure as they are often presented. They could not remain apolitical; instead of serving as spiritual knowledge, they became political parties, stripping spirituality from our belief systems.
Spiritual qualities such as compassion, generosity, bravery, sacrifice, and love cannot manifest physically without our physicality. We must act responsibly when influenced by political belonging. Acting under hormonal influences is not a matter of pride for humans. Ask yourself this question before participating in a mob attack: If you were to kill someone who looks different, believes differently, or belongs to an opposing group but has not harmed you personally, what would you call them? I would call them innocent of any crime other than being born into their group, nation, or religion. The easiest way to evaluate your wrongful actions is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
God has endowed each of us with an exclusive atom of autonomy indiscriminately, so why do some people think beyond hormonal influences while most do not? If you are one of those who love their sports team, examine if you love your race, gender, nation, and religion, and whether you would commit spiritual crimes for them. If you find these tendencies within yourself, assess where you stand on the ladder of civilization and evolution. If you are confused, that’s actually a healthy sign. If you are absolutely certain and under hormonal influences, it’s time for you to catch up and evolve according to the era you are living in. This gap may not harm others significantly, but it can have serious consequences for you. Today, we link mental health issues to wars, as soldiers face various mental health challenges because their atom of autonomy conflicts with their actions. The power of the atom of autonomy is undeniable, and our guilt is a clear example of it. There is a powerful spiritual entity within us capable of tearing us apart.
As individuals, we all seek justice because stronger entities, whether individuals or groups, push their weight around. We, as weaker beings, may comply using the politics of survival. When a gang imposes its will, justice is sought from governing authorities. When one nation oppresses another, we turn to the United Nations. But where do we turn when those who preach God push people around and force them to commit spiritual crimes? I believe the United Nations should have the authority to deliver justice against all violators, regardless of political affiliations, religions, or powerful nations. It’s about the pursuit of justice and peace, but unfortunately, we are still evolving.
Some of us believe in personal responsibility, yet many delegate that responsibility to our belonging groups. As groups, we are entrenched in the politics of belonging, which preaches prejudice and discrimination against other human beings. This politics of superiority has not benefited us despite thousands of years of evolution and is worsening with modern weaponry. It’s time for us to develop our own personal sense of justice. We don’t need to look far; our atom of autonomy within us can guide us with simple spiritual principles. Follow the principle: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you or your loved ones.” By developing personal justice at the individual level, we can overcome the spiritual crimes driven by our sense of belonging. Just as a gang cannot fight a nation, a nation should not be able to fight the world or a competent United Nations. At the highest levels of power, humanity faces a weak or impotent United Nations, and as individuals, we are also weak because we fail to speak out against wrongdoing, especially by our own nations and religions. The United Nations will only gain respect and fulfill its role as a global justice body when it can stand against strong nations, religious extremism, and organizations.
The desire for justice is within all of us, but politics of belonging and survival often overshadow personal justice and spirituality. If each of us develops a personal sense of justice and spiritual strength, no group or coalition can enforce injustice because their power relies on individual contributions. If individuals reject such politics, groups, nations, religions, and even God would lose their power.
Interestingly, if you start questioning: What are you? Who are you? Why do you constantly seek knowledge? You will be able to transform not only yourself but also your belonging groups. You will continue evolving and learning throughout your life. Otherwise, things will remain as they are, and we cannot afford to stagnate in a world with new problems such as global warming, internet-related crimes, advanced weapons of mass destruction, and infectious diseases like Coronavirus.
As human beings, we are evolving entities capable of significant transformation within a single lifetime. One can emerge from a thick shell as a child, breaking free of old constraints through personal struggles. There are no limits to our potential. When considering human types, three stand out metaphorically: Triangle, Circle, and Square.
Triangle People: These individuals are thorny, questioning, and eager to learn beyond conventional boundaries. They do not conform to the norms of Circle or Square types but are balanced within themselves. They understand the importance of happiness and contentment while living in a mortal body, acknowledging their dependence on oxygen and a functioning body. They respect external help but recognize that their belonging groups or religions cannot provide real security from mortality. Triangle people do not respect authority figures who stray from spiritual truths. They see outdated rules for what they are and balance their personal responsibilities with ease. They understand how to balance their passionate, instinctive, and universal love, creating peace within family situations. They know where society fits into their lives and the value of personal freedom. They respect their atom of autonomy and strive for harmony in their lives. Triangle people instinctively know when to speak and when to remain silent, understanding God’s importance while recognizing their own responsibilities.
You might choose a 9-to-5 job, set limits to fit in, compromise, and keep going, just like a circle without any edges—easygoing and adaptable. You may not fully grasp the importance of balancing life as a mortal being. Believing in mortality and living continuously don’t really match physically, so we all have to address our affairs as mortals, regardless of the shape we fit into. If you see life as a continuous circle, you may tend to adhere to the teachings of your ancestors. Your logic of being good might be to comply with your group’s expectations, believing people should be good out of fear of hell or desire for heaven, all because you see life as a circle. Unlike a triangle individual, who believes being good is a personal duty from within and not due to fear or greed, a circle person might have clearly defined boundaries and feel secure and comfortable within those limits. You might even worry about securing yourself for the afterlife as well.
Interestingly, by nature, we are meant to evolve, so blindly following ancestral truths and staying within boundaries can be limiting. As human individuals, our potential is an evolutionary process; we simply can’t fit into a circle forever. You might spend your whole life living in compliance, yet by choice. Adapting to circumstances is one thing, but failing to create balance in your personal life is another. Smoothing your edges so you don’t disrupt those around you can hinder growth. A strong sense of freedom, which can be lacking if you avoid disrupting or going against the people around you, is essential. Though challenging, remember that truths must be told. Being comfortable in a circle goes against our evolutionary nature, but political belonging to our groups keeps us attached to group norms. Having a stronger sense of belonging can demote you to being a department head instead of the CEO of your life. Remember, being a department head is less empowering than being a CEO; it makes you dependent on others and weakens you personally. Yet, by nature or divine endowment, you are blessed with free will and the status of CEO. Logically, you should have the power to balance your opposing senses of belonging and freedom. As a weaker individual, you might not seek that power, leading to spiritual disorder—a disease of pleasing others, including God. So, do you believe in God to please Him, or do you have your own logical reasons for living a happy mortal life?
Square People
Square or box people conform easily, taking on shapes and following rules. Similar to circles, they are non-questioning and follow all kinds of rules, often becoming religious and accepting their irrelevance, needing someone to pull their strings. They make excellent worker bees or warrior ants but may struggle in leadership positions. Without clear boundaries of security, their stress levels can rise, making them uncomfortable. Though they may be good workers, their ability to think beyond the education provided by their group is limited. Humans are not genetically programmed to conform; rather, we are programmed to evolve spiritually and genetically. If you are not following your genetic and spiritual potential, you might be merely following your group’s orders. Not evolving means not following divine orders. If you believe crossing your religious boundaries is impossible, you need spiritual awareness because all religions claim to follow God’s orders. This contradiction is something you must overcome personally and remember within your lifetime.
As evolved human beings, we all have responsibilities, shapes or not. I have no problem with religious beliefs and senses of belonging, but when they start wars and use God and individuals for political purposes, I must speak out. Whether it’s religion or nationalism, we must evolve beyond the preached knowledge of our political groups. We’ve evolved from racism, prejudice, and discrimination, but have we truly moved past these issues? Not completely, but it’s better than our recent past. Today, we are less proud of racism, prejudice, and discrimination, and human rights are sought and flourishing in liberal societies. Despite religious preaching, politics of belonging often tarnish our spiritual purity. Humans still fight for resources and territories like other creatures. Remember the Egyptians, who tried to take it all with them, believing life was a circle. They were proven wrong as we now rob their tombs, yet we still cling to the belief that life is merely a circle.
Other creatures do not understand their mortality as humans do, yet we act like them, robbing each other of life’s most precious things like life and love, while hoping for global peace. Religion or nationalism aside, we all have a responsibility to evolve and address our individual and collective problems. Without bias, examining history and present day reveals that education is crucial for peaceful social living. People want to live in places where they can raise their families in peace. The question is, what kind of education? Book-burning events are now called fake news, and soon, faces will be put on fake news to make it seem more authentic. Our technologies are growing, but spiritually, we are still living in primitive times. Even our best knowledge and logical explanations have not worked in the past and still do not work for those blinded by their group’s promoted education and the politics of belonging.
Today’s example is the political bickering surrounding the coronavirus, which is literally killing people. This is a reality of political differences, not logical ones. Some even suggest praying to God for salvation, and if prayers don’t work, they blame you for not being sincere enough. They advise gathering together and believing that God will save you, dismissing science and preventive measures as fake news. Vaccination helps, but politics of belonging kill. God might say, “I gave you free will for a reason. If you choose to follow the politics of your sense of belonging, remember I also gave you a sense of freedom. You are not genetically programmed to follow your group or a person; you are the main character in your own life story. Whether successful or not, even God stands aside for you to make your choices.”
All our past and present disputes depend on this individual decision power. The success of families, gangs, communities, nations, and religions rests on that individual’s personal decisions. Politics often seeks to keep individuals weak, vulnerable, dependent, insignificant, and irrelevant. With a lack of self-confidence, self-respect, and self-esteem, individuals may see themselves as mere cells in a body, but this is not the truth. Logically, a cell belongs to the whole body; similarly, a human being spiritually belongs to God and physically to humanity as a whole, not its parts. Belonging to a group of people makes no sense. If you are human, regardless of color, race, gender, size, nation, or religion, you are human. Digging for differences will only reveal sameness. You are made of the same material, depend on oxygen, water, and food, and experience life, aging, sickness, and death in the same way. Our differences come from the installed data of our belonging groups, which are directly connected to the politics of belonging and individual weakness. To solve these problems, we must look beyond the boundaries of group politics. Education, specifically the education of the individual and not just the group, is crucial. Understanding our personal identities can help us reach the elusive peace humanity seeks with all its religions and isms.
Understanding our realities is also essential. Our physical reality is visible, but as humans, we are more complex than other creatures. We have metaphoric and virtual realities that are becoming increasingly important. It is crucial for us to take personal responsibility to understand them. If you don’t truly understand God, you cannot justify killing anyone in His name because God is a metaphoric reality, like love and a sense of belonging to groups. Even if you combine them, they cannot become a physical reality like the human individual you are killing. Robbing someone of their physical reality over your metaphoric or virtual realities is unacceptable. When you rob someone of their physical existence, all bets are off, as a human being is not merely a spiritual entity that will understand and forgive. Reflecting on history and present times, do you see what I see? Our present is filled with the business of robbing each other of love while seeking world peace. This is not a shame solely for our political religions, groups, or nations; it is a shame for all of us to be weak and ignorant individually. If we, as individuals, do not fuel the fire of prejudice, no group can survive as a prejudicial and discriminatory entity.
Our politically tainted religions and nationalism are spiritually failed systems because they have not remained pure of the politics of belonging. In our physical reality, we belong to humanity as a single organism; although we come in all the colors of the rainbow, our fundamental realities are the same. Spiritually, we belong to one God as spiritual entities, making us the cells of God’s body as a whole. If you remove the politics of belonging, you will see what remains. In physical reality, we are made of carbon, and genetically, we are all a perfect match, regardless of color, race, or size. We all require the same environment—oxygen, water, and food—to survive. We experience similar pleasures and pains. So why do we have so many disputes and wars? Shouldn’t we have evolved past our animalistic behaviors by now? If not, we need to ask ourselves why.
Our challenge is that evolution is embedded in our genes. Yet, being square or circular shapes, or at least being politically inspired to follow our sense of belonging to groups, creates a strong pull from both sides. No matter how natural our sense of belonging might seem or how essential it is for us to be social creatures, it has not halted our progress and evolution. We have seen changes in religions, a graveyard of empires, failed ideologies, and we continue to seek perfection in our democratic systems. Interestingly, despite the strong pulls of conservative politics, our progress has never been entirely halted by any era, governing system, or religious belief. Sure, we have oscillated back and forth, but progress and evolution persist. Our trajectory is not the question; what is certain is that we are not standing still as our outdated politics might wish us to. Our evolution has always, and will continue to, override the power of conservatism. Though conservatives may create squares and circles around us, the triangular knowledge created by God is inherent in humanity. It grows outward as knowledge expands. Politics or not, this triangle cannot be contained. All our progress and evolution have come from questioning individuals. Thankfully, if everyone had followed religious dogma, we would still be throwing virgins off cliffs to appease God. If everyone were confined to circles or squares, we wouldn’t have discovered the causes of our problems. Today, we can forecast storms and save lives. We now know where a storm will hit days before it happens. Although natural disasters make us feel small and insignificant, this does not mean we cannot work for the benefit of future generations. We must seek, explore, and persevere, even if our conservative peers claim it is meddling in God’s domain. Our genes suggest that God intended us to do precisely what we are doing today—continuing to evolve. Conservatives may find this uncomfortable, but they still partake in the progress made by liberals. Look around: our technology benefits all humans, and our medicine is used without regard to ideology. Vaccination against COVID-19 saves lives regardless of belief systems, color, or nationality. Yet, despite benefiting from these advancements, some continue to complain. If it were not meant for us to be evolving, we would still be living in caves and among primates.
If I personally cannot find solutions to my problems, I would pray to God for more knowledge and evolution. I would not dwell on what our ancestors did because we live in an era of understanding and naming our storms. The saying “God helps those who help themselves” suggests we should exhaust all efforts before leaving matters to God. Even then, God does not require physical sacrifices but rather the good intentions of helping one another to fulfill the prayers of those in need. Since we are already blessed with functioning bodies, oxygen, free will, and an evolving nature, we have all we need. It is up to us to guide humanity’s future. Whether I predict it optimistically or pessimistically, it is still speculative, so I should refrain from doing so.
I am not presenting a contradiction but rather arguing that we need a triangular balance to be wise. If you exclude God and believe you are responsible for everything, what about the systems in your body that operate without your direct input, such as breathing and your beating heart? Can you truly control or even manage them? As human beings, we still have metaphoric realities. Although we may not fully understand them, that does not mean God, love, or other metaphoric realities are unimportant. Our scientific understanding may not yet fully explain them, but they are powerful and significant, much like the placebo effect acknowledged by science. We must remain open to further learning. Evolution has its rhythm; not respecting it or allowing time for adaptation can be harmful, even to the strongest individuals. Many people suffer from stress simply because they do not acknowledge mortality and the need for rhythmic adaptation. Ignoring these aspects can lead to imbalances and unnecessary consequences.
Interestingly, practices like throwing virgins or human sacrifices were once common across twenty-five unconnected societies. Fortunately, we have evolved, and today we can research and discuss these practices. It is fascinating that our prophets provided knowledge to help us evolve, and now we have people going to space for pleasure. Our deeply entrenched religious traditions need to be updated to match the modern-day speed of evolution. How are we doing? If we look at extremely conservative societies like Saudi Arabia, we see signs of change: allowing women to drive, building casinos, and making peace with Israel indicate a gradual erosion of extreme religious conservatism.
Regardless of any particular religion, nurturing your spiritual side naturally makes you a more moderate and well-rounded individual. Ignoring your spiritual side makes little difference between us and other creatures in the wild. We can be influenced by our hormones if we do not acknowledge or understand the power of our inhibitions. Problems arise when we choose extremes due to hormonal influences. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to separate our spiritual and physical aspects. Instead of choosing one over the other, we need to create a balance between the conflicting sides to live a successful human life. Embracing one side exclusively leads to extremes and neglects the other side, which can act against us from within. Being torn from within is a spiritual disorder that affects our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Ignoring the root cause will only lead to temporary solutions without lasting success. Addressing the underlying issues gives us a better chance at a healthier life. Avoid contradictions and strive to live honestly, at least with yourself.
If your shape-related urges interfere with your spiritual growth, recognize them so you can become a better CEO of your life. Instead of following everything blindly, question everything while keeping your mortal nature in mind. The purpose of this writing is to help you understand your external influences and personal insecurities because they often lead you straight into the arms of your belonging groups, where they are exploited politically. Understand this so you don’t confine yourself to the circle or square where you feel comfortable. I would rather play a role in informing people than conforming to them and reducing them to mere worker bees or warrior ants.
Regardless of our prophets’ good and spiritual intentions, our religions have never outgrown their political affiliations, making them victims of political agendas. When we taint our personal and collective spiritual systems, or even our justice systems, with politics, both lose their purity and eventually their respect. If we continue down this path, even God could become perceived as a prejudicial and discriminatory figure because people use God for political purposes as well. If God is for some but not for all, then there is no true God. Since God is a spiritual entity, God cannot be political; God represents universal truth, much like justice. If justice can be bought, it is not pure justice and cannot be respected. Remember, Lady Justice is supposed to be blind—literally blind to human politics.
Personally, I believe that if any entity or system is politically influenced, it is for some but not for all, and therefore not truly Godly or just. If you cannot be honest in your spirituality and justice, where can you be honest?
The importance of human beings and their physical functionality is so immense that even concepts like God and the Devil would disappear from your life if you were afflicted with a brain disorder. To me, our systems of justice and spirituality are built upon—and stand on—healthy human physicality. If you undermine and disrespect human beings, everything loses value, even discussions about God and the Devil. A spiritual or criminal thought is just a thought unless it is translated into physical actions by functioning human beings. So, correct your perspective and respect the individual as the central figure in your spiritual picture. Remember, spirituality cannot be truly spiritual if there is injustice present. In many religions, the individual is rendered irrelevant, yet if you remove the physicality of human beings, everything logically falls apart. If you intentionally make human beings irrelevant, what is the purpose of that? Beyond political control and power, there is no other explanation. For political gain, human beings have been stripped of their importance. This is a spiritual offense, and using God politically is even worse. Eventually, everyone will realize the lack of honesty, meaning you are working against your own religious beliefs. If the whole concept of spirituality collapses without the physicality of human beings, why is there so much disrespect for individuals? Why so much killing? From a logical standpoint, there is nothing spiritual about our politically tainted religions. Robbing individuals of their importance and brainwashing them for political purposes is another matter. Interestingly, they don’t stop at individuals; they use God as well. So, do you really buy into what you are sold, or do you rely on your common sense to live your life with spiritual principles? Remember, if you are killing each other, you are severing the hands that help manifest spirituality into physical actions. Do you really think God will reward you for removing divine helping hands? If you see this as a spiritual crime, you understand why our religious wars are so prolonged and bloody. I will always advocate for respect for God, spirituality, and the individual, but I will speak against the politics of belonging to groups because they preach prejudice and discrimination. I do not believe in spirituality that accommodates prejudice and discrimination.
As human beings, we each carry our own atom of autonomy—attributes like free will, compassion, love, and a personal sense of justice. We are independent entities with our umbilical cords severed at birth. As human beings, we are far more responsible for our actions than we are often taught in our group settings. We come and go through life as individuals, so logically, we belong to humanity as a whole. Killing each other because someone was born into a different group or because of skin color, race, gender, nationality, or religion is as spiritually nonsensical as it gets. We use our free will every day in various aspects of life, but when it comes to the politics of group belonging, we often become like animals or genetically programmed puppets.
We all need to take the next step in our evolution and learn to belong to humanity as a whole. After all, everything in our present indicates the need for humanity to function as a unified entity. Connect directly to God as an individual so you can truly embody spiritual principles. God and spirituality are universal, so it doesn’t make sense to belong exclusively to political groups. Our politics of belonging have made us prejudiced and discriminatory, leading us to develop weapons of mass destruction against each other. This means it has the potential not just to sever one divine helping hand but to exterminate the physical manifestation of God. This direction contradicts our evolution and opposes everything associated with God, spirituality, and humanity. The biggest lesson we can learn from the coronavirus is that our problems are universal. Climate change is another teacher, delivering the same message to us all, and even internet-related crimes highlight the need to change our outdated ways of living. Unfortunately, our strong sense of belonging to our groups pulls us in a direction where the individual becomes irrelevant. Instead of focusing on spirituality, equal human rights, and addressing our prejudices and discriminatory politics, we often ignore these issues to pursue our group interests. We have been led to believe that our belonging groups are our saviors, but this has never been true. Consider this: your belonging group does not provide you with oxygen, nor can it make you immortal. Oddly enough, most crimes against individuals are committed by their own group members.
I previously wrote a blog titled “Know Your Realities” to explain why we individually need to evolve and understand the politics of belonging to our groups versus belonging to humanity as a whole. If you don’t understand your realities, you may ignore the concept of reciprocity for the sake of social conformity. For instance, if you are a husband or wife who brings resources to run the household, you should be respected for your contributions. However, social influences can damage personal relationships. For example, in religious households, regardless of the religion, males may be considered superior to females, even if the female is the provider. In today’s world, where social liberation is a reality, adhering to outdated rules can be problematic. With women now being breadwinners, old rules may not address contemporary issues. God, government, and big brother are our metaphoric realities; you may see only people, but there are unseen figures actively shaping our modern lives. I refer to them as our metaphoric realities—important but not more significant than our physical realities. They need to be respected, but never at the expense of physical realities. For instance, if someone is hungry, food is the physical reality. God, government, or big brother cannot fill the stomach; they are relevant only when the stomach is full. To make my point, if your spouse provides the resources to feed your family, they should be respected above all other metaphoric realities. Our societies are also metaphoric realities. If a trend or a friend’s opinion influences you to destroy a good personal relationship, it’s because your sense of belonging to your group has deprived you of your basic right to happiness and contentment. Consider this: if you are a cleanliness fanatic, you need to understand why. You might care too much about what others think and thus insist on a spotless house, avoiding pets that could mess up your rug. Ask yourself how you will enjoy the love that children and pets provide. In the end, you must reconcile what you truly want. If you want a relationship, it might require you to change your cleanliness standards, accept a messy house, and compromise to gain a different kind of happiness. If the opinions of others matter more to you than your desire for love, you have a serious problem. Without deep happiness, joy, and satisfaction, life is not well lived. I can point this out through my writing, but only you can critically examine your behaviors. Love is ancient and universal, like God and spirituality, transcending human knowledge. It is universally valued and knows no language. While our chemistry plays a physical role, that is only one aspect. Loving children and pets is a repeatable and undeniable fact of human experience. If you spend your life worrying about others’ opinions on your unclean house, get a grip on it. Love may not be measurable by science, but it can touch your soul and is a spiritual priority for us mortals. It brings not only spiritual satisfaction but also happiness and contentment. Remember, as human beings, our lives are not solely physical; spiritual fulfillment is crucial. You can live scientifically correct and tally all the numbers, but real fulfillment is another story. If you believe you will find fulfillment in the afterlife, that is a story for beyond death, so don’t put all your hopes there. If you have developed a habit of unfulfillment, even God may not be able to satisfy you, and would it even matter? After death, the choice to reciprocate is gone because you can no longer convert spirituality into physical actions. Our ability to reciprocate is essential for spiritual fulfillment and requires us to be alive and functioning. Regardless of belief systems or religions, if you are not genuinely reciprocating, you will be searching for spiritual fulfillment beyond your living years. If you pray continuously, fast, and follow religious practices but fail to treat your partner, children, parents, and fellow human beings with the same respect, you have missed the point. God is a metaphoric reality, while the people around us are our physical reality, so personal happiness and contentment are essential. Ignoring these for any reason makes no sense.
In mortal life, we simply can’t afford imbalance. Balance your sense of belonging with your freedom and truly understand the meanings of reciprocation. As commonly preached, reciprocation is not only between you and God; it also involves you, your partner, and even the society you belong to. Remember, you are the CEO of your life and the person in charge. If you find yourself prioritizing the approval of friends and societal trends over your relationships, keep in mind that although times have changed, the importance of personal happiness and contentment remains as crucial as ever. Whether you were born in prehistoric times, religious times, or today, our physical realities haven’t changed. The bottom line is that personal security and comfort are always vital.
It may not be popular to say in today’s times, but our social reality still often expects the male to play a protective role in the family. Whether or not you agree, our situations naturally call for the male to act as a protector. For instance, if someone breaks into your home, regardless of whether the breadwinner is male or female, the male is typically expected to confront the intruder.
Now, consider the responsibilities of reciprocation: if a male is expected to risk his life to protect family members, what should be the reciprocation for that sacrifice? The success of our mortal life depends on our ability to reciprocate. We follow our religions because they tell us we are alive because of God. I begin to stray when religions undermine the importance of the individual. They can brainwash people into believing they are irrelevant, robbing them of self-respect and self-esteem, making them mere puppets for authorities. I believe that as physical beings, we deserve respect.
The title of this blog, “Who Flipped My Triangle,” signifies that in your personal life, whether you are male or female, you are the CEO. Your position should be at the top of the triangle, with your sense of belonging and freedom at the bottom corners. If you feel this triangle has been flipped, you must reclaim your CEO status to keep societal trends out of your personal affairs. Your home, your physical reality, should be your top priority. Others have a place in your life, but only you should have the final say. You cannot sacrifice your physical reality for metaphorical ones, so respect your physical reality above your metaphorical one.
The situation in Afghanistan illustrates this problem: if the male holds the power, what happens if the female is the provider or if both contribute equally? Should our religious beliefs or primitive traits dictate the roles? With our evolution, we have created institutions like “big brother” for security, reducing our reliance on primitive methods. People generally call upon these institutions rather than relying on outdated practices.
Returning to the issue, if a female is the primary provider, she deserves respect, regardless of traditional beliefs. Conversely, if a male is not respected for providing physical security, that is wrong as well, especially from a perspective of honest reciprocation. Reciprocation is fundamental to a successful mortal life. The question is: if you still act as if you’re living in prehistoric times, would you let your primal nature dictate your actions, or would you allow spiritual reciprocation to help maintain your relationships?
Your dependency on your partner is a physical reality; God, government, and big brother are not your physical realities. At home, you are the CEO. Address the responsibilities of reciprocation openly and discuss the dynamics of your relationship. If your hormones or primal nature threatens your physical reality, or if traditional customs and rules are harming your relationships, it’s time to adapt to the present era. Our mortality and limited time remain unchanged by evolution, so respect should be given to whoever provides physical support, regardless of who brings in the income.
If you respect metaphorical realities more than physical ones, you face extreme problems with your realities. God should be respected for our oxygen and functioning bodies, but if someone who provides, clothes, and pays the bills is disrespected, that is not equal reciprocation. If you respect God but fail to reciprocate in personal relationships, you are behaving more like a dominating alpha creature, following animalistic traits. If you understand your responsibilities with God but not in personal relationships with your partner, children, or parents, you need to understand why. Always remember that you are in charge of keeping your personal triangle right-side up. If you are shaped or bent out of shape by society, remember that you are the one living your life, and you are literally running out of time—even if you are young and strong.