It
is so interesting to listen to people's conversations and observe the attitudes
and emotional patterns which shine through.
Trivial
and apparently casual conversations are not so ordinary because an aspect of
the personality becomes evident to the onlooker.
For
example, being secretive! I would prefer the word "privacy”. That has a
valid connotation for me. The word "secrecy" somehow demonstrates the
darker side ...and above all, the kind of things that people feel the need to
be secretive about surprises me.
If
you are invited to someone's home for a meal, the statement is, “I am OUT for
lunch", "OUT" being the catch word here. If you are going for a
holiday with "friends". No names mentioned! You might know them. AND
feel bad you were not invited two brothers, sisters or sisters in law don't
have any desire to share friends. Too close for comfort!
WHY?
All this in the name of "healthy" trends or the reverse?
Can
one call this a malfunctioning of society, this opacity and this compulsion to
control people and environment?
If
you really analyze this, the root cause is mostly the perception of a reduction
of attention and importance, or let's say, sharing the person and risking their
walk over to the other side. Or maybe, a tiny voice from within that might
whisper, "Maybe, the other person will outshine me". It is the fear
of loss, a loss of many things under the apparent, superficial reason.
Definitely an avoidable emotion! It just causes inner as well as outer
conflict. But it is a very real issue today. Gone are the days of togetherness
and large heartedness.
I
know there can never be unanimity in such views. But the basic fact remains
that these attitudes exhibit a deep sense of low confidence levels and self
esteem. Of course, one can carry on living in this state all of one's life. And
people DO, too.
On
the deeper level, these are also separatist attitudes where people are making
choices of people and taking sides, sometimes being forced into taking sides,
just because there are two sides...an undesirable polarization in perceptions!
Spiritual
science teaches us oneness, the complete opposite.
But
everything ultimately boils down to our self image. It is important to keep
updating it through constant work and experience. Not be a big fish in a small
pond and getting inflated but a small fish who is lively and courageous and
swims along, exploring the furthest corners of the huge universal ocean so as
never to be intimated by anyone or anything and taking on everything with a
personality adaptable , mature and confident.
The
canvas is so vast that the minds cannot afford to be small. This is a gross mismatch.
Surekha Kothari
surekhakothari.wordpress.com
