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Because, "Jesus loves you!" Is just shallow.

SukiSue 8 Dec 12
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1

There seems to be this idea that spiritual advancement and increased happiness go hand-in-hand. Just ask Oprah Winfrey.

Happiness and joy are not hallmarks of wisdom and understanding, any more than sorrow and regret are signs of immaturity. We are not individual gods, creating our own realities as we see fit. To suggest no one but ourself is responsible for our life, is to turn a blind eye to the real injustices that exist.

We do not choose our parents, nor the country we are born in.
We do not choose who will cross our paths.
We do not choose other people's choices.

Yes, it IS true that if we expect others to provide our happiness FOR us, we will usually be disappointed. This has more to do with the expectation than it does with what others do, or do not do.

We are not in complete control-if one does not recognize this, then this, in turn, can create its own unhappiness. We are finite beings (at least physically) and as such, we should pick our battles carefully. Not every battle can be conquered through willpower and focus alone.

There's nothing wrong with loving yourself-it's the basis of self-respect, something others typically approve of, and avoids some common traps people fall into. But, in my opinion, loving others is a higher calling: we are too focused on "the self" (or one's self) as the center of everything. It's not (ask any mother).

Furthermore, to totally discount anyone else as having anything to do with our own happiness, is to give short shrift to true acts of love. Our reality is not just internal, the environment we live in affects us, in many ways, including our feelings.

Just the devil's advocate in me, taking exception to an "irrefutable law".

Your words are truly wonderful! As we often say, it's complicated!

@linxminx, I think we get overwhelmed. I remember being a single mother and often wishing they were anybody who could just sit in the chair and my kitchen and tell me what to do. The decision-making process was overwhelming. The feeling of making the wrong decision was crushing. It went on too long. I'm really amazed I'm not a born again something or other. It would have been easy to fall into someone else's control at that point. I'm so glad I didn't!

@linxminx absolutely and I'm so glad I just stayed the course! it would have been very easy for a religious group to have scooped me up back on. But because I did it the hard way, I'm a pretty strong person today. So I have to totally agree with you there. Kudos to you for being an educator. And you sound like a great one!

1

Really a demigod as a sales slogan and they made it this far without a war, Oh wait maybe rethink that.

2

Jesus is at best dead. No god or gods ever existed except in people's minds. Read Feuerbach and his Das Wesen des Christentums.

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" True happiness can ONLY come from within the person who seeks it earnestly, false happiness is as the fallen leaves, fleeting and blown around easily by the smallest gust of wind." - Author Unknown.

3

Unfortunately most don't and are seeking it from someone else to make them "whole".

Thus..."religion." Folks looking outside of themselves for guidance and hoping for happiness.

2

Goes along with "if you think the world owes you a living, better write it off as a bad debt"

1

Exactly!

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