The thing about people ...

.......People only listen when that composite which makes up 'who they are' is receptive to what the speaker wants to say. I suppose that is why religion can gain widespread devotees/followers. People who are seeking the same questions come to you for the answers THEY want to hear.  You package up for them what they want to hear, and you are hailed as a genius, a messiah.

And if you tell them something a little beyond their level, beyond their current comfort level of 'awareness' they will reject you as radical/crazy/nonsense. If you challenge parts of their programming they are still contented with, they will reject you. 

I understood this clearly today because I was surprised by a sudden openess by a friend to what I had to say about the political goings-on in this country. In what I believe is nothing more than their angst-ridden expression, I have been condemned as being an irresponsible and unthinking citizen by this group. I have not changed my stand - my friend has just become too tired of the same old, same old. So tired that she was ready to listen to an alternative view. 

And I suppose that is where "charm" as a factor becomes a winning and deciding factor for a political candidate. "What is this thing called 'charm' that some people seem to possess?"

I think having 'charm' is simply being able to hone the ability to tell people exactly what they want to hear at the right time. You can also use it to lure people in - in provoking them by a certain degree, enough for them to remember you as merely more than a sideshow, but a presence in itself. 

Well, to cut a long story short - this reminds me of what I told a friend while discussing the need to be able to accept that, despite the fact that we are all equal and exist almost equally in our physical representations, mentally we all exist in extremely different planes. And that is the reason why those who have achieved a high level of spirituality find it necessary most of the time, to preach only to a select audience, if they do decide to preach at all.

It is a difficult task to explain to people concepts and truths if the listener has never even experienced or understood before. People can only accept things that they have themselves mulled over and contemplated before yet not being able to arrive at a sense of proper understanding of the thing. There is a role for spiritual leaders, that of moderate delivery, and best of all, delivery through a way of life which others can observe them from and be inspired by.

Disagreements and arguments occur because the parties involved insist that there is an absolute and definite way of perceiving something. What we have to learn is that we are simply telling someone else, either through our manner or message, something which they have not  yet considered the angle of. If we could all argue without emotions or taking it personally, we can see that argument can be a good way of creating the new platform for contemplation on both sides. 

Our biggest downfall as a human being is to associate so intimately our purpose with our identity, our collective experiences and intellect as our consciousness, our Being, as if they are one. But they are not. Our perceptions, and thus, opinions, are made up as a sum of the collective programming/experiences which educated our emotions thus far, a 'Self'. Since opinions and perceptions are coloured by programming, they cannot be a Truth in itself. We manufactured those opinions; the maker is not the same as the made. The maker, thus, should not be offended that the 'made' is rejected or disagreed with. That would make the maker very silly indeed. 

But that is what we do. We color our opinions and emotions with a sense of our personal identity, our personal Being.

Many years ago, I would not be able to understand that there is a 'Self' and a 'Non-self'. But years of questioning, "What is this thing they call an Ego?" finally led me to a point where I saw that I was separate from the things which colored my life until that point. The things which happened to me, the things I allowed to happen to me - those created my Ego. My identity of me. And that Ego is the one I waste energy defending. That is the thing that gets emotionally wounded and offended. That is the thing that makes it feel like the world revolves around oneself. 

My point is that, things reveal themselves to us only when we have had enough and are more willing to become receptive of something better. Then only better things are allowed through our filtering system. My point is also that it is not wise to get worked up over people who will have differing personal opinions with us. Each of us will arrive at different points in our life, about different things, where we will become receptive of one thing or the next.