It’s as though each being has become their own advertising or marketing device. Either blatantly or surreptitiously you are being manipulated all day long. It is really important that you become aware of this situation and not fall prey to the outside forces that are using it. They are not only using it to support themselves; they are also using it in everyday relationships, almost like a teenager, except that they never stopped. And the effect of this constant manipulation upon the person’s spiritual life is really daunting. You’ll often hear them say, “But I knew better,” but in order to find approval, love, or acceptance from another, they comply or go along with it. And this is not freedom. This is not liberty. They’re losing their liberty under the guise of “You’ll do this for me” or, “I wouldn’t do that.” In this age of less privacy it’s becoming an accepted thing, where people used to be more private. Their homes weren’t invaded by advertising. But now you’re under a barrage of manipulation at all times. If this is soothing to the ego, it is not conducive to a spiritual life. So be wary of the manipulators, for they use and misuse. They erode your free will bit by bit. Perhaps upon reflection it’s better not to be accepted by others. At what cost? Is it better to perhaps be a non-conformist? I see it all the time, and the guilt. If you don’t do what the manipulator wants, they have a way of making you feel less than.

It’s like any disease. It happens insidiously. It begins as almost imperceptible, then builds. And you lose that gut-level feeling of “This isn’t right for me.” And bit by bit, like water running on a rock, it chips away, and all of a sudden the rock is not a rock. Within the universal scope this might seem like a small aspect of being, but it really isn’t. It’s giving away one’s Spirit, one’s uniqueness. What makes a person unique is their choices, decisions and actions. And if everybody is going to fall into this morass, we won’t have this individuality. There will only be the power people and the serfs. It’s that basic. And it is not being unloving or unacceptable behavior to not give in to the manipulator because they are the “poor little old me” people.

One of the reasons that sympathy is one of the most dangerous of emotions is because it can be used by a manipulator. It can be a weakness rather than a strong part of one’s being. When you dwell with this, you’ll find many instances when you’ve fallen for this ruse. It starts with sayings like “your brother’s keeper” and “Love thy neighbor like yourself,” and it’s gone too far in the other direction.

When you sense that you’re being manipulated you stand your ground, and you call it like it is because really it’s an affront to your dignity. It’s blackmail, bribery; no matter how sugarcoated it is, that’s what it is. Everybody wants to be liked. Everybody wants to be perceived as smart and successful, and for My part, the successful person is the one who can lie down his head at night and say, “I own myself.” I AM.” You can’t be a light in the world when you’re under the brunt of being used by manipulators. A light in the world shines in its totality of being. It’s not been chipped away at. A henpecked husband is chipped away at until he’s nothing, without spirit or pride.

A lot of this is under the guise of Christianity. A god is a god, not a serf. You wake up one day, if you’ve allowed this manipulation to run your life, and you’re without identity, but rather a reflection of the manipulator. No one is worth that, no lover, no friend, no boss, no acquaintance, no one. That is no better than a thief who comes in the middle of the night and steals your identity to please himself.

Say what you feel and mean what you say, otherwise you’re a manipulator too, in your response to them.

Just look at your voting system. They have stolen your freedom under the guise of patriotism, religion, and being your loving family.

I want stalwart souls that don’t need anybody to agree with them to accept them. Then that soul has the power, and that soul walks free.

Think how the Indians were manipulated out of their land. They should have thrown Columbus and his crew overboard. But of course they knew all that all along. They got angry too late. Too little, too late. Don’t let that happen to you.

The word “duplicity”, look it up and study the meaning. You can be too giving, too caring, too self-sacrificing. Gods don’t act like that.

One can’t be a good Joe all the time and be a god.

Posted in July, 2006.