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Food for Thought #31: Be True: The Cost of Being Different

What Happens When You Cannot Be Just Like Everyone Else

About What is "Normal": Is it normal to be a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist, or a Hindu? It is inside their own cultures and countries... but not on the outside.
About the Demi-Monde: When you are not normal, you find yourself living here: in the less-than-respectable world which is not a part of mainstream society.
About the Pressure to Conform: Why "for your own good" is the most terrifying concept as it creates the pressure to conform to the expectations of others.
About Being a Karma Fan: Why and how I became the biggest fan of karma.

About What is "Normal"

There are no books on "Normal Psychology", only books on "Abnormal Psychology". What is normal, from a karmic standpoint, is only what end ups being like love. What is normal, from a human standpoint, is not doing anything that interferes with the well being of yourself or others.

* Normal Not Usual: Most people believe that if things are unusual then they must not be normal. Yet, if you look back on human history, it once was usual for people to own one another, to beat or kill others without any human consequences, and to do all sorts of horrific things most people could not imagine today. Although it is unfair to judge the past by the standards of the present, when measured by the standards of love, all these usual things would never have been considered normal.

* Normal Not Common: Most people believe that if things are uncommon then they must not be normal. Yet, if you look back on human history, most of those who changed history were uncommon. Copernicus and Galileo were harassed for their uncommon belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun, now we accept it. Edison and the Wright Brothers were told that their dreams of artificial light and artificial flight were mere fantasies, now they are our realities. When measured by the standards of love, both these unusual inventions made our modern lives better than the life most powerful and rich ancient monarchs in the past ever enjoyed.

* Normal Not Sensed: Most people believe that if things cannot be sensed - seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled - then they must not be normal. Yet, if you look back on human history, you would see people doing things you would not consider normal, like drinking out of the same pond as they emptied their waste into. Although we cannot perceive the existence of germs, bacteria, viruses, etc through our senses, enough evidence exists for us not to doubt their reality. When measured by the standards of love, this is beneficial knowledge of life.

* Normal by the Heart: The best definition of normal is doing, being, and living in loving ways. Those who are normal show love by taking care of their body-mind-emotions, helping others to do the same, doing this for one's children and relatives, and spreading that love out to the world. So normal is love and being-doing love.

About the Demi-Monde

When you are visiting this site, you are a temporary member of the Karma "Demi-Monde". "Demi-Monde" is a French word meaning "half world". In English, "Demi-Monde" means "persons who are not respectable because they live on the fringes of respectable society" (or the "real world").

* Demi-Monde: This 19th century term was used to describe "courtesans" who were kept in fashionable apartments by their wealthy lovers. Today this word is used to describe those who do not follow the mainstream of society. This means that those of us who are "karma fans" are in the "Demi-Monde" like it or not.

* Feared: People fear what they do not understand. When you follow one of the major religions, this gives others a level of comfort with you as the beliefs you share makes it easier for you to trust one another. When you follow a new age religion inspired by a belief in reincarnation, this makes others in mainstream religions automatically mistrust and fear you... because that is what different beliefs inspire.

* Misunderstood: When you are feared and mistrusted, you are bound to be misunderstood as well. Those who cannot understand you cannot get comfortable enough with you to get to know you better. At best, they will just shy away from you. At worst, they will gossip about you and may try to turn others against you.

* Shunned: The hardest part of the "Demi-Monde" is knowing that others will be automatically prejudiced against you and will make no effort to know you better. You will be a "social outcast" and be shunned by those who might otherwise have liked you... if only they would have been willing to get to know the "real" you.

* Secrecy: Your beliefs are your own private business. When you are a member of the "Demi-Monde", you learn to be in "stealth mode" with those whose fear and ignorance have blinded them to the greater truth of our existence that karma and reincarnation teaches. You learn that secrecy about religious beliefs is a good thing.

About the Pressure to Conform

"'For your own good' is a persuasive argument that will make someone agree to their own destruction." (Janet Frame)

The most terrifying phrase in the English language is "for your own good" because it means you have caved to the pressure to conform to the agenda of others.

* Who Decides? The only one who is in the best position to decide what is in your best interests is YOU! When someone claims to being doing something "for your own good" what they are really saying is that THEY know what is better for you that you do. Unless there is something that limits your capacity, like illness, injury, incapacity, or youth, this is never true. It bears repeating: you are the only one who should ever decide what is best for you... not someone else!

* Who Cares? History has shown that those who claim to be acting "for your own good" often do the worst things to you. Like those in the Inquisition, who killed your body and claimed to do it "for the good" of your eternal soul. Like those in the cults, who get you to swallow poison and claimed to do it "for the good" of your life. Like those gurus, who force babies on underage children and claimed to do it "for the good" of their future. Those who you allow to do things "for your own good" end up doing things to you that really is for their own good, not yours.

* For the Good of Your Body: Those who ask you to harm your body "for your own good" are always wrong. Did those religious orders who insisted that their followers whip their backs raw move them closer to God? No. Did those religions who insisted on meditative practices that blew out a person's hips, knees, ankles, etc move them closer to God? No. Only those who treat your body with love, kindness, and care as the temple of your spirit are doing you any good.

* For the Good of Your Mind: Those who ask you to deny your mind "for your own good" are always wrong. Do those religions which convince their followers to harm or kill others move them closer to God? No. Do those religions who supply excellent reasons for its followers to hate non-believer move them closer to God? No. Only those who treat your mind with respect as the humble servant of your master spirit and teach the principles of love are doing you any good.

* For the Good of Your Emotions: Those who ask you to ignore your emotions "for your own good" are always wrong. Do those religions who demand that their followers mistrust joy, exhibit hate, and create destruction move them closer to God? No. Do those religions who persuade their followers to kill innocent others and to destroy property for the "greater good" move them closer to God? No. Only those who honor your emotions as your guiding spirit are doing you any good.

About Being a Karma Fan

I am a Karma Fan. Perhaps, after reading this site for awhile, so are you. My work over the years has increased and deepened my faith in karma. After all I have seen, I am a greater fan of karma now than I was when I started. Here is why and how I came to be such a huge fan of karma.

* Search for Faith: It took me many years to find karma and more to become a karma fan. In my search for a faith to guide my life, there was one golden rule that guided me. "A faith should not depend upon me not asking someone the right question about it!" There has been NO question karma could not answer for me.

* Off the Christian Path: I was a Christian for almost 2,000 years. The question I asked - which got me off the Christian path - was "What happens to those who are born and who die in remote places without ever having gotten the chance to hear and follow the word of Christ?" The answer I got was, "They are doomed to hell because only through knowing Christ's word can a Soul be saved!" HUH? Even I knew God would not be as unfair as that!

* Deep Philosophical Problems: Karma is the only "religion" that addressed the twin philosophical problems of evil and inequality. Q: "Why is there evil in the world?" A: "Individuals must reap the consequences of the unloving actions they have sown in this life and past lives." Q: "Why are individuals born into unequal conditions (relative to health, wealth, and happiness)?" A: "They must experience the full cycle of life from all points of view (such male-female, sick-healthy, rich-poor, etc) to evolve in Soul awareness."

* Karmic Justice: Karma does what religion should do: it makes me feel more peaceful in the world. I no longer feel the need to right wrongs: I leave that to karma. I no longer feel fear of "bad" things happening to me: I know that karma has and will treat me with justice. I no longer get upset by the evil or inequality I see: I know that karma is always acting in the background to silently and inexorably create justice between past and present lives. I no longer worry about the future: I know that I have created it as I wish by living a karma free life.

Credits: from channeled information.