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        I guess that it goes without saying that everyone has their own mind. We all think our own thoughts, we all have differing circumstances, different backgrounds. Our experiences during our lives are all different. Many things may be there in common, but all in all, each person experiences a different blend of happiness, distress, difficulties, success, traumas, abuse, exultation, education, domination, realizations, etc.

        All of these things combine to become our life experience, and the way each individual deals with any challenge is determined by our past experience. A person with a good track record at a certain task would experience little apprehension when asked to repeat the task.
   Any person who lacked experience in that task, or, even worse, had a track record of defeat at the said task, may well balk at the request to complete the task.

        We can see that each person is a complex set of events that are not even necessarily a constant set of events, and each of us goes far deeper than our distracted minds can easily access. So many hidden things lurk within each consciousness.


    
   We know so little of ourselves, what to speak of others, yet we seem to be so willing to comdemn others for the choices they make; we are always ready to offer our own, unasked for advice, as if the person in question were unable to utilize their own intelligence.


Advice such as, "Go on, I know you can do it, I have faith in you." when spoken in kind tones to a friend, or the instructions of a teacher/ trainer/ coach, are necessary and useful, but here we are speaking about criticism that makes the other person appear to be an idiot. This is merely an insult, a way of implying that, "I am superior to you...you should follow me. Everyone should follow me."

        This behavior is rife within our society. We create mistrust between individuals in this way thus individuals become unwilling to confide in each other out of fear of being ridiculed. The need to demonstrate our prowess (in at least one field, if not many) assumes an inordinate proportion, even to the extent of embellishment or, dare I say, downright lying.

        It becomes apparent, if we look closely at this phenomenon, that much effort is wasted in the persuit of merely being able to move comfortably within one's peer group, to look society squarely in the eye, and to avoid others trying, if not succeeding, to belittle us or even to control us.
    
   This "need" to control each other, (by appearing to be more successful and therefore, by association, more acceptable, more important, and more credible) in many cases, becomes the whole modus operandi of many. For some, such as daredevils, bank-robbers and other risk-takers, it results in injury, with it's attendant suffering, humiliation, and even death, for the unwary.

        Yet, in my mind, it is this need to dominate that is the cause of our wars: (notwithstanding revolutions by the oppressed to throw off the yoke of oppression) ...political domination, economic domination via control of resources, racial superiority, all of these types of goals are the usual goals of wars. One little, seemingly harmless attitude can cause untold suffering.

        But please try for just one moment to imagine a society wherein acceptance of each other, regardless of one's abilities, or successes was the norm. Life would, in fact, be easier since our striving to succeed would be limited to its natural condition of striving merely to meet our immediate needs, and happiness, rather than being supported by the rather unreliable crutch of material posessions and abilities, would be a function of our loving relationships with those with whom we have contact, any contact at all.

        It is difficult to imagine such a society taking the place of our present society whilst we individuals harbour the belief that it is an impossibility, and therefore not worth striving for, but, please consider this: if enough individuals can be encouraged to encourage enough other individuals then the impossibility becomes, not merely a possibility, but a probability.



And besides...look around you; we've got nothing to lose.

   Signed with love
   your servant
   <*>< tarunkrsnadas.

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