Pages from the book “ABC of Awareness”
Dear Visitor, I am a digital assistant with a strong understanding of personal development. Based on the book “ABC of Awareness” and the content from this website http://timeforchange.org, I am… Read More »Question to Personal Development
As multifaceted as we human beings may be, once our existential needs are covered, we all finally strive for the same thing: We want to be perpetually happy and satisfied and we want to be able to live our lives without worries and cares. This search for harmony and inner peace, for self-realization, or however we like to describe this state, as our top objective in life, is practically the same in all the different methods of representing human needs. Not least the advertising industry also frequently attempts to make use of this striving for happiness and harmony.
From our experience we know that wherever we are or whatever we do certain rules prevail. On the roads these are the traffic regulations, in football the rules of play, in nature there are the natural laws. For those that respect these rules the corresponding activities or deeds are easier to accomplish than for those who violate these rules and therefore have to be reprimanded in one way or another.
In a separate chapter we have already referred to the need for the regular monitoring of our progress towards successfully achieving our objectives. Since the lack of this monitoring of our progress or the unsuitability of the decisionmaking criteria are frequently the stumbling blocks to living the basic rights of existence we would like to briefly come back to this point.
It is frequently insufficient to simply take the basic rights of existence as the objective for life. As a rule it is necessary – or at least it is very useful – to consider at the same time how we will assess our personal progress towards living the basic rights of existence. It is especially important to be clear that in letting go of the old objectives it is also important to let go of their assessment criteria.
As logical and plausible as development with respect to the basic rights of existence may appear to be, its translation into the practicality of everyday life is not that easy. It is in fact a very serious and demanding undertaking, which demands considerable energy and cannot simply be achieved «on the side».
It is not that difficult to see as an observer what we or others should actually do in order to live the basic rights of existence in a given situation. However it is exactly what we really should do which is generally the main difficulty. The difficulty doesn’t lie in the theory or in the strategy but in carrying it out in practice.
Much false information has been spread around with respect to every aspect of the rebirth of human beings1. Whilst many people and institutions don’t want to know anything about it, others interpret illnesses and accidents incorrectly as «God’s punishment». This finally leads to a feeling of powerlessness, to a feeling that we ourselves cannot change anything or influence anything, in other words to exactly the opposite of self-determination and self-responsibility. Such people – or to put it better such victims – allow themselves to be influenced or even manipulated much more easily.
Those who realize that they will return to this earth at a later stage are much more ready to treat nature and its resources responsibly. A «don’t care what happens after I’ve gone» mentality, in which little responsibility is perceived for those who come later, is totally foreign to such people. Those who know that they will be born again later so as to continue with their personal development at that place where they ended this life are much more prepared to go from step to step on the long path of personal development and to be pleased about every small success.
The current idea of «globalization» would like to define the earth as one huge market which should be as uniform as possible. As the most important driving force behind this development, economics is constantly used to present this levelling process as a «natural» development or one which cannot be influenced. The mass media, which because of extensive privatization, has itself become part of the economy, has ever more refined means of influencing its customers and normally joins in strongly with this process.
On the other hand many people are less and less critical of the reporting of such events. Whatever appears on the TV screen, is presented in the newspapers or in books is perceived as «the truth» instead of as subjective reporting by the authors or presenters. More and more people take their objectives and values from the press instead of thinking for themselves. The blame for this cannot of course be simply passed on to the media, but rather within the meaning of self-determination or self-responsibility everyone bears the responsibility of whether he will accept external values or objectives and if so, which ones.
The advances in science and technology have brought about an incredibly strong belief in the rationality of all events amongst many people. What cannot be explained scientifically is frequently not accepted, not spoken about or explained away by other means. In reverse this mentality has led in the case of certain people to everything being viewed as «esoteric» and controlled by the stars. Both attitudes are completely absurd. In our lives there are events which can be explained rationally as well as those which cannot be explained.
Those who deny those occurrences or characteristics in their lives which cannot be rationally explained, automatically shut themselves off from all considerations about the meaning of life, about the reason for and the objectives of our existence and that of other beings.
A change in personality needs time. We have to change mechanisms which have become automatic over many years – this needs both energy and time. Our attitude to life today is shaped by rapid change, everything seems to change constantly and within a shorter and shorter time. That which doesn’t show an immediate effect is therefore frequently forgotten in favour of other goals. Long term goals no longer seem to be attractive.
The predominant theme is that of economic development. This becomes more and more an end in itself, a spiral, which turns ever faster. We become used to simply consuming, everything can (apparently) be purchased and becomes ever cheaper. What we would really like to do would be to buy pills which we could take over a period of time so that we could automatically develop with respect to the basic rights of existence.
But why is it still only relatively few people who conscientiously work on the expansion of their awareness, who strive for perpetual harmony? Why do the majority of people hardly give any thought or even no thought at all to their life objectives?
If we were to be able to recognize the stumbling blocks it would often be easier to avoid or recognize them. We would therefore like to suggest some of the reasons why for many people their personal development with respect to the basic rights of existence simply remains just a good intention, or merely a thought, and is at best partially and often not at all converted into reality.
We have so far considered the basic rights of existence on the earth as well as human development to a state of internal harmony and the consequences stemming from these considerations with respect to self-responsibility. At some stage the question arises as to how and when we could apply everything we have discussed to our personal life.
It is naturally the free choice of every person as to whether he would like to develop further towards living the basic rights of existence. If he should affirm that he does, it is again entirely his choice as to how and when and in what way he should start this process. The free choice of everyone is respected but every one of us is also responsible for the consequences of his decision.