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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Are you living in "Reality"?

How many of us are guilty of seeing things the way we wish they were rather than the way they are? I am guilty of this.

Is it actually possible to see things as they truly are without subconsciously distorting the reality?

That is a great question.

We have been conditioned and programmed to think a certain way on many issues. Even people who claim to be independent thinkers, open minded, are actually not immune to this all-too-human characteristic.

So who has programmed us? The people we love and trust the most. Our parents, our teachers, our ministers, our friends. The people that we look up to and trust the most.

We do not have all the answers, so we often defer to others for advise and direction. It would be impossible to ponder and contemplate in adequate depth every single issue in life right at the moment that it is happening. We make judgements and decisions influenced by others' ideals.

Yes, we can examine an issue in depth at a later time and then change our mind, or even acquire deeper convictions, but that takes time and energy. This process takes maturity and really speaks of personal growth.

There is one person who does have all the answers though, it is God. Yet many of us seek answers from others because we don't know how to take the advice and guidance from God. It seems much easier to adopt the ideals of a human who can allegedly communicate directly with us. Although God does the same, and we never need to question his authority or his bias, yet we find ourselves unsure of just how to obtain his message.

Yes - God can communicate immediately, yet He often chooses to give us subtle and delayed messages. These messages often require trust and patience. Often the answer to our question has a lot to do with trust and patience, doesn't it?

I had a related situation happen this morning. I was asked if I knew if our current President ever refused to salute or hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. I responded by stating that I thought that the allegation was true, at least at one time, but wasn't sure if it was still true. A man responded by stating that the allegation was started by Haters of Obama, and that he knew for a fact that it was not true, and he could prove it.

And then I saw this:



Was this an example for the man mentioned above of living in a reality of what one chooses to believe rather than what is or was actually true?

Now this example that I chose to use, was not intended to make you think a particular way about this president, it was rather just an example of what I was faced with today.

I cannot read his mind, and I don't want to try to ascribe something more to this video than what is real.

The point I am trying to make is that we all make decisions and judgements influenced by what we want to believe in life and what we want to have happen. I don't think we can control this ,at least not initially. What we can do is be aware that we all have the tendency to do this, and when we acknowledge this, it is the first step toward living in a truer reality.

We are imperfect, that is true. We all make mistakes. I do daily, in fact, in reality, hourly.

I often seek answers from places other than from God. I know this is a mistake. I am often not wise enough, or patient enough, to wait for the clear direction and answer from God. I need to work on this!

That is the REALITY!
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