There Is No Power...

There is no white power, nor black power. No brown, no yellow. No Christian, no Jew, no Muslim, nor any other division created by humanity. 

There are but three divisions, those are of love, hate and apathy. The last one listed is perhaps the most dangerous and insidious. I can understand where some apathy comes from. It's hard to openly care about something, anything, these days. And even harder to voice your concern. Take a look at your social media and read the vile comments, some on the most benign posts.

Those vile comments usually come from a place of hurt, which has festered into hate. Their hate turns into our apathy. Many slowly lose their ability to love/care, thus allowing apathy to creep into their daily routine. These same people become increasingly self-concerned and defensive.

As they/we become increasingly "self" orientated, we lose the ability to extend ourselves outside of our comfort zone. This allows the hate to grow, to manifest into a controlling entity. Only then do we see a push back from the masses. Sometimes, that happens too late to constrain.

           

Usually, hate can be pushed back into the shadows of existence. Unfortunately, it can’t be eliminated. Understanding this helps us to be conscious and resilient.

           

As love will find those of a similar persuasion, so will hate. Apathy is safe, and it too will find those of a similar ilk. Love and hate will always go head to head in the battle for dominance. Because love can be passive, and hate aggressive, hate will slither into those shadows and await its next opportunity, its next excuse to try and take control.

           

Love, hate and apathy, these three levels of being dominate our lives, our time here on Earth. Let us take our stance for love. Let us never fall to the lies of hate. And never let us fall into the false comfort of apathy.

Many Faiths have as their core a belief of compassion toward each other. How we treat each other embodies our relationship with our God, Higher Power or Positive Energy. When we live with kindness and charity, we live our Faith and we are in harmony with our Faith. We understand our Faith and we are exercising that understanding.

Hate is easy to understand, while apathy is easily overlooked. In Faith, apathy is condemned. In the Christian Bible, Luke 16:19-31, tells the story and effects of apathy. And it’s not pretty. At the same time hate should never be met with more hate, as this will only fuel the fire of hate. There is no simple or easy solution.

Earlier I stated that hate can’t be eliminated. It can, however, be minimized, but not with more hate.

May you always have to strength to LOVE!

by David E. Gonzales

Control, It's all about you.

There's only one thing you can control, and that is yourself. Once you understand that concept, you will be much more at peace in and with the world around you. Life is perceived as a peripheral experience; our emotions make life a personal experience. By understanding ourselves and learning to work with our natural emotions, we can and do become increasingly understanding and empathetic to the people and events around us. We are better able to handle ourselves within situations with a sense of peace by knowing we are in control of ourselves. And by allowing others to be themselves, it becomes easier to identify what kind of person they really are.

To listen to someone speak, without your personal filters glazing over their words, will allow anyone to see the reality the speaker lives in. Our preconceived ideas of another person will never even show up. We can take them as they present themselves. Listening without prejudice, is the dominant element.

The act of listening without thinking about a response is the prejudice to which referring to. Listening to the words spoken and thinking about the meaning of those words, both individually and as a whole, will help you understand the person speaking and the subject being addressed.

Many of us are more interested in responding than comprehending to what has been said. It is because of this, many of us miss the essence of the subject or idea being expressed. As we teach ourselves to listen we will also learn how to better express our personal ideas on any subject. Listening (and reading) are two of the best ways we can learn to express ourselves in a superior fashion. But listening is the only way to really learn about the person, any person.

Understanding a person will help you decide how you wish to proceed. Or if you want to proceed at all. You only have control over one thing, you. Make your decisions with all the tools you have; the ear being one of the most powerful.

Peace be with you always.

by David E. Gonzales