Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Unscrupulous

Do you ever get sick of the people in this world who manipulate, scheme, plot and use people? I do.

I am fed up of people being down trodden, tired of inequality. I have had enough., I now rebel, I refuse to join the masses.

Whatever happened to do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Has our society degraded to the level whereby we no longer care about how we make people feel? Sadly I believe so. Unfortunately, feelings and emotions have become a very cheap commodity, one that has little value, one that is no longer revered. Don’t express your emotions in public, you’ll be judged, then it is highly likely you will be segregated, oh and by the way, don’t cry either, because you know, that is a weakness our society looks down upon.

Show one moment of weakness and there is always some unscrupulous person lying in wait to use it to their advantage. Why is this? The ultimate power struggle? Are they power freaks? You know our society endorses power, it endorses those who wish to wield it at any expense. Any expense, that phrase speaks for itself. Look at the world we live in, war, starvation, homelessness, illness. The care factor is sorely lacking, somewhere along our path as a race we have lost the main point, or perhaps we missed it to start with. When as a collective we can prevent suffering, prevent manipulation, prevent pain, prevent the current climate of neglect we live in and truly embrace one another as equals, then we will have the right to own power. Own our own power, the power that develops from with in.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Blame Game


Blame as defined by Wikipedia: "To blame is to hold another person or group responsible for perceived faults real, imagined, or merely invented for pejorative purposes. Blame is an act of censure, reproach, and often outright condemnation. Blame is used to place responsibility and accountability for faults on the blamed person or group."

Blame is common place in the society of today, people find it difficult to accept responsibility for their actions, words or deeds. Why is this ?
As a whole do we lack insight into the psyche that resides within, are we looking for an "easy way out" ? Quite possibly, is it not much easier to lay the blame at another’s feet then to admit to oneself "Yes I have made a mistake" "Yes it is my fault".

The fear of repercussions perhaps becomes a block to preventing full acceptance of our actions, words and deeds. This is not necessarily the fear of exclusion, reprimand or condemnation, but the penalties we place on ourselves. Human nature dictates that we need to appear responsible and we tend to go to any lengths to achieve this. But is it more the fact that deep inside we do not wish to acknowledge that we have flaws, that we are not as perfect as we may think ? We all have unique perceptions of ourselves, when this perception is shattered by events or circumstances; we find it difficult to accept that we indeed had a role to play. Our ego would have us believe that others are responsible for the issues we face, for the circumstances we need to endure. So yes it is the "easy way out". It is much easier to blame others then it is to face the fact that we do have flaws and imperfections that can be the catalyst for further development. However, instead of using the valuable insight gained from our mistakes, we look to others to accept the responsibility that is truly only ours to take.

Blame , therefore can impede growth and development on all levels. Without the ability to learn from mistakes, how can one progress to the stage where is not concerned by the fear factor of what is inside. Admitting your mistakes to yourself is no doubt one of the most difficult objectives to fulfill, to be blamed by another is equally as difficult to overcome .

When we blame someone we also gain a temporary measure of power, however it is short lived, and whilst we lay blame we give up our true power. We lose power because it becomes trapped by the object of our blame and hence, blame causes us to lose what is most valuable to us, our own self power. It takes much energy to blame, energy sourced from within ,aswell as impeding healing. As much as fear contributes to the blame game, so does pain. Whilst blaming others the pain driving the blame is not dealt with and thus continues to fuel the furnace of blame. Therefore, blaming does not resolve issues , but creates a continuous roundabout of pain-blame-pain-blame.Therefore we can conclude that blame impedes our growth and development in several ways with blame resulting in the denial of self, fear, repressed need to heal and the list goes on.

To help overcome the blame game here are some tips (http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_I_Myhre):
• When you find yourself blaming, give yourself permission to first feel the blame as intensely as possible and then to release it as completely as possible. Then you can more effectively deal with the issue at hand. Don’t deny your blame, if it’s there.
• If you absolutely must blame, at least blame yourself
• Use your blame as a stepping stone rather than a hiding place. Then you’ll be taking your power back. Then you’ll be using blame effectively.
© J Picken

Friday, May 2, 2008

How Do We Define Freedom?

How do we define freedom ?



Wikipedia defines freedom as follows
“Freedom (the idea of being free) is a very broad concept that has been given numerous different interpretations by different philosophies and schools of thought. The protection of interpersonal freedom can be the object of a social and political investigation, while the metaphysical foundation of inner freedom is a philosophical and psychological question. Both forms of freedom come together in each individual as the internal and external values mesh together in a dynamic compromise and power struggle; the society fighting for power in defining the values of individuals and the individual fighting for societal acceptance and respect in establishing one's own values in it.
In philosophy, freedom often ties in with the question of free will. Libertarian philosophers have argued that all human beings are always free - Jean-Paul Sartre, for instance, famously claimed that humans are "condemned to be free" - because they always have a choice even an external authority can only threaten punishment after an action, not physically prevent a person from carrying out an action. At the other end of the spectrum, determinism claims that the future is pre-determined and freedom is an illusion.”
Freedom exists on many levels, emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental. We, as the wonderful beings we are, also have a tendency to self limit our own freedom. We place constraints on our behavior, how we think, how we feel and what we do.
We desperately yearn to be free, but strangely enough, we tend to be our biggest jailer. Why? Is it because we have lost touch with what we truly desire? In essence yes, we have forgotten that we possess the strength to make our own decisions, determine our own existence. We have become rather complacent and have capitulated to the pressure of the majority of our society and have readily accepted concepts and belief systems that inhibit the very same freedom we seek.
When one begins to question “is this what I really want?” and begins to delve into the deeper regions of their being, further questions arise, questions which have perhaps laid dormant and unanswered. Questions regarding mindset, values, objectives and achievement, arise and slowly recognition of the need for personal freedom in thought, emotion, spirit and physical presence blossoms. Once the blossoming begins we search for ways to break free of the shackles that we have created for ourselves, which we have permitted to develop.
Can we really achieve true freedom on all levels? I think we can, I believe it is possible, but also to make this possible we need to recognize factors which keep us prisoner.
© 2008 J Picken