You don’t have to believe it because you read about it in books. Don’t believe in something just because someone else has said it. Don’t believe in traditions. You can discover the truth for your self. It is possible to reason it out. This is realization.” Swami Vivekananda
Recently I had a big argument with someone. I was arguing for my beliefs and I gave up because I felt hurt. I didn’t want any more energy wasted. The next day, I couldn’t sleep well and thought about why people have such negative opinions about me. If we can have a civil conversation and talk about the issue. All of a sudden, I felt inside that people might think I’m bad. I needed to examine myself and make changes within myself. This was the day that I realized the true meaning of self-realization.
The sum of all our experiences makes up the soul. This meant that each experience contributes to our soul and that no experience can take away from it. “The personal revolution is much more difficult and is the first step to any revolution.” – Michael Frant
For lack of a better term, we loosely refer to Self-realization. How can you realize that only this is possible? We must let go of the habit of defining unreal things as real. All religions are designed to assist us in this. If we stop referring to the unreal as real, reality will only remain.
People don’t always behave the way you expect them to. You may be disappointed or let down by people. But you must give them a chance. It’s not possible to expect someone to be everything you want. Then, you can be frustrated when they don’t live up to your expectations. It is foolish to assume that someone will live up to your expectations. Sometimes, people are better than you thought they would be if you give them a chance. Different, but better.
We get so involved in egotistical things like career, family, money, paying the mortgage, buying a car, fixing the radiator that breaks, and many other little acts just to continue on. We don’t have to stop looking at our lives and asking ourselves, “Is this enough?” Is this all that I need? Is there something missing?
We may be unable to accept certain experiences because they don’t match our expectations. However, the experience we reject may contain the same joy, peace and love that we want. This world is often viewed as a collection of dualities or opposites. If we examine the world more closely, however, we discover that so-called “opposites” are actually just different amounts or combinations of one thing. As an example, light and dark are not opposites. Only photons exist in dark. There are no flashdarks. You cannot buy one and point it at objects to make them disappear. We call it dark when there isn’t enough light. The only thing that is real is our true nature which is full of joy and love. We may label sadness or fear as a lack of joy or love. However, these are not the absence of joy or love. There is always some joy in sadness, and there can be some love in fear.
Forgiveness is an aspect of acceptance/love/peace/truth.
Resentment is an aspect of hatred/emotionalism/negativity/falsehood.
Forgiveness can bring complete peace and serenity to the mind.
Resentment can cause inner turmoil and even suffering.
Which one do you prefer? Which one? How often? We can decide how often.
Acceptance/forgiveness means choosing to see the absolute perfection and beauty in everything.
Everybody/everything is operating at their own level of awareness/or evolution.
Everything/everything is exactly what it is now, because it has to learn or unlearn.
People are who they are and make mistakes because they don’t know or don’t want the knowledge. They would be different if they knew.
We must do things differently if we want to make a difference in our lives. You will find that your mind is free from all heavy and hard thoughts. The constant struggle between desire and aversion and like and dislike, good and bad, would also disappear. It would become clear that these thoughts are the result of your own mind driven by ego.
You will have no desire to pursue anything. Even your needs will not diminish. Your mind will be filled with joy. There won’t be any doubts, so there will not be anymore questions. It would be a great relief! Every moment of life will be lived. As the past and the future are irrelevant, there will be no regrets or worries. “As human beings our greatness lies in not being able remake the world – that myth is the atomic age – but in being capable of remaking ourselves.” Mohandas Gandhi