I love this:
because I learned to stop hiding, and instead openly share my experiences and the essence of who I am.
I've had many friends tell me how much they appreciate me sharing my thoughts openly. One even texted me a "like" because they felt they couldn't do so on Facebook directly or their clients and potential clients might see it and cost them some business. I want more people to be free to express themselves fully, but I realize how few can do that without facing negative consequences.
So much of what you're experiencing, I think, is one possible road once we get high enough up Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. When we're no longer living in fear of our basic needs, then we don't have to form ourselves into a mold which is safe and offends the least number of people possible. We can be ourselves and connect with others as ourselves. If someone doesn't like that, it's okay. There are other connections to be made and opportunities to explore. So many, it seems, are stifled by their jobs or their bosses or whatever hand that feeds them.
When you feed yourself, there is so much freedom.
I want to help improve the world, and I feel a burden for the least of these. I'm also starting to realize the best way to really bring about large-scale change may not be to just lift the lowest out of poverty, but might also be to get more well off people up to the top rung to self actualization. What would the world look like if we had a bunch of Elon Musks or Lhamo Dondrubs (the Dalai Lama) doing things to improve the world? That might bring more people out of poverty and suffering faster than anything else.
And, as you said, all experiences shape who we are. Suffering and pain lead to better understanding of love, joy, peace, and the like. I'm wondering if we'll ever get to the point where we can appreciate the latter without having to go through the former. Maybe not until transhumanism. Who knows.
As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoy them.
Agreed Luke. Everything changes when we get clear on who we are, and then start expressing it - out loud. 🙏🏽🙌🏽 And it's most certainly easier when you have the means to self support, or even better, a community that supports you being you . When we are relying on a job, a boss, a parent, a spouse etc for support or self esteem support (aka approval) then we feel like we should just play nice, keep our nose clean and our mouths shut and just play along with the game of life to get the support. So I absolutely agree with you that this freedom you and I share to fully express ourselves out loud is a first world privilege. It's hard not to feel gratitude for our predicament every day. 🙏🏽
You seem to have a strong innate desire to help those less fortunate than you, and I love that about you. I have seen that desire show itself in other posts and comments you've made, so I sense this is something deeply a part of who you are? I too have long had an innate drive that my life somehow benefits others. But I sense a difference in our philosophies. Please forgive me if I'm reading you wrong Luke, but what I hear you saying is that people like us who are awake, and first world privileged, that we are morally responsible to try and directly use our gains (mentally, financially, or somehow) to pull others up from the bottom. Or at least that you personally feel this way... That those on the bottom of the Socio economic ladder don't have the means to lift themselves, like we do, and therefore must be rescued.
But my experience is that things don't work that way. I used to have the idea that I could just give and lift...and for years I personally supported, encouraged, financed and mentored numerous friends and family towards having a better life. For YEARS I've paid off their debts, given them the specific material items they said they needed in order to change, outright just fed them cash for years, and even moved friends into live with me who "just" needed shelter. Spent innumerable hours holding their hands as they talked through their shit and cried on my shoulder... I have almost been like a homeless pet shelter for the downtrodden humans that I loved. It seems I attract folks like this because I wanted to help people so much. But almost every time nothing I could do would make their shit go away. I could not raise them up. The only way out is through, and only they can do the work to get them through. IMO the single greatest thing we can do to help the world is work on ourselves and not hide. Me, us, them ...all. To know our self, and then, to be that. Knowing and being your true self IS the pebble in the water that impacts those around you. You're right. It doesn't impact those folks way out there at the edges who need it most. But working on ourself is everyone's best hope and those directly around you are positively impacted by you being more you...and they impact their friends, and their friends impact their own relationships and so on expansively like the ripples across the pond from that 1st pebble. Help is not reaching out to scoop up the outliers and bring them in. Has to come from the initial source first, otherwise it's reverse rippling and that just doesn't happen in nature. (Is that a Naturalistic fallacy like I hear Sean talk about? Idk, but you get what I mean. 😉)
I can't argue with the goodness of your heart or your intentions. I know you as a very brilliant and very kind human who genuinely wants to help others, and I love you for that. Maybe I should reach out and focus more on lifting other people up vs continue to only think about seeing myself more clearly. But all we can each do is trial and error through the methods that best resonate with each one of us. Truth probably lies somewhere in the middle in that each method works best in differing circumstances.
Ah, I love this! Thank you. :)
Yes, I do have a desire to be a philanthropist on some level, but I also see the folly in just "giving." I know, it doesn't work. It has been shown to not work. Sustainable development and local businesses seem like the most successful approach when it comes to helping in developing countries.
What you're describing about focusing on ourselves first is very similar to my post from about 5 months ago: How to Improve the World. I think when we're a bit broken, we attract broken people. When we're not only fixed but overflowing with love, joy, inspiration, activity, action and more, we not only attract that to ourselves, but we spread it around also.
One of my favorite examples of how I'd like to help improve the world is shown in this documentary:
Billionaires using their money to invent things to improve the world. How cool is that!
I do have a bit of the "Jesus complex" (or savior complex) which is probably a hold over from my upbringing in a Christian worldview. That said, I don't think others need to be rescued or that they can't do things on their own. Instead, from a moral / ethical perspective, I think of it from the Veil of Ignorance perspective. How would I like things to be structured if I happened to born as others without my privilege? What responsibility does that create for me?
Example: tonight our family had a fantastic dinner of sushi and more that cost us $100. That's a tremendous amount of money to spend for one family for one meal for many in the world. I don't feel guilty about that, but if I happened to be born in a different country, striving for daily food and clean water, I'd at least want to know that person recognizes the inequalities in the world and cares enough to see if something can be done to improve things.
We are on the same page. 🙏🏽 Your post from 5 months ago was awesome, and I'm glad you referenced that above. I was not active here five months ago so I had missed it. Oh, and then the video…! I knew none of that, but wow I will have a new appreciation for those nasty looking little 5 hour energy drinks I see on the counter at the gas station. That guy is a genius,and such a great heart to want to help the world ! And, Sean will totally want one of those bicycle generators ;-)
That bike would be good for kids too, right? "You guys want your electronic devices? Go pedal for an hour first so they will be powered!" 🤣👍🏽
Sean and I are doing some philanthropic and business ventures where one of the main intentions behind them is just to help others see themselves more clearly. Our yoga center for example… that's a labor of love and we hope to make life just a little better for thousands of folks that come through there. Oddly, I am less comfortable talking about actual things we do like that then blathering on about my own personal struggles and insights, because I am only starting to gain comfort with a sense of personal empowerment. I'm shifting more towards neutral though to where I can aknowledge both my darkness and my light. It's a process and that's progress.
I have not heard of the concept of the veil of ignorance either, but that's very helpful. The veil notion saves us from projecting our judgments and stories on others who may need help. Like even sometimes when when we want to help the poor or the downtrodden our ego judgments get triggered into "ya, but they made bad decisions and don't deserve…" then we hold back.
Thanks for engaging in dialogue with me 🙏🏽
I love what you are doing with the Yoga center. To me, that's a perfect an example of an enterprise with multiple levels of benefit for everyone involved.
Thank you also. I always enjoy our conversations!
Great comment. Enjoyed reading it Luke.
Thanks! I'm often inspired by @steemed-open.
Me too! She's a great gal with an even better channel!
Thanks 🙏🏽