Beware of Daily "Anti-Inspirations"

Happiness in the older years of life, like happiness in every year of life, is a matter of choice – your choice for yourself. (Harold Azine)

We empower ourselves every time we accept responsibility for choosing the thoughts and feelings we act on. Choosing behavior that encourages happiness is often as easy as any other choice… We complicate our life unnecessarily when we choose to act out of meanness, self-centeredness, or self-pity… Happiness is if often as simple as making the decision to take charge of who we are now, as we rely on God’s will for us. (IGC)

This quote was taken from one of my favorite meditation books that I have read almost daily for over 15 years. And it represents a type of daily inspiration that I believe needs to be avoided wherever possible – daily "anti-inspirations". It looks positive and uplifting – appears as an angel of light – but really it is the poison that man and woman first ate in the “Garden of Eden.”

Humanitis – a Mental Illness

Programmed into the genetics of the mental illness of “humanitis” is the belief that we have some unquestionable ability to choose how our lives will be, how we will react to life, and what actions we will participate in – separate from our God. Religion aptly calls it “free will” – free of God’s influence and strength -- and uses it to justify rejection and abandonment – sometimes even abuse – of others who do not meet their established standards of thought and behavior.

And so as a species, we perpetuate the shame and guilt by failing to realize that – without an intimate personal unconditional and conscious connection with our God, our faculties of mental perception, emotional reaction, and conscious decision making ultimately fail, and we are miserably lost in an abyss of endless hopeless helplessness. The hardware and wiring is there, in our brains, but the power to activate and operate it does not exist -- outside of our God’s conscious Presence.

Does It Hurt Enough?

I am debating whether to be logical or simply leave these words open to those “who in mortal combat” with their own human weakness have consciously been adequately defeated to be able to hear what I am saying.

I was leading a group on spiritual maintenance today. There was the usual reluctance to what I am sharing about “choice”. And one lady spoke up. I have known her for many years -- she is normally very quiet and shy, and I know how struggle intensely with her humanness and spirituality, including the painful death of an alcoholic son recently. And what she said to others very passionately, from the depths of her soul was, “you may have choices, but you can’t speak for the rest of us!” She had done everything she could for her son and he died of his disease. And she still hurts – and she does not have a choice whether to hurt or be sad or not – separate from her conscious contact with her God.

Can We Be Reasonable?

The logic of this subject seems to include:
1. If we had a choice to be happy or not, we would never be unhappy, sad, depressed, angry or frightened. Why would we choose to hurt?
2. It is not hard for us to be happy, it is impossible – alone.
3. If we could choose to be happy, and we are not, we are “choosing” to do something “evil”. “To those who know how to do good, and doeth it not, to them it is sin.” (The Bible) We are left with rejection, judgment, and shame – because we could be happy, but we have supposedly chosen not to do so.
4. An electrical appliance – for example, a computer – may have all the necessary parts and wiring, but if it is not plugged into a power source, it will not operate. The same is true of us – in my experience.

Where Does Spirituality Begin?

In my experience, the Twelve Steps of AA and Alanon is the only set of spiritual principles that has the First Step – “We admitted we were powerless – that our lives had become unmanageable.” Every other system seems to hold people accountable, before they have been restored or reconnected to conscious Presence with their God.

All of us are doing and have done the very best we could, in every situation and circumstance, since we were born. We are not bad – we are wounded and sick. We would never deliberately choose “to act out of meanness, self-centeredness, or self-pity” because it would hurt us – like slamming our fingers in a car door.

Grief and Loss

Some of the major life losses we have experienced have come from our belief that we had “choices” and made the wrong decisions – causing seemingly irreparable damage and harm. We have lost major parts of ourselves as a result.

I am only sharing from my own experience, strength and hope, the suggestion that we consciously note the dangers of meditations and inspirations that state or claim that we have choices. Without the conscious connection I have with my God today, I would be continuing – helplessly – to perceive, feel, and act in harmful ways – without hope. Today, my life is continuing to become a better and better place – with my God, with my self, and with other human beings.

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Photography/graphics by W. Wass