2010-2-27 06:03:00
JJ: When guilt is released then your progression in taking the steps along this ladder is increased. On the other hand, if you take a step and feel guilty then you will take a step down and not do anything for a long time. And then eventually you will try to take another step and before you get to the second step you are going to fell guilty again and then you step back down because you do not even feel worthy of being on the ladder. But when you have overcome guilt then you take a step and think, oh this feels good and you are happy to be taking a step You make mistakes and then you correct them and then you move up to the next step and the next step. The fact that you have overcome guilt will be a tremendous benefit as you move up the ladder.
Audience: "What about handling the discouragement as you progress up the ladder?"
JJ: This is a difficult one because all of us feel discouragement at one time or another. We are all in the same boat and things are not always perfect and many people are like the guy who is trying to move along the path and the vision of why things are the way they are is just not coming to him. It is like everything is kind of random for him. There is a scripture that I like that applies to this from Paul and he says, "Be instant in season and out of season." In other words, whether you are in season or out of season move ahead along the path as if the season was always good.
I have found this to be true in my life and it seems like many times that seasons are more than the seasons are good but remember what it was like when the seasons were good and then visualize that you are moving ahead as if the seasons are always good. Bear in mind the Law of Dominating Good and remember we talked about this earlier. Remember that in the end if you move forward with intelligence and that you are an intelligent being and you have the intelligence to correct wrongs, to make corrections as you go.
This intelligence will give you the power to use the Law of Dominating Good. And so this is what I have done when I have gone through a period where I have felt like there is a cloud hanging over my head and there seems to be no particular reason for it. Have you ever had this happen to you before? It just seems to be a cycle that affects us all and so if you are going through this cycle just continue on as if everything is great and then pretty soon the cloud will disperse and everything will be great but it takes a lot of focus. Remember the principle of dominating good.
Many people get discouraged and think that things will never work out for them. NEVER ALLOW your self to think that way and always remember that if you proceed and move ahead that good will dominate. Good will dominate because you are the force for good, you are the point of decision that decides what is good and what is evil and you can make the decision that good will dominate because you have the full power within your hands. I will take questions now.
Assaf: "How do you handle your feelings if the person you are dealing has the intention of hurting you?"
JJ: In other words, how do you deal with a mean-spirited person who is consciously out to harm you?
Assaf: "Yes."
JJ: We will go back to the teachings of Christ on this and He gives some basic teachings that are really good that even staunch Christians do not incorporate in their lives. In the movie Gandhi when he was with a Christian minister going through some rough neighborhood in India, the Christian minister said something to affect that they needed to take a detour and go another way. Gandhi then preached to him out of his own Bible and he said, "If someone slaps you on one cheek are you not told to turn the other cheek?" The minister said, "Yes but it is not like that." Gandhi said, "Well how is then?"
The minister did not have an answer. I thought that was very profound. With the teachings of Christ it is often times like this. If you present them to a regular born again Christian who is really into the Bible they will say that Christ really did not mean it that way He meant it some other way. But truly the basic teachings that Christ gave on the Sermon on the Mount are very good but His own followers ignore them and He taught that you should turn the other cheek. Now with His teachings the person always has to keep in mind the great truth that Solomon taught, "There is a time and purpose for everything under heaven", so there is a time to not turn the other cheek and we have to look at the principle of turning the other cheek and following the principle behind it.
If you try to follow the teaching by the letter of the law than you will get discouraged and it will not work for you because there are times not to turn the other cheek. Now look at the principle of turning the other cheek, I have applied it a number of times in my life and it is very powerful. In the fact that someone comes and smites you on the cheek He say turn the other cheek and I do not know hardly any Christian that believes in that. If you go and smite any Christian on the cheek he is not going to turn the other cheek and if you if you remind that Jesus said turn he other cheek and tests these guys out and see if they really believe the words of Jesus!
What is the principle behind turning the other cheek? It is not always a smite on the cheek, it may be an insult, it may be someone that crossed in front of you in traffic or something like this. We meet people that turn aggressive toward us, and when we meet people that turn aggressive toward us instead of reacting and returning the aggression we turn the other cheek and be nice to them.
Sometimes what it does to this person is it will make them aware of how mean spirited they are and they will often apologize to you. I remember when I was in phone advertising sales and there was a guy that was really mean to me. I did not get upset and I just was really nice to him and after I hung up the phone it rang a few minutes later. It was the guy calling to apologize for his behavior and he said "I was mean to you and you were so nice back to me that it made me realize what a jerk I was," and then he wanted to buy an ad from me! [JJ laughs.] So being nice to the guy who was mean to me made him realize how badly he was behaving and it was enough for him to change that behavior toward me.
And this often happens, I have seen it play out on different levels and if somebody is really aggressive and mean spirited and you are nice back to them they will often soften and be nice in return. Now there are other times when this makes the person even angrier, have you ever had this happen? I have been in relationships where the nicer I am the angrier they get.
Copyright © 2010 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved