Picture this for a moment: our minds are like vast, fertile gardens. Each thought, each belief, each seed of knowledge that is planted within this garden grows and develops, shaping the landscape of our mind. Some of these seeds are placed there by society, some by religion, and others are sown by our own experiences and observations. Over time, these seeds grow into plants, with roots reaching deep into our subconscious, their leaves spreading out to color our perspective of the world.
Now, among these plants, some truly reflect our inner truth, our authentic self. They are the plants that bloom with flowers of authenticity, their roots drawing nourishment from the very core of our being. These are the beliefs that resonate with us, that align with our inner wisdom.
However, not all plants in our mental garden are of our own planting. Some are seeded by society, by religious institutions, by influential figures in our lives, by the media. These external entities, often with well-intentioned guidance, plant seeds of their own values, their own beliefs, their own definitions of right and wrong into our minds. Over time, these seeds sprout, they grow, they take up space, and before we know it, they have become a significant part of our mental landscape.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, society and religion provide structure, order, a sense of community, and moral compass. They provide us with a roadmap, a set of guidelines that steer us towards what is generally accepted as ‘good’ or ‘right’. However, the question we must ask ourselves is: how often do we scrutinize this roadmap? How often do we pause, take a step back, and ask if this path truly resonates with our inner being? Or are we just walking along a path laid out by others, not because it aligns with our true self, but because it’s what we’ve been taught to do?
For example, to define something as ‘good’, we must inherently discriminate against what we view as ‘not good’. We are taught to seek the ‘good’ and avoid the ‘bad’, to strive for the ‘right’ and shun the ‘wrong’. But isn’t this very act of discrimination a form of distortion, a distortion of our natural state of being? Isn’t this act of discrimination, this insistence on dividing the world into boxes of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, a form of ugliness that we seldom acknowledge or discuss?
And if we are so bound by these externally imposed definitions of ‘good’ and ‘right’, are we really living authentically? Are we not just actors on the world stage, playing out roles dictated by society, suppressing our genuine selves out of fear of judgment or punishment? Isn’t this constant striving to conform, to fit into the mold created by society, a form of self-betrayal?
Moreover, are these beliefs and moral codes that we’ve accepted without question truly empowering us? Or are they just forging shackles of fear, guilt, and division, binding us to a life of conformity, of living up to others’ expectations? Is it possible that by blindly accepting these beliefs, we’re drifting away from our innate wisdom and intuition, losing touch with the voice of our authentic self?
The time has come for us to start questioning, to start exploring beyond the defined boundaries of right and wrong. It is time for us to confront these deeply ingrained beliefs and examine their origin, their impact on our lives, and their alignment with our true self. It’s time for us to realize that the world isn’t simply black and white, that there exists a spectrum of colors in between, a spectrum of experiences, perspectives, and truths.
Remember, the freedom to question is the freedom to grow. We must strive to reclaim this freedom and venture into the realm of the unknown, the realm of the intuitive.
