One stoic thought "You Were Born Good." What if this notion of original sin is hogwash? What if you were born with a brain that thinks well enough and what if you were given the freedom of will to think for yourself to choose the right thing, the kind thing, because you would? So humankind made a couple of mistakes, no big deal, mistakes teach us valuable lessons, nobody's perfect. But what if we "all were born good?"
There is a friend that I see rarely. Three years ago I visited her and her new baby. At the time she had a delightful 3 year old daughter who smiled and danced and was so precious in nature. A bit shy with a little baby teeth smile, she stole my heart as well. She was so happy to show me her baby brother...a couple of years later her mother had a graduation party for her eldest daughter and invited me to the party. That same little angel I met just two years earlier was there and she had lost her happy smile. She looked angry. She did not remember me, understandable, but she had learned to frown, and be unfriendly now. I was surprised, her mother does not have this countenance. Then I met her grandmother. This woman looked liked she ate a bag of lemons. When I was introduced to her, she was not interested in meeting me, she had no smile. She looked a lot like that 5 year old now. Guess who was the main caretaker of that 3 year old for the past two years? You guessed correctly. The happiness of that bright and charming little angel was stolen from her, she learned to frown. I did not see the angel smile once the entire afternoon. Sad, someone taught that child by example and maybe words to not be so happy.
At birth we are immediately downloading information from the people we need to survive, our caretakers. These caretakers teach us their culture, their language, their rules of civility, their belief systems. In this we learn to be kind and accept everyone or to exclude and possibly hate someone. We live we learn. All by yourself you are good. We would think well of every situation because of our innocence but we are taught right from wrong according to someone's rules or rules of a religion, and we change our mind influenced by those around us.
We intuitively know right from wrong in our conscience. How? When someone tells you something you have never heard before your body will contract or expand. Can you guess which one is your truth?
Now I'm not talking about what you are influenced to feel, or what someone talked you into thinking to feel, I'm talking about your inside voice. A voice that no one hears but you, a voice that no one needs to influence, it's your good sense to know right from wrong. Religion cannot teach you this, your culture cannot tell you this, your family cannot tell you this, your politics cannot tell you this, all these may have some good ideas but only you know this inside voice. You cannot access this voice when you are angry or fearful.
To be the change you wish to see in the world is to do so without anger. How to access this?
Simple to begin:
1) Meditate every day for at least 5 minutes when you awake each day.
2)Start your day with being thankful for anything good you have, if you have nothing, be grateful for the air you breathe, gravity to hold you on earth, in time you will expand this thankfulness list and with daily practice you will gain greater insight into things to be thankful for, try it, you are built to be happy.
3) Eat healthy foods and exercise daily.
Instead of condemning yourself or another, begin to realize everyone is good. Everyone has a talent, everyone is a winner. There are no losers here, only people still learning how to live the life of their dreams.
Why is it hard to know this and do this or find that talent? Because no one in your family, your culture, your religion, your school, your government ever taught you these foundational things.
Why? Because somewhere along the road of life our ancestors lost their way and turned for outside help instead of looking within. Somewhere we learned we had a sinful nature and could not trust our own self to make the right decisions.
Take your life back. Turn off TV, turn off social media, stop going to a church that tells you are heading for hell. Stop hanging out with family members or "friends" that don't believe in your dreams. Go back to the way you were born. Innocent and good. If you were born good, so was I. If you and I were born good then where did we learn to hate ourselves or another? Only in the mind, our thoughts. We are all born good, start there and unlearn bad habits and thoughts. We can return to our beginning if we choose to.
"The human being is born with an inclination toward virtue." ~ Musonius Rufus (1st century)
We cannot get back to the good in us until we realize we are born good, the rest is just details.
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