Your Psychology

Everybody has one. No two are alike. Few, if any, are a product of one’s own creation. Most are deeply troubled and throughout history the psychology of the people has guided history along horrific paths laced with bits of beauty that are too few, too brief, and in no way compensate for the horrors they have perpetrated.

Relatively speaking, psychology is a new field of science. Evidently it took thousands upon thousands of years for humans to identify the most compelling area of understanding there has ever been or is. Nothing has more influence on the quality of life for humans than the psychology of the people. All other forms of life have been at the mercy, or lack thereof, of human psychology. Understanding psychology is key.

Your psychology determines a large percentage of the substance of your life. The very fabric of your life is woven by your psychology, and it goes beyond you into the lives of others with vastly unknown results. There seems to be very little consciousness of psychology in the thoughts of the individuals I have studied even though it is of paramount influence. Most, if not all, seem to just go about doing what they will without self-examination. We feel what we feel and think what we think while making little effort to change it, examine it, or understand it, though recently many have become aware that a professional might be able to help.

Psychologists are numerous in this modern time. Professional psychologists and psychiatrists are frequented daily by multitudes of people around the world. We are waking up to psychology. However, it is not enough. History is already long and not slowing. The capacity for horror is growing faster than understanding.

People are doing things! The earth is being transformed by humans. We have laid down eons of history and the unspeakable horrors that have been committed testify as to the deeply disturbed psychology of the people.

Even a cursory examination of the things that one can find for one’s self in one’s own world reveal that humans have done things that are beyond cruel. Then, a careful examination of documents that claim to report past events is enough to destroy one’s faith in God, people, and life itself. The Old Testament reports so much torture and death it is difficult to persist to the end when reading it, and the New Testament continues the account but with a promise of an end. Wars have been a constant scene in the history of humans. As time has passed, the ability to war has evolved to such levels of destruction that total annihilation of all living things looms large in our future. We have endeavored to a far greater extent into destruction than we have into life.

All action is a product of psychology. To move requires signals from the brain and the brain is the seat of psychology. (This writer is aware of greater and more subtle aspects of behavior than this, but that is another article.) The mere act of taking in air is an action. Beyond that the complications of psychology on actions is a daunting area of understanding into which few endeavor. But it must be tackled, and now.

There is an exercise you can try. Do not, please, try very hard or for very long. The consequences might be quite dangerous. Still, you can try it and see what happens so that you will be able to grasp the meaning of the information you are receiving. Simply try to tune into the suffering of all living things on Earth.

You can find a quiet place where you feel safe and where help is not far away and try to focus your awareness on the suffering of all living things. If this is too hard to fathom, limit your search to just the suffering of humans. You may be unable to even get a glimpse, but those of you who can will know that something must be done. Again, be careful with this action. Great pain can be experienced. It could easily be too much for you. There is so much death and suffering going on only the devil could be happy about the condition of the world. What it must be like for an all-knowing God!

The suffering and death caused by the actions of humans is a horror. There are other sources of these things, to be sure, but we will have to get to our own causes first. We have the ability to control our behavior, but psychology is running it most of the time. We just do what we do in seeming unawares of the effects of our actions, especially the effects that are at any distance at all from ourselves. Then there is even less consciousness of the sources of our behavior.

From the moment you were born your psychology began to form. You inherited the world as it was when you were born and you brought into it a certain number of inherent characteristics. Upon those characteristics your psychology was formed and it was shaped very much according to the circumstances of the time and place of your birth. As a human we begin to experience life and to become what we are at any given time. Most of our experiences are things over which we have little influence and even less control. They just happen and we experience it, but not in a void or a vacuum. What we experience works on us. It shapes us. It molds us. Even though we are unaware of most of it, it still works on us. It makes us like what we like and dislike what we dislike. It makes us want what we want and do what we do. It is like an invisible puppeteer manipulating our strings to make us do things. We seldom, if ever, question it or look at it. We just plod along hoping we and our loved ones will not become entangled in the horrors of the world. We mind our own business. We try to take care of ourselves, but we usually don’t even truly know what is possible. We do not strive for something outside the usual. We accept pain, old age, heartache, and death without much resistance. They tell us it is the way and we go along. If one of us speaks out for another way, we chastise them. In the past we even burned them at the stake, or worse. This is psychology. This is why the horrors continue.

The truth does not require your belief. You require the truth. It is always there waiting to be discovered. It has always been there. One of the truths is that you are responsible for all the effects of your actions. Even your very existence has effects for which you are responsible. You do not have to believe this. You are free. You can torture and murder, even children. Sure it is against the law and other people try to prevent you from such acts and to punish you if you get caught committing such acts, but you can still do them. You are free, not from the will of others or the effects of others, but you are free to do whatever you will within the reality in which you find yourself. This freedom does not relieve you of the responsibility of all the effects of your actions; all of them.

A stone tossed into a still pond causes ripples to radiate away from the impact area in all directions, most visibly of course in the horizontal surface of the water. The ripples are the effects of the stone’s impact upon and into the water. Your actions are like this. They cause things to happen and the effects radiate far from you in all directions, and even if you are unaware of the things you cause, you are responsible for them. This is not a judgment. Your responsibility is not being judged, it is being observed. Judgment is something else altogether. Justice is something else too. There need be no judgment or justice to analyze reality. The truth is the quest. You cause everything you cause. It is that simple. It is like saying one equals one. It seems a “no brainer” but this writer has found resistance from some even to this simple truth. Psychology again.

Your responsibility is something you do not have to believe, accept, or recognize. Again, you are free. You can put your hand into a flame if you want to. You are free to do that, but you will quickly feel the effects of the action for which you are responsible. If you can master your psychology well enough, you could leave your hand in the flame until it burns off your arm. The universe has a way of letting you know that the actions you are taking are not good for you. Unfortunately, it is not always as easy as letting you know that fire is not good for you, at least at certain proximities. The fire burns you and you adjust your behavior. You can kill someone without the obvious ill effects, but they are there if you could but perceive, and you do not perceive because you do not see the way things could be and the complexity of life is hard to fathom. Everything you do makes the world different. Every stroke of a painter’s brush makes a new painting. We get the world as it is when we are born and everything we do from that moment forward makes it different. Can you recognize the difference? Will you even look? We are free to make life on this planet wonderful beyond the ability of perception for most.

If you want to take advantage of the powers you have, consider your psychology. Ask yourself why you do what you do; why you feel the way you feel; what the effects are of all your actions. It might help you be happier. It might do wonders. You could even take the next step and take control of the effects of your actions, even your existence. Wow! Think about it. From there you might even make an effort to make your effects benevolent. If you will just eliminate the horrible effects, the world will be transformed; at least by that much. If everyone does the same thing, we could create a world omniscient God would be happy to visit. Of course, the devil will be very unhappy. (If you believe in such things.)

We make mistakes. I used to be perfect but I had to quit because it made everyone around me uncomfortable about themselves. Just kidding! The effort to be perfect might be discouraging. In a sense, everyone and everything is perfect, but that in no way means we should not strive for perfection. So, if we make mistakes and we want to accept responsibility for all of our actions, how can we proceed with any kind of contentment? It is really quite easy. LOVE!

You can become a person who’s every action is guided by love. You need but fall in love with everyone. It is not hard to do, if you truly want to. All you have to do is to decide you want to love everyone and then start trying. You might have an incredible epiphany. You might find your own happiness. You might learn the secrets of the universe. You might even be re-born.

You can be re-born. You don’t need a religion. You don’t need to die. You simply need to start over and make yourself a product of your own creation. Love can make this possible and perhaps even unavoidable. Be prepared though! Being re-born tends to also reveal one’s self to one’s self in all its truth. You might not like want you see. It will, however, be what you were, not what you are, so don’t worry. When you can see yourself as you are, you will be seeing the past you. From that moment on you will be someone different, and you can be beautiful. With love comes truth.

The vast area of understanding humans possess, is riddled with disagreement. Again, history reveals much suffering and death around this very sort of thing. Wars are fought over disagreements on fundamental issues. Love will end all such conflict. Love shines the light of truth on everyone unconditionally like the sun shines its light on everyone unconditionally. The subjectivity of life is not negated by love; to each his own. Truth can be different for different people in some areas, but the common truth is common to all. It is an amazing aspect of life that subjectivity and objectivity can be found in the same place. Individuality and unity are both part of the wonder of life.

Life as a human on Earth is complex. Everything we do adds to the complexity. As we seek greater understanding and knowledge we must take control of our behavior lest we destroy ourselves and, perhaps, even everything else. History shows that the things we hold as true and dear often turn out to be false and abhorrent. We must become benevolent to each other and to other living things. We must care for each other and for our Mother Earth. If this seems strange to you, look at yourself and find out what went wrong. Then fix it. You can easily be part of the horrors that make life on Earth more like hell than heaven.