Lighten Up

A part of the Overcoming Negativity series.

Lest you think this is a new or unique problem, far from it. It’s been a central theme of existence since the beginning. The message of Jesus is basically this: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” i.e. “Give-up your bad-attitude because paradise is right here and now, enjoy it!” If you read the book of Matthew, you’ll see a guy that’s increasingly frustrated by the negativity and stubbornness surrounding him. So much so, that he eventually rage-quits the game in the form of suicide-by-cop.

The take-away from the plight of Jesus should be this: Don’t be a passionate pessimist like those that surrounded him — the world God created isn’t a shit-hole that’s made to frighten inhabitants. It’s a wonderland meant to be enjoyed. And you’re being a total dick by constantly criticizing it and not even trying to have fun. Those people took life way too seriously, and Jesus essentially told them to lighten up — now, we can do what they refused to do, we can choose to lighten up.

Jesus simply walked up to the sick and said: “Hey, cut it out. Stop already, you’re going to be okay. Existence is a great experience that you should be celebrating, not lamenting.” And you know what? Those people that could only imagine their bodies as sources of pain-and-suffering wised-up and went along their merry way. But so few listened, they were so sure of themselves and their pessimistic perspective: “Life sucks, and then you die!”

It’s such a simple message too: lighten up. Stop interpreting everything in such a dark and dire way. What divine being would create a nightmare-world designed to torture inhabitants? Spoiler Alert: None, because that’d be dumb. Yet for whatever reason, inhabitants insist on imagining the worst. And being that God is giving, those inhabitants always find what they seek. But what a mockery we make of our wondrous world if that’s what we ask for. So lighten up for Christ’s sake!

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Reason for the Season

Folks, the fundamental issue facing our time, or any time really, is this: an adherence to rigidity. “Should things remain exactly as I expect?” The answer should NEVER be “yes”. No offense, but your expectations are too low — compared to what could be, you’ll always be lack-minded. The world will always be greater than what you can imagine.

Once upon a time there was a guy shaking things up, telling people there was a better way. But thanks to an adherence to rigidity, this man was straight-up murdered for trying to improve the world. His name, if you didn’t know, was Jesus — it may sound familiar because we tend to celebrate his birthday around this time of year.

The people of his day couldn’t wrap their heads around progress. “You mean things can get better? Nah, things suck and they’ll always suck! You’re just a charlatan! Crucify him!” They could’ve ignored him, but no, they had to send a message, they had to cement their conservative stance and convict him in the court of public opinion.

And that adherence to rigidity remains with us today of course. “Keep things as they are! Why change!? One misstep and we’ll lose it all!” But such an attitude only demonstrates a distrust of life, a skepticism toward our creator. It is the very opposite of a godly attitude. God is infinitely giving — as demonstrated by all we’ve received.

Come this holy season, the true gift we give others isn’t in the form of trinkets, the regifting of what God has already provided — it’s in the love and acceptance we demonstrate towards them. It’s in the cheerfulness we maintain as we mingle with our fellow guests. This world is God’s gift to us all. What greater thanks can we offer back, but in helping others have a great time as we all share in this generous gift.

A Reasonable Response

Elder One: Who is this man that speaks as if he has divine authority?
Elder Two: He is a popular teacher it seems. But what he teaches corrupts the people, it diminishes the law and our authority over them.
Elder Three: A trouble-maker it seems. Let us send him to the civil authority to be executed. He is guilty of heresy by our laws and of treason by theirs.
Elder Four: Do you think it wise brothers, to condemn a man to death for merely interpreting our creator in a manner that’s proving popular with the people?
Elder Two: It is a corrupted teaching that violates the letter of the law!
Elder Four: But he’s committed no measurable offense.
Elder Two: A slippery slope! He must be dealt with lest we all fall!
Elder Four: Surely this is an overreaction. If he continues and the people follow, their fervor will dissipate over time. Whereas if we rob them of him, they will cling to his message even more.
Elder Three: A quick cut and the infested branch will be gone! There will be no spread of his message once the source is severed.
Elder Four: We are talking about killing a man just because he draws a few crowds? And if the creator placed this man on earth, as he placed us all, who are we to intervene?
Elder One: Enough of this! Let us concern ourselves with more important matters. It’s almost lunch!
Elder Two: Now you’re talking!
Elder Three: Oh thank goodness, I’m starved!
Elder Four: Finally, a reasonable response!

The story of a dystopian world where Christmas never happened.

The Good Life

What is it that one must do to live the good life? Hard work? Doing what exactly? Which path leads to the good life? What even is “the good life”?

If you believe external factors are beyond your control, then you can stop right there. How can you fulfill something that’s outside your influence? Luck? Are you feeling particularly lucky?

Either the good life is a gift you can willingly accept or it doesn’t exist. You can’t get there from any perspective except pure acceptance and appreciation. It’s the salvation the Bible talks about — an undeserved gift given to you by a loving Creator.

The good life is literally right here, right now. The entrance is opened by your willingness to perceive it. In the Bible, they couldn’t see it, they literally witnessed the son-of-God being murdered by man. He tried to tell them that Heaven is at hand, but they just couldn’t grasp it.

So will you learn the lesson? Will you choose to seek the goodness God wrought? Will you drop the veil of darkness that separates you from the light? A commitment is all it takes: to disregard pessimism with all your might.

That’s the hard work in which you must invest. Without trust in life, all bets are off anyway. For whatever reason, you’re tempted to see the worst — but have faith in the best, and you’ll receive it.

Episodic Dreams

An excerpt from the fictional tales of Consumed by Reality.

By the glow of the screen I could see my face reflected on its surface. I sat with the show paused. Was it a message? Am I as schizo as the character I’m watching? To scroll through the thoughts I’ve been having lately, it certainly seems like I’ve given up on reality — the reality I knew for so many decades, now gone.

In favor of what? A belief that boils down to magic? The casting of verbally-invoked spells and manifesting wishes? Really? That’s insane. But why does everything I keep watching and reading keep telling me the same thing? Am I just surrounding myself with nut-jobs? Is the Bible, a book revered by billions throughout history and the world something to be readily dismissed?

If I simply follow my cultural heritage as a Christian, then I’m supposed to believe in supernatural powers — case closed. But it’s more than that, even the best-selling books on “business success” are telling me the same things. And interviews with world-famous people speaking on their own success further corroborate the same extraordinary forces at work. I feel like Alice in Wonderland.

Could it be that the things I believed about reality for all those years are completely delusional? Was I nuts? Am I only starting to see the reality that everyone else is living in? Holy shit! I’ve been a crazy-person lost in my delusion for decades!? Or is it that I’m NOW going crazy, seeing a fantasy world where none exists?

Was my family just playing along? Humoring the weirdo that believed in a physical reality ruled by random chance? Did they even think I was serious? “Of course he’s joking! Haha” — or at least they hoped I was. Or perhaps from their perspective, they just couldn’t understand the ravings of a madman.

Although in my defense, the people around Jesus didn’t “get it” either — not the people that had him crucified nor even his direct disciples. Am I to believe that everyone gets it nowadays? And I’m just the idiot left in the dark? I find that hard to believe, yet everything I’m seeing lately implies it’s common knowledge.

Where do I even start looking for a foundation? So let me get this straight, the planet I’m living on wasn’t created billions of years ago by a seemingly random explosion in the center of the universe, nor did life come-to-be by chance millions of years ago and evolve over time into many varying species, one of which being humanity? And the course of each human’s life isn’t determined by a cocktail of random-chance, DNA, survival-skill, societal influence, and luck? Well shit.

And instead of all that, I’m actually a welcomed and cared-for guest in some sort of fabricated paradise in which my every desire is meant to come true — all I have to do is wish it into existence? What the FUCK!? Was my head THAT buried in the sand? It’s like Little Orphan Annie finding out she’s been adopted by Daddy Warbucks — or Charlie walking into the Chocolate Factory — a dark and gloomy world dawning into one of delight and wonder.

Even THOSE movies were trying to tell me something. To get me to snap out of it — to wake up. You mean this awesomely elaborate world isn’t a complete shithole hellbent on tormenting its inhabitants?? Oh, my bad. And the part about it being a fun-factory of dream-fulfillment is actually true? It’s not hyperbole? Really? Huh, well don’t I feel like a dope.

Solid Conspiracy

My friend was wondering aloud why people tend to attack Mandela-Effect believers. I offered her the suggestion that it’s for the same reason people don’t readily accept Simulation Theory.

Because this world tries to portray itself as a physical reality, there’s a system-wide conspiracy authored by the simulation itself, to downplay any talk of virtuality. And to be honest, as players within the game, we should want it that way. A movie for example, is best experienced when fully immersed in the experience, not when you’re constantly losing focus due to non-plot related distractions.

My own goal with spirituality for instance, is to allow myself to become fully immersed in the world. As it is, I’ve always been way too distracted by the meta-game. I overanalyze everything to the point that I barely engage in actual gameplay. I think it’s fine to be an observer or commentator on life, but it’s not fine when you sit on the sidelines due to fear/anxiety.

But back to the point. If true, the Mandela-Effect demonstrates a malleable reality, a concept contrary to the idea of a solid physical reality, thus the system will attempt to shut-down proponents. I think there’s a similar trend when any theory purporting a malleable reality is presented.

For instance, the Law of Attraction or even the miraculous nature of Christianity is often outright denied. In a virtual world, of course you can manifest whatever you want, of course the sick can be instantaneously healed — yet you’ll find yourself generally unpopular if you spout that stuff too often. If you recall, Jesus wasn’t particularly liked by all either.

“You need to work hard within the confines of society’s rules! No wishing allowed!” or “You can only be healed by the prescribed method that’s customary within our particular time-period! No miracles!” Whatever scene we find ourselves in, we’re generally not supposed to use cheat-codes.

But we must also consider the possibility that the world couldn’t care less about maintaining the illusion of a solid physical reality. Quite possibly, it’s the players themselves that maintain this restriction. Perhaps we’re allowed to shape the world any way we want — yet we don’t, simply because we believe we can’t. But when that self-imposed barrier is removed for some reason, that’s when the magic happens….

Investing Talents

Do the despondent get what they want in life? No. People typically have to get to a better place in their lives before things start going their way. You don’t just go from 40mph in reverse to going 120mph in a forward trajectory — otherwise you’d grind the gears and slam into your seat with your neck all twisted. You gotta slow down, stop going backwards and get to neutral, then look forward, put it in drive and proceed at a reasonable rate.

But how can you get to a better place in your life if you’re feeling dejected? Well, stop going in reverse for one. Stop criticizing. Stop doing what losers do. Do negative people win? No. Jesus even had a parable about this:

A guy gave his underlings some money to manage while he was away. One underling received 5 talents, another received 2, and the last received 1. When the guy returned, he checked in with the underlings.

The first and second underlings doubled the money they received whereas the third underling simply hid the money away and gave it back. To the first and second underlings, the guy gave even more because of the good job they did with what they were given. But the guy took the 1 talent from the third underling and gave it to the underling that already had 10.

Then the guy said: He that already has, more will be given — but from him that lacks, what he has will be taken! In fact, throw that loser out!

What this means to me, is that no matter what you receive, you have to invest it in the world and get some sort of return from it. If at the end of your life you simply hand yourself back after hiding the entire time — you’re gonna be in deep doo-doo. Even the underling with 2 talents did what he could with what he had, making the guy proud.

By the way, the guy already suspected what the outcome was going to be, that’s why he handed out different amounts at the start. And that 1-talent underling was so negative that he even insulted the guy as he’s handing him back his money, calling him a hard-ass. The 1-talent underling then received the poor treatment he expected and was tossed out.

In other words: if you expect a hard life, you’ll get it. Wishes do come true, so be careful what you wish for. Whereas those that trust in life, completely investing themselves in it, will receive the abundance they believe in.

And if you do find yourself despondent, the trick is to stop focusing on all that you don’t have, creating a mindset of negativity and lack. To go from loser to winner, you’ve got to appreciate what you have right now. And from that appreciative mindset, you’ll be in a position to welcome-in the good things of life instead of rejecting them whenever they’re presented to you.

If you keep running away scared every time life tries to give you something, how can you ever get anything!? The first rule of “Life Club” is to trust life. If life was truly a hard-ass you wouldn’t be gettin’ away with that everything-sucks attitude you’ve been sportin’. In actuality, life keeps on giving — you just keep on rejecting.

So now what are you gonna do? Step 1: Trust in the goodness of life. Step 2: Appreciate all the awesome things you’ve already received. Step 3: Graciously and gratefully welcome all the stuff life continues giving you.