How to Overcoming “Othering”
A Simple Path to Compassion for Yourself & Others
[Updated April 28, 2022] We are all creating at the highest level that they are capable of in the present moment.
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” — Coretta Scott King
“All human beings are creating at the highest level that they are capable of in the present moment.” — Lincoln Gergar
Can We Do Better Than 50/50?
THE second quote above comes from a YouTube video by Lincoln Gergar (Channel for Higher Self) that I first came across a month ago. This idea has stuck with me this past month, influencing how I feel toward pretty much everyone and everything — at least when I remember it.
What Lincoln says is a New Age spiritual variation of the idea that “everyone is always doing the best they can do”. This is not a new idea, as I found in a simple Google search. I have probably heard these words before myself, though I don’t remember off-hand.
In my online search, I found Dr. Brené Brown discussing a small research project she did in which about 50% of respondents agreed that “people always do the best they can do”, and about 50% disagreed.
Those who agreed were more compassionate toward others and happier in their lives. Those who disagreed were more likely to be afraid of “being hurt by others”.
I am definitely one of the 50% who believe this statement to be true — not just for people, but for everything in the universe.
You, however, might be one of the 50% of people who disagree with the idea that everyone is creating at the highest level possible in the present moment. Or maybe you are just unsure.
If you struggle with this idea, I suggest you consider the 5 perspectives that I present below. One of them might resonate with you. If so, start with that. You will find the others falling into alignment.
Taking this perspective raises your vibration, which raises the vibration of the entire planet. We need this more than ever now as we collectively ascend to a New Earth.
That is something that many desire, as I write about here:
(1) Consider Other People
EVERYONE we see is a reflection of the complex set of conditions, experiences, and decisions they have encountered from the time of their conception to the present moment in which we see them.
“People can be no different than how they are in the present moment.” — Lincoln Gergar
We can never fully know how another person’s life experience is influencing their freedom to act. To come even close to such an understanding requires a suspension of judgments about them.
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” — J. Krishnamurti
Judgements come from our self-centered ego-mind. Truth requires suspending judgment. To truly know another (being or object) requires suspending our ego judgments.
To experience a judgment is to experience ourself only. That is OK, because it is important to know ourself. But we must not confuse our judgment with the truth of another.
Stopping our ego-mind from judging is a difficult, if not impossible, thing to do. It is an aspect of unconditional love, which is equally challenging and often considered a sign of enlightenment. It is an opening of our hearts and minds to the fullness of of the universe, including its deepest lows and highest highs.
If we can see the world this way, we would be in awe of what other souls have chosen as their challenges and lessons for this incarnation. Many are far more difficult than what we have chosen this time around.
From that perspective, we can only hold deep compassion that they are creating the best life that they can at this moment in time. Like us, they are trying to take the best action available to them based on what they know and what they are capable of.
No matter what our past, we all are striving to be better. Our knowledge and capabilities are evolving and growing all the time. In the long run (perhaps several incarnations), we all will reach the bliss of knowing our true self, which is what creation is moving towards.
In addition, everyone we see and meet in our lives has something they can teach us. Some take on especially challenging incarnations through which they offer deep lessons for the rest of us.
(2) Consider Other Life Forms (animals, insects, & plants)
LIKE humans, each animal, plant, leaf, and flower has a unique and different life experience. Each expresses itself in a unique way.
And we are also part of their life experience. For example, there is plenty of evidence that household plants and pets thrive best when humans show love and care for them. They suffer when we withhold that.
We are often more attracted to some plants and animals than others for aesthetic and other reasons. But they all have equal value to express themselves and to be appreciated for that. That is because they are all doing the best they can to live their life as the animal, plant, leaf, or flower that they were born to be.
(3) Consider Inanimate Objects (rocks, furniture, food, and more)
YES, each rock is trying to be the best rock that it can be. And that also applies to the chair in your kitchen and the cookie on your plate.
Each of these has a unique story to tell (similar to humans and plants) if we can be sensitive enough to “hear” it. (Unity consciousness is a state in which we can know the life experience of other people, animals, plants, and rocks.)
You do not need to treat a rock as if it were a human (although we treat some crystals that way). But, you can appreciate that it is creating at the highest level available to it at this moment, and appreciate it for that.
By doing so, your view of everything in existence will change. The world will become a more enlivened and awe-inspiring place than you ever thought possible.
(4) Consider Yourself
MANY of us are critical of decisions and actions we have taken over the course of our lives. But was there ever a decision or action taken by you that was not done to the best of your ability at the time you did it?
In retrospect, if it did not turn out well, then that is the lesson that you needed to learn. For some of us, we need to learn the same lesson many times before we finally figure out how to jump to a higher level of consciousness and awareness.
Because we are always doing the best we can, we are also always moving our consciousness to a higher level. We are just not very aware of that most of the time.
“Every soul is creating at the highest level that it is capable of, even when it hurts another being.” — L.G.
That quote does not mean we can condone someone hurting another. Of course, we will face the personal and social consequences of any actions that we take. That is part of the learning that we all came to Earth for.
But it does mean we should have compassion for the perpetrator and help them change their ways. Our legal system in the US only focuses on punishment. Introducing some level of rehabilitation would be more compassionate.
Understanding that we are creating our life at the highest level that we are capable of at the moment allows us to have compassion for others and ourselves for what we judge as “bad” actions. And it encourages us to focus on learning, growing, appreciating, and enjoying our life as a human on this planet.
(5) Consider the Universe
WE exist as individuals, but we also exist as a part or aspect of a variety of larger collective groups. These include an ethnicity, a family, a community (region, town/city), a state/nationality, a continent, a planet (Earth), a solar system, and a galaxy.
Each of these (and many more between them) evolves to higher levels of consciousness through the evolution of it parts — which includes us.
It is difficult for most individuals to perceive these forms and levels of consciousness development. I had not thought of it myself until Lincoln said (while channeling his Higher Self):
“At every moment the universe is achieving at the highest level it is capable of through all [the] individual beings present.” — L.G.
We can see the deep interconnection between our inner and outer world / universe / reality in this short quotes from Seth (channeled by Jane Roberts in The Way Toward Health, 1984):
“You and the world create each other.” — Seth/Jane Roberts
When we work on ourselves, to move ourselves to higher levels of consciousness, awareness, and being, we are also working on the many collectives that we are a part of. This applies both to our physical dimension on planet Earth, and the non-physical dimensions that are a part of.
The universe is always expanding into something greater than it was before. And each of us, by creating at the highest level we are capable of, is an integral part of that process.
We Are Evolving Together
IN the present moment, we are who we are. And other people and things are who they are. And everything is striving to be its best self.
We learn how to be our best and highest self by experiencing what we create in each present moment. We have ups and downs, but these are not “better” nor “worse” versions of us. Instead, they are feelings we hold and engage in to move our learning in different directions.
And thus, we evolve from moment to moment, moving forward through each new experience. And everyone and everything we perceive is learning in this same way.
We all face limitations and struggles. We were born with some. But we created most through the experiences and understandings we picked up in our journey through life.
In the present moment, everyone and everything is being the highest and best that they have ever been.
“We are all at the highest level in every moment. We are all at our own highest level” — L.G.
Recognizing that frees us from the storylines of the past so we can see the truth and perfection of the present. The present itself seldom seems perfect. But being free of the past enables us to recognize our highest level in the present, and to create a future that is even more of what we and the world needs and desires.
“Remember that each segment of life is motivated by value fulfillment, and is therefore always attempting to use and develop all of its abilities and potentials, and to express itself in as many probable ways as possible, … in a process that takes into consideration the needs and desires of each other segment of life. …
Value fulfillment operates within microbes and nations, within individual creatures and entire species, and it unites all of life’s manifestations so that indeed creatures and their environments are united in an overall cooperative venture — a venture in which each segment almost seeks to go beyond itself in creativity, growth, and expression.
In a smaller, individual framework, each man and woman, then, is motivated by this same value fulfillment. …there is a kind of innate gallantry that operates among all segments of life — a gallantry that deserves your respect and consideration. You should have respect, then, for the cells of your body, the thoughts of your mind, and try to understand that even the smallest of creatures shares with you the emotional experience of life’s triumphs and vulnerabilities.”
— Seth/Jane Roberts, The Way Toward Health, session May 6,1984
Related
- ⬇️ This is the 2017 video of Lincoln Gergar channeling the Higher Self that sparked my writing this article.
- For more on “othering”, see:
- For more on Spiritual Activism & Social Issues, see this collection of articles. Note that the articles in this collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles, go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.
Contact
- I am not financially affiliated with any of the people or products discussed in this article.
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- Written in collaboration with my Energy Group/Higher Self. This is our perspective of the truth and not the whole truth of reality.
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