Twisted Truth

Twisted Truth - Good morning everyone! - The other day as I was scrolling down my FB page, I somehow got stuck on one of those page recommendations. One rather peculiar name had obviously subliminally caught my attention, so I eagerly clicked to learn more about that person's page. Trying to quench my curiosity, I came across a recent post which not just rocked my little boat of sanity but ultimately left me seriously pondering over something that had long been written in stone - or so I had thought. Regardless of all the discomfort and discontent that came with it, on skimming through that fairly provocative statement, I immediately felt that that would be a life- changing override of what I had considered a piece of credible spiritual truth. Those few lines in front of me actually read pretty easily, but boy was I in for a surprise! That man's message went somehow like this: "Love yourself, and you'll be able to perceive the love of others. What a crock of s*$# ! They try to make you believe this kind of BS to squeeze the last penny out of you." For a while I was holding my breath ready to launch some form of protest, but then I moved on to the core of what he was trying to say. "It doesn't work that way. You can be loved by others and even perceive it as such whether you love yourself or not." Plain and simple, right? My gullible state of mind was clearly in uproar. Why the heck would anyone even bother putting such wisdom out publicly? Was it possible that that oddball rubbing me the wrong way had in fact stated nothing but the truth? The hamster wheel in my head had come to an abrupt standstill. After 35 years or so of having firmly and unshakably believed that love can only be earned, gained and truly sensed if one finally started loving him or herself, I instantaneously found myself thrown back to square one. It felt as if the veil of dawn had suddenly been lifted giving way to the cloudless perspective of much friendlier and generally more welcoming days to come. In the end, after all the first hiccup was gone, I couldn't help agreeing admiringly. 'Yes, how true!' All my life I'd been wondering what would happen if I got to like myself at last while not seeing the wood for the trees all along. Don't worry, I'll spare you the many times I, too, have fallen for that shameless scheme of making us purchase stupid items for the sake of finding self- love. I'm honestly impressed how maliciously cleverly geared those sales strategies are! If you don't find the love for yourself in your own heart, that's it for there's no remedy whatsoever. Period, or maybe not, who knows? After all, who says we don't love ourselves? Unless some severe mental issue plagues the human brain, first and foremost we are all subconsciously driven by our souls. No soul ever reincarnates with the concept of self- loathe and self- annihilation on its agenda but with the true desire to blossom and prosper. To some degree we all like/ love ourselves including suicidal candidates who act out their egos' wishes rather than their souls' intentions. This being said, it only seems too natural that we go through phases of weakened narcissistic love, self- tolerance and self- respect. Other times we strongly approve of our own selves, and I would assume that the amount of love others are willing to share with us just undergoes the exact same fluctuation patterns. From a retrospective point of view though, I've got to admit that many times there is indeed a certain synchronicity in liking/ loving oneself as well as others and receiving/ perceiving love, respectively. Fantastic, isn't it? What a well- thought- through gimmick it is to prey on us trying to convince us that we need all sorts of material aids only to teach us self- love. In reality, there's no need at all for any of that. Instead we'd be much better off accepting the truth as it is and go with it naturally. We certainly need not wait to forcefully progress as far as taking ourselves the way we are so we finally become worthy of other people's love. We really need to wake up before we find out that we've been loved all those years but lost it for we never knew.