There is an important fine line between respect for others and being impressed by them. By having respect for others we allow their virtues and qualities to inspire us to become more elevated in our thoughts, words and actions.
We never lose our own self respect by giving respect. We actually increase it. We can give respect to every human being no matter who they are, knowing that each one is bestowed with some sort of specialty or another.
Even the lowliest one of us deserves our respect and the most famous, most intelligent one of us deserves the exact same amount of respect. All souls are our brothers. Each one is a child of God and each one is loved by God, so who are we to feel any different about a child whom God loves deeply.
Being impressed is another story. Whenever we get impressed by a brother soul we get knocked off our own seat of self respect.
We go chasing after this brother soul, whether it be for the knowledge that they have or for their leadership qualities or for the appearance of the body that they happen to have in this birth. We praise them to no end, with the result that we forget that we ourselves are also God’s beloved child with our own special nature and qualities also given by God for us to use. We lose ourselves in this other person and stop our own development. We get intimidated. We lose confidence. We think we are being humble, but it’s just ego, (the ego that says I am nothing, you are everything and forgets our own self respect of being a pure soul, a deeply beloved child of God).
By being impressed we ride on the wave of the energy of another soul. There is a lot of danger in doing this because eventually that wave of energy runs out and then we are left to fall and hit ourselves very hard.
After being impressed for some time thinking that this person is so great and can do no wrong, one day we wake up and realize that this person also makes mistakes. Then we feel like we have been deceived, (we actually only deceived ourselves).
We desire to punish this person with exactly the same amount of sorrow which we took from the illusion which we had created by putting them on a pedestal. There is a spiritual law that states, however much sorrow I have taken I will give back, which is why it is so important to learn the right way to think so that I don’t take sorrow from anything or anyone in my life.
The key to not taking sorrow and not being impressed is to always remain stable on my seat of self respect, with the knowledge that I am a pure, powerful, peaceful eternal soul, a most beloved child of God and all souls are my brothers and my relationship with all my brothers is of brotherly love.
There is ritual in India where idols of the deities are worshipped and then later taken down to the river and drowned. This is the memorial of putting human beings on pedestals and worshipping them (being impressed by them) and then later trashing them. We do this repeatedly, with movie stars, with politicians, even with our own spouses.
The time now is to give true respect while staying in our own self respect, to maintain detachment and to make our connection with the Supreme Soul firm so that we don’t get blown off course by being impressed by our brother souls. We have to be ones who give love, but not ones who get swept away by another.
Each soul in its innate state is unique, pure and elevated and on this earthly plane we are each traveling on our own path which has its ups and downs. By remembering God we return to God. We came naked, (as a soul without a body) and naked we return.
[Special guest writer Carol Biberstein makes her living as an artist, art teacher and Farmers’ Market Bread Lady in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. She has been a student of Raja Yoga meditation for 6 ½ years, has changed a lot from the inside outward, and expects to transform completely. She writes about deep spiritual matters to inspire others to transform their lives. All thanks goes to the Creator, the one who inspires the re-creation of the world!.]
3 Comments
Wonderful new post by Carol. Yes, Carol is so right. We have to not be too impressed by anyone, or we stop growing. But certainly inspired. Every artist that was ever great that I ever heard of looked up to some other artist. And seekers read the lives of past saints (who started as sinners) to get inspiration. I’m not exactly sure what Carol means by respect. But I certainly know what it means to recognize and model greatness when we see it. That’s how we grow. There is even a word for this in sanskrit – satsang – that means ‘company of the truly good.’ Usually when someone is offended by big-shots, they are secretly harboring desires to be a big-shot. So I would be cautious of people who are never impressed at all – they would not be impressed even by a perfect master.
I think you make a good and valid point. Besides this either/or box of respecting or being impressed, there is the important skill of perception, as you so well know. And the greatest perception of all is the perception of Reality, and this would include the Reality of the God-Man and the Perfect Master.
Having your heart melt in the presence of Infinite Love is something that far transcends respect or being impressed. It is an experience of oneness in the world of duality.
The time period that we are in now is very unusual and special. We have gone into so much expansion of knowledge, but now is the time to return to the point. The point is very very simple. The point is, “I am a pure soul”. All knowledge is contained within the point or the seed. This is the time to move from duality into unity and oneness. This is the time for silence and peace and to go within and to stop looking outside one’s self for answers and just go deep deep within. This fits with the 2012, (or approximately that time), idea. Whenever one soul gets impressed with another then they have forgotten themselves. Really and truly there is only one thing that is real and constant and for each of us that is, I, the soul and God, the Supreme Soul. Everyone else is a hologram. In a way, everyone else is a prop in my drama, and each soul can say that. No soul is any less than I am. We are brothers. But we are also actors and this is a drama. I attract the souls into my drama who come to teach me the lessons that I need to learn and God is my Teacher watching how I pass (or fail) the tests that come to me. Everything in my drama is really between myself and God. Each soul can say that.
This is how I see it.