By this point, we have come to a clear acceptance of who we are as a person. We have put aside all of the excuses, all of the blame, all of the justification, and we are able to see the bare truth. Now, for the first time in our lives we are able to give a concise, non-bias, definition of who we are. We are selfish by nature. We are liars. We are manipulators. We are hurtful, and inconsiderate. We live for our self.
Even our love for our wife, husband, or children can be distorted by the love of our self. The world tells us, "You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else." This is a lie that simply perpetuates the self serving nature that writhes within us. No wonder our world continues to deteriorate around us at an alarming rate. Everything around us feeds the pride and lies of our self delusion. "Be strong!" "You deserve this!" "You deserve that!" "You have to love yourself first!" "Make sure you are happy first!" However, the real problem is that we love our self TOO MUCH!
We don't generally hear this shared though, and you know why? Everyone is out to make a buck, and guess what people pay the most for? What they want to hear. This is not what we want to hear though, because truth hardly ever is.
If selfishness is the cause of every single problem in our life, then wouldn't it make sense that if we could get rid of selfishness that we could change our life dramatically? So then, how do we conquer such an innate characteristic that we have allowed to dictate our entire life to this point?
The first step is realizing how much of a hold this disgusting plague has on us. I am going to challenge you to begin examining your thoughts throughout the day. Why do we think the way we do, and what is it we spend most of our time thinking about? We will find that we spend over 95% of our time thinking about our self. What we want, need... Even if we are thinking about something other than us it is ONLY because it is relevant to us in some way. Isn't that crazy!
Book after book has been written on "How to Win Friends & Influence People" based on using this self-centered attribute to appeal to a person's ego and pride in order to persuade and befriend them. Why do you think these sale tactics work so well? Wouldn't the success of such books and tactics give even more validity to the depth of the selfishness that abounds within each of us? Here is where most of us only feed the love of our self even more...
We come to the conclusion that most people are truly selfish, but it is others and not our self. We begin to point the finger at others rather than taking the opportunity to look at us. We judge others based on our limited experience and knowledge, and then condemn them because they don't do things the way we think they should. Selfishness to the very core!! Yet we are so blinded by our self delusion that we never even see it unless it is pointed out to us, and even then our tendency is to become defensive and put up our walls to keep from being hurt by the truth.
If it is true that other people are self centered, we shouldn't lie to our self and say that we are an exception. We are ALL self centered by nature. It is innate. As we settle with this fact, or at least open our self to the possibility, we will see it manifested in our daily life. Examine your thoughts, evaluate your motives for the things you say and do, and you determine for yourself what the driving force is behind what you do.
This is the next step, and we cannot skip it. We have to see how much this impacts our lives. It is not just in the big areas that brought us such remorse and regret, but rather is within EVERY single thought, ALL day long. Even when we drown out the reality of life by watching TV, playing games, or doing some other activity for AMUSEMENT, this too is selfish behavior because we usually do these things at the expense of those in our life who need our time and attention. This is serious business, but nobody ever talks about it.
What we have been doing is obviously not working. What the world has been sharing, teaching, and preaching is obviously not working. It is time to quit sugar coating things, and get serious.
I know this is hard to hear, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. Start to examine yourself daily. If we are willing to be honest with our self, we will see it in everything we do.
Even our love for our wife, husband, or children can be distorted by the love of our self. The world tells us, "You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else." This is a lie that simply perpetuates the self serving nature that writhes within us. No wonder our world continues to deteriorate around us at an alarming rate. Everything around us feeds the pride and lies of our self delusion. "Be strong!" "You deserve this!" "You deserve that!" "You have to love yourself first!" "Make sure you are happy first!" However, the real problem is that we love our self TOO MUCH!
We don't generally hear this shared though, and you know why? Everyone is out to make a buck, and guess what people pay the most for? What they want to hear. This is not what we want to hear though, because truth hardly ever is.
If selfishness is the cause of every single problem in our life, then wouldn't it make sense that if we could get rid of selfishness that we could change our life dramatically? So then, how do we conquer such an innate characteristic that we have allowed to dictate our entire life to this point?
The first step is realizing how much of a hold this disgusting plague has on us. I am going to challenge you to begin examining your thoughts throughout the day. Why do we think the way we do, and what is it we spend most of our time thinking about? We will find that we spend over 95% of our time thinking about our self. What we want, need... Even if we are thinking about something other than us it is ONLY because it is relevant to us in some way. Isn't that crazy!
Book after book has been written on "How to Win Friends & Influence People" based on using this self-centered attribute to appeal to a person's ego and pride in order to persuade and befriend them. Why do you think these sale tactics work so well? Wouldn't the success of such books and tactics give even more validity to the depth of the selfishness that abounds within each of us? Here is where most of us only feed the love of our self even more...
We come to the conclusion that most people are truly selfish, but it is others and not our self. We begin to point the finger at others rather than taking the opportunity to look at us. We judge others based on our limited experience and knowledge, and then condemn them because they don't do things the way we think they should. Selfishness to the very core!! Yet we are so blinded by our self delusion that we never even see it unless it is pointed out to us, and even then our tendency is to become defensive and put up our walls to keep from being hurt by the truth.
If it is true that other people are self centered, we shouldn't lie to our self and say that we are an exception. We are ALL self centered by nature. It is innate. As we settle with this fact, or at least open our self to the possibility, we will see it manifested in our daily life. Examine your thoughts, evaluate your motives for the things you say and do, and you determine for yourself what the driving force is behind what you do.
This is the next step, and we cannot skip it. We have to see how much this impacts our lives. It is not just in the big areas that brought us such remorse and regret, but rather is within EVERY single thought, ALL day long. Even when we drown out the reality of life by watching TV, playing games, or doing some other activity for AMUSEMENT, this too is selfish behavior because we usually do these things at the expense of those in our life who need our time and attention. This is serious business, but nobody ever talks about it.
What we have been doing is obviously not working. What the world has been sharing, teaching, and preaching is obviously not working. It is time to quit sugar coating things, and get serious.
I know this is hard to hear, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. Start to examine yourself daily. If we are willing to be honest with our self, we will see it in everything we do.
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