social responsibility | David M Masters

Looking for a Fight?

We all have been programmed to feel threatened by others who don’t believe as we do.

So arguing, fighting and various acts of war abound.

Due to our built-in fight or flight response, it’s a wonder that we can find ways to get along at all…

It helps to create groups that agree to believe similarly; and that works for the most part, until one group challenges the beliefs of the other.

Back in my ministerial days, I was blessed to be able to interact with other ministers in cross-denominational platforms. First, with Teen Challenge, then by joining a the local Ministerial League made up of ministers from all denominations meeting regularly to devise projects that we could perform collectively for the greater good of the community.

Even when bonded by a commitment to work together with people of differing views, at times it can get complicated and tempers may raise – even among the most spiritual of people.

It’s the same in relationships. I have conducted many wedding ceremonies, and I am disappointed that the people that I brought together in the marriage bond follow the same basic statistics about marriage longevity.

When two people in love come together to make a stand against all others for the sake of the relationship, I know of no higher – more spiritual – commitment. Being somewhat of a romantic, I fall in love with the idea of being in love every time I see a happy couple.

But unfortunately, there is that thing that gnaws away at you from inside your head, that everyone is out to get me, and I must either fight or flee. So, lack of trust, secrecy, unfaithfulness and betrayal rear their ugly heads, leading to relationship failure.

This breakdown of love, peace and harmony happens between all people and peoples. Some say that is due to the function of the ego… I propose another idea:

What if the religious texts that refer to a creator who sent his/her former right-hand-man/woman and one-third of his/her resources to have free rein over the people of this planet.

Don’t bail, yet, I’ve already disclosed my religious roots. Hang in there and continue to consider:

What if the creator who has allowed things to run amok, has placed within each of us a sacred purpose or message to share with the greater community that would make the world a better place, including a spiritual component that would seek to reestablish connection with the creator?

And if I get you to ponder along, just for the fun of it…

Let’s pretend that you are the one in charge of all the planet’s peoples and the last thing that you want is for these creatures to thrive or in any way establish a real connection with the creator. What scenarios might you come up with in an effort to manage and manipulate the populations?

What if everything that we know and/or believe is a manipulation?

This is simply a “what if” philosophical exercise, to cause you to think outside yourself for a moment. I have no agenda and am not promoting any belief system.

We know that there is a battle raging all over our planet – and its not between us and them – it’s the battle of me that takes place between my head and my heart.

The war that we wage is not against flesh and blood; it is not against principalities and powers.

The fight is not between good and evil, right and wrong.

Righteous warriors are not swayed by propaganda or attempts to control the minds of the masses.

The enlightened battle is waged to advance empowering the heart and soul for peace and a better world.

Should Believers be Bullying?

Question

a) How does it make you feel when someone tries to bully you or push their ideals or beliefs on you?

b) If someone strongly opposed something that you believed in, how likely would a disrespectful presentation sway your belief?

(Don’t answer in comments)

Think about it… Do you like to be bullied?

What about that person that is passionate about something that he/she believes in? He/she doesn’t know you and shares his/her perspective on an idea or concept that you don’t agree with. You listen, at first because you’re being kind and considerate.

Then when they get the idea that you do not agree with them… Here it comes: the onslaught of data, facts and figures to convince you that their beliefs are the only truth. Still you maintain the idea that you disagree with their point of view.

Now the passionate person escalates even more, resorts to name-calling and may even include veiled threats that your life – or the lives of your family and friends – might be at stake because you choose not to listen to his/her truth.

And that is an example of a passive response. What if you had decided to defend your point of view?

Now, it turns into a full on debate, which in some cases has escalated to fisticuffs and/or death; over what, differing opinions?

Debate has never converted anyone. All it does is to help build walls that turn into elaborate fortresses of information, data and hate in a desperate attempt to protect something that is believed in. Where does that get you?

People have shared ideas with me that – at the time – infuriated me because I felt as though they had just approached me with the most ridiculous idea; it went against everything that I knew and believed in. But I let them tell me their story out of my respect for their right to believe whatever they want.

Sometimes, in cases like this, we both walk away from the conversation the same way we came into it (maybe even thinking that they other person was a crack-pot)… then, something happens… days, weeks, months – maybe years – go by, and something that person said begins to make more sense to me than what I previously believed.

And that little seed that someone planted begins to sprout and grow… (Maybe not the way the person who originally shared the idea with me in the first place had intended) and I start to grow.

I’ll tell you what I like.

I like giving anyone enough space to express themselves respectfully. If I see them getting too excited (unless I’m enjoying their over-the-top expression) I might warn them that their delivery is getting in the way of their message; so if they calm down, I will be able to take in more of what they are trying to say.

Sometimes it’s hard not defend yourself when someone is sharing an idea that you don’t agree with.

If you’ve ever been able to participate in a heated boardroom meeting, you know what I mean. Here’s a group of upstanding, relatively calm businessmen, each with their own opinion about how a thing should be done… passionately; as if their lives and the lives of their children hung in the balance.

People, who argue and fight, generally prevent themselves from a great deal of happiness in their lives and are more prone to health decline and most of them are unable to achieve much in terms of expanded life-span.

Here’s the thing: When someone does something that you don’t like; that’s okay.

It is their right to do their thing, just as it is for you to do yours.

It only becomes your issue, if someone interrupts your rights directly. Then, and only then, is action justified.

Bless everyone’s right to find their own way. To dishonor someone else’s right to individuality only drags us backward in our evolution.

Never be moved to hate or disrespect; instead boldly carry the torch of tolerance for others to see the light of love and freedom.

How these statements make you feel, reflects in your own mirror.

No judgment here; just something to think about.

Join the Evolution

~ I love you

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

In our societal structure there appears to be a prevalence of superiority that requires maintenance in order to secure our separateness while keeping us – as a collective whole – somewhat manageable. In an attempt to manage ourselves (whether we are influenced from other sources to do so is up for debate) we create societal expectations, rules, punishable and enforceable laws.

Can’t we all just get along?

Remember when we were kids? It seemed like there were so many expectations and rules; “Really? I just want to have fun!” It’s not like we were going to hurt someone or rob a bank…

I recall thinking that if I ever lived long enough to have kids I would just let them be. I would be the parent that I wanted to have when I was growing up. Then, not long after, I found myself raising a family and having to manage a house full of individuals all trying to make their own way, separately but still under the same roof.

One-by-one, rules were established to help keep the peace; don’t touch your sibling when he or she is safety-belted in the car. Don’t disassemble a sibling’s gift to find out how it works (or looks inside). Don’t call your siblings names. Don’t blame your sibling for something you did. Don’t hit inanimate objects, don’t hit animate objects; don’t hit anything.

Don’t set up your sibling to get in trouble to prove your level of parental manipulation prowess. Eat your vegetables, no sugar after six p.m. and don’t play your music so loud; just to name a few.

It doesn’t take long and you say to yourself, “Oh, my god, I turned into my parents!”
Your children despise your house of rules, yet you maintain your restraint level(s) to maintain safety and security, for the sake of the family and in the hopes that your children will grow into responsible adults. Then, something amazing happens:

One day, when you go over to their house to visit them and your grandchildren, they apologize for resenting all the rules (my daughter-in-law has 749 rules to manage the peace in their home), while I (now the grandparent) get to frolic, play and help my grandchildren find loopholes in the rules. Ha!

I can’t help but think, if I knew then what I know now, would I have done things differently? Without a doubt: Absolutely.

Then, I think about how this model mimics society as a whole. We are just as reactive when we create laws to govern individuals within our community. We start as a Utopia with no restrictions, until someone engages in an activity that we would not like to see repeated, so we make a law regarding it.

So many laws; so many restrictions, and we rarely if ever review the old ones, while we pile new ones on top of them. Will it ever end?

When all we really need is two laws:
1. Do whatever you want
2. Don’t interfere with anyone else’s right to do what they want

That means you can do whatever you want – even if we have been programmed to believe that an activity is bad or socially unacceptable – do it; but don’t let your activity impinge on another’s right to enjoy their life.

Maybe it’s impossible to change our legal system or the world for that matter; but I can change me.

I can love my fellow human beings more. I can learn to allow them to find their own way and do their own thing (as long as it doesn’t interfere with someone else’s right to do likewise).

I believe that tolerance is the next step in human evolution.

When you think about it; it removes all resistance as you simply allow what is to be.

Tolerance is love expressed to the Nth degree.

Maybe it’s time to consider letting go – just a little bit – and try it on for size. Tolerance could have a huge impact in the peaceful enjoyment experienced in your life.

Or not.

I Am What’s Wrong With the World

The world is in disrepair, the United States is in shambles… If you don’t believe me, turn on the TV and it won’t be long, you will see that our nation and the world are sliding down a slippery slope.

How did we get into this desperate cycle of degradation? I mean, here we are on the epicenter of technological advancement; it wasn’t long ago (only several generations) that there were no toothbrushes, electricity, cars, toasters, telephones, radios, televisions, let alone computers or the Internet.

It wasn’t until the 1600’s that the printing press allowed information to be controlled, doled out to the general population and used as a means to persuade collective groups of people to embrace particular types of thought. Following the 200 years of the printing press’s dominion, the propaganda strings became stronger and swifter with the introduction of better methods of communication, like the telephone, radio and television; let alone more recent technologies including the personal computer and the Internet, leading to present-day communication technologies.

And still, with all this technology that we currently hold in our hands, the world remains in a state of decline?

Things will go on as they are as long as the majority of our populace is made up of puppets manipulated by puppeteers; the one’s that consume and those who control the media.

Oh, sure, we hear rumors of people willing to “make a stand.” Only to find their efforts are fruitless, as they are silenced. The boisterous rebels willing to publicly draw a line in the sand and attempt to influence the masses, whose messages fade away as they disappear, are murdered or die of natural causes.

The only way to change the world is one person at a time, from the inside out, and it starts, here and now with me. I am the problem. I am what stands between the world as it is today and the brighter future for tomorrow.

What can I do to change who I am?

I can turn off the TV. I can reject fear and find ways to love more deeply and passionately, embrace my personal power and a more intimate connection to the source of all that is and ever will be. I can conduct my affairs with integrity, have compassion for all peoples of all nations; including those within the boundaries of the nation where I reside who see things differently than me.

My power of influence will be focused on myself and who I am; not in an effort to convert or persuade anyone to accept my unique and individual point of view on these or any other matters. I will gently and humbly share my ideas, only when prompted; and when questioned I will respect the perspective of my audience, only disseminating that which the hearer may hear in a manner that will have the best likelihood of being understood.

I will allow everyone to go it alone, to find their own way at their own pace and celebrate their right to do so because, after all, aren’t we all just doing the best we can with what we have? I know I am.

And as I focus on me and who I am, there is the possibility that someone, somewhere else is turning their attention inward in a similar manner. I believe that as the number of these empowered individuals becomes more enlightened, as their consciousness is raised, it will clear the airspace for other individuals to begin to think for themselves.

This continued individual growth of consciousness grows exponentially as the number of enlightened increases forming a collective consciousness. Once national consciousness is raised to critical mass, then we will see change; not until then.

One man cannot conduct a battle against the world, but I can fight the battle for who I am. This I can do, for this is who I am.

Consider opening your heart to who you are to be a part of this change.