Inner Power

I’ve encountered so many people who never stop and question their points of view. They accept and internalize everything that they’ve been shown by their parents, peers, schools, media, and society. They go along with the majority; they follow the pack. They become like the people they spend the most time with. They conform to whatever’s expected of them, even if it’s causing harm. They go along with it because it’s what their parents, peers, society, and religion tell them is right. They pledge this is how it’s always been and it’s gonna stay that way because they’re right and can believe and do whatever they want, even if it’s hateful, discriminatory, and abusive. They’re just continuing their culture, religion, and showing pride by honoring their customs and traditions. They believe they may claim superiority and dominate, exploit, oppress, judge, condemn, bully, and even kill others.

When confronted, the closed-minded people will try every defensive, manipulative play in the book, not open to accepting any responsibility for their roles in perpetuating the violence and trauma that continues because they believe they are entitled to keep doing what they’ve always done, no matter the cost to others. They willfully refuse to see any other perspective and don’t even try to educate themselves, so nothing ever changes in their culture.

So we are faced with the same issues repeatedly.

The non-critical thinkers are choosing to stay stupid, yeah I said it. They’re behaving unintelligently. Anyone who is not educating themselves from multiple sources continuously is not behaving intelligently. People who blindly accept everything they’re told and do what their family, society, and religion expect, without question, with blind obedience are being unintelligent.

Intelligent people are curious and question everything. They stay connected to their inner compass and stay true to love, compassion, and empathy from within. They stay connected to that internal moral compass that we all inherently have, our inner power. We all know innately what’s harmful. It’s just socialized out of us so that we are brainwashed with fear and do what those who are bigger than us tell us. When we’re grown, it’s up to each of us to claim our power and be responsible for ourselves, for our actions and the effects we cause in the world.

For example, people can fly their Nazi and Confederate flags, but why would anyone want to in this day and age? Some people say it’s their heritage and they’re proud of it? I associate the Nazi symbol and Confederate flag with racism, atrocities, and genocide. Wouldn’t it be more mature and kind to let those symbols fade away into history? Why would anyone choose to display “pride in their heritage” with symbols associated with hate?

And the people who believe that their God will save them and rain hellfire and brimstone on all the unrepentant sinners. All the judgment and hate promoted by religions is truly puzzling to me. Yet, people are all on board with it and feel righteous about it. What’s intelligent about that?

Some people are so concrete and self-centered that they can not think outside the parameters of their own egocentricity. For example, they couldn’t understand why it was harmful to call COVID 19 the Chinese virus. They could only think in black and white terms, unable to see or understand how this encouraged xenophobia and racism. They said, “Well, the virus originated in China, so what’s wrong with calling it the Chinese virus?” Doh! I wish those dum-dums could spend a day in my shoes and maybe they’d understand?

I’ve concluded that a large majority of people are lacking in emotional intelligence, imagination, and critical thinking skills. They just don’t give a damn about trying to understand, to achieve unity and peace. They get off on being belligerent and are just looking for reasons to fight. Unintelligent bullies. Willful ignorance is their badge of honor. With all our technology, resources, and social support, people would rather stay stupid. They would rather we as a whole keep beating our heads against the wall than even lift a finger to learn something other than what confirms what they already believe. They’ll spin everything to justify themselves and use coercive control tactics until they get their ways.

There are those who are questioning though and I say, “Yay!” Please don’t stop, read, learn, explore, grow, open your hearts to the truth from within. We all have access to a higher love than what’s out there in the world. It’s inside us. We don’t have to follow the pack, we can follow what love tells us. We have the power to choose love over hate. There’s always hope that we can create a better, more peaceful, united, loving world together.