Welcome back to our exploration of the Forces of the Mind. In the last post, we dove into Forgiveness. Continuing, this post will be dedicated to Trust and Understanding. To quickly recap, the Forces of the Mind are powerful expressions from the universe that when aligned with and utilized help us to be our healthiest selves. What I didn’t mention before is how the Forces of the Mind help the Mind quiet down and communicate with Spirit.
As stated though, the Forces of the Mind are more than willing and available to help. All we have to do is call on them and they are there. They will never say no to you. Where do we call on them from? We reach into our very core and essence. Our very own piece of innocence when we were first simply a thought in the Creator’s mind. Around that core of innocence was formed the Personal Spirit, followed by the Mind, and then wrapped in the vessel of the Body.
The Body was first in this series because it is the first layer. We have to peel back these layers to get to our spiritual selves, but each has its avenues to Spirit. We don’t necessarily have to remove the layers to get there like so many try to imply in their teachings. Denying any part of ourselves is a denial of our True Selves. The Forces of the Mind are not necessarily the pathway of the Mind to Spirit, but they do help open the path for us.
That is why Trust and Understanding are so important to our Foundational development. Forgiveness helps us to cut ourselves free from things distracting our attention in unhealthy and unproductive ways. Trust helps us to grow healthy meaningful relationships with ourselves and with others. Understanding helps us sympathize and empathize with others while having discernment and not letting us fall prey to pity.
Understanding
“Falling prey to pity,” was kind of a strong statement, but not untrue. Understanding, as a Force of the Mind, is what we utilize to step back and “see.” We open ourselves during this process to perceive everything and the relation between events and circumstances. Through Understanding, we come to learn deeper and on a more personal level. Understanding is what creates what is often called resonance.
Pity is a direct opposition to Understanding. When we live in a mind state of pity we begin to take sides in conflicts or situations both internal and external. If we are taking sides we are not examining all of the angles and ramifications. I once had someone judge me and show pity on lionfish because I said I would love to spear hunt them in the Atlantic Ocean. I did not explain, just expressed that it was an activity I would like to do. The rebuttal was almost immediate and while softy expressed the waves of disappointment and disapproval from their voice and energy were thick. I then had to explain how lionfish are an invasive species in the Atlantic. They reproduce rapidly, eat voraciously, and do not have predators to maintain population control like they naturally have in the Pacific Ocean. Lionfish are destroying Atlantic ecosystems and we caused the problem because they were first introduced to the Atlantic by pet owners releasing them. This problem is our responsibility as humans and our duty to try and repair it as much as possible.
Despite receiving this information, the person refused to step back and understand. They vocalized they still disapproved of my desire to perform that activity, even though the activity is beneficial to entire ecosystems. Their inclination to Pity the animals outweighed their Understanding of the situation. While saying, “falling prey to pity,” might be a strong statement there is an even stronger statement. Lack of Understanding or the Will to Understand leads to bigotry. There is ignorance when you simply don’t know something, and there is willful ignorance. Willful ignorance is bigotry when you have been presented with information or developed a belief based on one solitary reference point and refuse to look at other angles, you are being a bigot.
Yoda said in Star Wars, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” That quote is said a lot for a variety of reasons and can be reused to sum up Pity. Pity leads to Intolerance. Intolerance leads to Bigotry. Bigotry leads to Allegiance. When we take sides we are pledging our allegiance and become blind to other factors. This is not the same as taking a stand. Taking a stand comes from Understanding. Taking a stand is to realize what is unhealthy for ourselves, our communities, our society, and our world at large. We then take a stand against what is trying to pollute and corrupt.
For example, we are in a mental health crisis for society. Yet mental health issues are directly marketed to us. I have been playing games on my phone and inevitably get an advertisement for a different game. The first time I got this particular ad shook me to my core. The ad started with an AI voice saying, “I never knew ANXIETY until I played this game.” My immediate reaction was, “Then why would I want to play that game? I don’t want to create more anxiety for myself.” Understanding though says, “They wouldn’t make advertisements like that unless they worked.” This is when I have to step back and realize that this is an unhealthy construct meant to induce the issue and reduce the magnitude of the issue. Reduction of magnitude is a tool of Allegiance because those with allegiance want to downplay the severity of their side to create more appeal. That is why Understanding helps us to see through these machinations and form more resolute and guided ideals.
We have to be the ones willing to take that step back though. We have to ask ourselves, “What am I not seeing?” We have to call on Understanding to be present in those moments of making decisions. That is just the first stage of Understanding though. The more we invoke Understanding the more our awareness grows. In the post on Energy, I talked about crystals and how people have repeated the same information about crystals for years. In that post, I described how just because a crystal’s frequency works for one person a certain way does not mean it works for every person that way. The reason is that, just like crystals have their frequencies, we also have our frequencies. My body does not have the same frequency as my brother’s despite our similar genetics. No two quartz crystals have the same shape, clarity, origin, etc despite the similar crystalline compound structure used to classify them as quartz. With Understanding you grow an intimate relationship with yourself and open up to receiving messages from the world around you. You stop just taking in the repetitive information and begin to find how different things work concerning you. Understanding enforces the four Foundational Values I discussed earlier. Understanding often works in partnership with this next Force of the Mind, Trust.
Trust
While Understanding is on a decline in society and needs to be bolstered, Trust on the other hand is diminished to a point it is nearly unrecognizable. There is much to be said about Trust that is probably against the grain of what we have been told to believe.
The first part I want to make exceptionally clear about Trust is that the only way you can “not trust” someone is to have never met them. Trust cannot be “broken” as so many like to say and claim. Trust, as a Force of the Mind, is probably the most resilient of them all. It is not fragile, it IS flexible.
When I described Forgiveness I said that a majority of the time we have to forgive ourselves because we put undue expectations on someone to be us rather than allow them to be themselves. When we say we can no longer trust someone it falls back on us again because we are not seeing them as they are. No other person in existence can fulfill every need we have for connections outside of ourselves.
When times get hard you may sometimes find a friend is not able to help or support you during that time. We get upset and huff off saying, “I can’t trust them. When something matters they are no use.” Yet you loved being around them and they were of use when you just wanted to go out and have fun.
Different people are in our lives for different reasons. While the fun friend may not be as good at comforting you, the comforting friend isn’t going to be as good at the fun stuff. We are quick to take offense and dismiss people and label them as untrustworthy because they weren’t what we needed when we needed it. That is not their fault though, it is our unrealistic expectations that create this discomfort.
To push this further, I said, “...they are no use…” We love to lump quantitative values on others rather than see their qualitative values. That is how Trust and Understanding work in tandem with each other. Understanding helps us to see the qualities of other people and Trust is what informs us of the role that person plays in our lives. Every person you meet has a role to play. Even the ones who do purposely malicious acts against us are worthy of our Trust because we come to know their role. I will repeat this until the day I die, the villain of your story is also the hero in someone else’s. That is the essential core of Trust, the realization that every part is essential.
We as a society are losing this aspect of Trust and are quick to dismiss it now rather than work with it. We dismiss people like batteries that no longer have a charge when we feel their “usefulness” is worn out. Relationships, friendships, etc are not always meant to last forever. People do part ways and that is perfectly normal and healthy. But immediately dismissing others because there is a perceived expiration on their “usefulness” is very unhealthy and diminishing to our species. We are a community-oriented species yet I see so many people embracing independence and condemning co-dependance. We are working backward to become primitive and territorial rather than inclusive and constructive. The reason society or civilization got to the point it is at was because those small communities exhibited Trust and Understanding with each other to build into something greater. This doesn’t mean we have to devote ourselves to everyone in our communities, we need to be our independent authentic selves and respect the independent authentic selves of our neighbors. Trust helps us to recognize that each individual has strengths that can help benefit those without those strengths. We grow as a society through working together in unity rather than individuals chasing personal glory.
Trust, as a Force of the Mind, really needs to be revisited in our world. We have such a skewed perception of it and we can see how that has been leading to our downfall. With Understanding, I spoke about bigotry and part of what breeds that bigotry is this skewed idea we have of Trust. Trust involves more than our relationships with others. It also involves the information we are being given. “Facts are facts,” right? What if I told you facts are only important if the opinions of others agree that the facts are important? For a few years now I have told people opinions are more important than facts. Opinions have power over facts. We can say all the tried and tested facts we want, but if a person is not willing to receive that information they won’t agree to it. That comes down to Trust again. We are so focused on this independence theory that unless we conclude a fact ourselves, we “don’t trust” the work others have done. I love watching How to Cook That with Ann Reardon on YouTube because of the detailed debunking videos she makes. Her debunking videos show how easily misinformation and dangerous actions proliferate with little consequence to the ones spreading those statements.
This is leading to an overload of misguidance in our society. From the debates on vaccinations to political arenas and even topics as important as basic nutrition. Fear-mongering and warmongering are rampant. It is no wonder we have a distorted take on Trust because we adopted the mindset, “The only one I can rely on or trust is me, myself, and I.” Yet we don’t even exhibit trust in ourselves. If we did we would stop putting limiting and debilitating beliefs on ourselves. I doodle and sketch and I hate when I hear people say, “I don’t have the talent to do that.” Yes! You do! Talent is not something we are born with. It is acquired through work, consistency, and dedication. Genius is something we can be born with but even genius can be overshadowed by talent. If geniuses just rest on their laurels and don’t apply themselves or strive to work hard to further develop their genius, a person with talent can easily surpass a genius. Trust in yourself and you can acquire whatever talent you want. People walk around like zombies today not because they don’t have what they want. It's because they refuse to Trust themselves enough to accept or strive for what they want. We give up.
Just as pity or allegiance are the antithesis of Understanding, quitting is the antithesis of Trust. We quit on ourselves. We quit on people. We quit on society. The list goes on and on. We aren’t willing to put forth the work and effort and then we say things like, “I cannot trust ____.” You can, but you don’t want to because to trust means to be vulnerable.
Look inside and around. As above, so below. As within, so without. Seek to Understand what is happening around you beyond the surface levels. Trust in others and yourself. When Understanding and Trust come together and are acted upon they become the instrument to carry forth manifestation which is another buzzword. We have this crazy idea that manifestation is just a strong desire that comes true. Real manifestation comes from work and dedication. Without Understanding all the parts needed for your desire, without Trust in others to support your desire, and without Trust in yourself to do the work manifestation sits on the shelves of our dreams.
I want to live in a world where everything is possible because people make the impossible possible every day. I won’t get to see that if we continue the way we have though. Speaking of desires though, the next post will wrap up this foundational exploration of Forces of the Mind. It will be dedicated to Gratitude, which is so much more involved than just being “thankful.”
Thank you for reading and I will see you next time. Until then, do something to inspire yourself today. Trust me, it's worth it.
Comments