October 17, 2016
Rev. Carmen Cameron
Louisville Class Notes
October 21, 2010
CONFLICT: ANGER &
FEAR, The Truth Behind the Perception of Attack
The single greatest problem in
this world - the thing that makes life on earth feel so much like hell - is
conflict. Not just conflict between
individuals and nations over what are seen as separate - and therefore conflicting
- interests (which are actually impossible as "no man is an island"
is an incontrovertible truth) but also (and perhaps most importantly) the
internal conflicts that each and every individual has to deal with. CONSTANTLY.
ALL conflict has the very same source: fear. How do we deal with it? And what actually works to end it? As opposed
to ignoring or denying it (iow, just
pushing it out of our conscious minds in the present only to have it reemerge -
often in a far more extreme fashion - at some time in the future.) Answer: Understanding
the basic dynamic, its source and its resolution.
THERE
ARE ONLY TWO EMOTIONS: LOVE AND FEAR
- - WHATEVER isn't love IS fear (however much we try to disguise it as "reasonable" or "justifiable").
- - any desire to harm or "overcome" another comes from fear (i.e., retribution, control, victory, etc.)
- - "Would you rather be right or happy?"
- - EVERY UPSET - NO EXCEPTIONS
- - covers an internal fear (and God wills that it be healed)
- - from the slightest irritation all the way to utter rage is just a matter of degree BUT all the same - fear
ANGER
(AND ATTACK) ARE ALWAYS BASED IN FEAR
- - Only those who first perceive themselves as weak (an attack on their own reality as children of God) would ever think that attack could gain them anything that they want. Ergo:
- - Anger is always a cover emotion for a fear. Ergo:
- - An angry person is in defense mode, not strong or confident. Ex: Chihuahuas and Great Danes
- - Anger is ALWAYS an attempt to make someone else feel guilty for our own perceived weakness (and their seemingly greater strength)
- - The anger is always in direct proportion to the depth of the fear it's designed to cover. Ergo:
- - Whenever the anger is disproportionate to an event, the current trigger actually represents something very fear-inducing that happened in the past. ("I am never upset for the reason I think.") Ergo:
- - Anger often blinds us to what's actually happening NOW and therefore seriously impairs our responses.
- - We believe that we were attacked in the past, and that that attack was successful (i.e., it cost us something).
- - Since we think attack was effective on us in the past, we try to use it to defeat others in the present.
THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT APPLIES TO HUMAN
INTERACTIONS EVERY BIT AS MUCH AS TO MATERIAL THINGS
- - If we attack, we will BE attacked. Ergo:
- - The Golden Rule is actually a law: what we do to others WILL BE done to us. ("karma")
- - The retaliatory attack may not be immediate or overt - nor come from the same person attacked.
- - The time lag, different modality or source only disguise the Law of Cause and Effect in action Ex: the toy with metal balls that struck each other once set in motion
- - WHENEVER we attack another, we will EXPECT retaliation (irregardless of what that person really intends)
- - What we expect to see, we DO see. (Perception is absolutely infallible in its selection of its witnesses.) Experiment: look around the room for green objects, then close your eyes (what was brown?)
HOW DO WE END THE NEGATIVE CYCLE OF ATTACK AND
RETALIATION?
1. GET PAST THE SENSE OF GUILT
- - Guilt makes us defend against the truth, hiding it from ourselves (for of itself, it's both obvious and simple).
- - See both anger and attack as an emotional child's response (regression) = a reason for compassion, not judgment.
- - Understand that EVERYONE is only doing the best that they AS YET know how - including YOU.
- - "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" apllies to you and me - and every "bad guy" ever.
2. GET IT THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S
REALLY IN YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS
- Ask yourself: Hasn't your past already provided you with
enough proof that this is true?
3. YOU COULD SEE PEACE INSTEAD OF DISASTER, IF
YOU WERE WILLING
- - Drama (adrenalin) is
addictive. We have to be willing to give
it up for the means to be GIVEN us. Ex:
AA
- - As a child of God, for you to believe that the limitless power, perpetual safety or inestimable value that He gave you in your creation can be lessened against your will in any way is to slander God by seeing Him as powerless against some "greater force" than Him.
- - Ask yourself: Do you really WANT to be such a weak thing that just a single word can hurt you?
- - Don't look to the world to support your process of empowerment for it DEPENDS on your fear.
- - The world treasures the guilt that hides our fears and so teaches us to be "nice" (from the ancient French word meaning "to pretend to be blind or stupid"). Ex: Aunt Alberta's skirt
4.
RECOGNIZE THE FEAR, REJECT IT - BY TURNING IT OVER TO SPIRIT - AND ASK
FOR THE ANSWER
- - "Be as a little child" so you can learn anew. (The recognition that "I don't know" is the birthplace of wisdom.)
- - While uncertainty is uncomfortable - and so we fear it - it is the "certainties of this world" that kill us.
- - To get this course, you must be willing to "question EVERY value" you currently hold as "truth".
5. MAKE YOURSELF WILLING FOR EVERYONE TO WIN
- - God is not partial. Ergo: the prayer to win at another's expense can NOT be answered
- - The resolution where everyone involved can win may look like it will take a miracle - and it will BUT:
6. MIRACLES ARE YOUR BIRTHRIGHT (AND EVERYONE
ELSE'S, TOO)
All you have to do is ask - not
for what you think should happen - but for what WILL work - for EVERYONE.
