One of the core beliefs we have listed here is the acceptance of others as they are. I believe this. If we expect or hope that others will accept us as we are, then we must first display this ability to others. It's a sign of respect and maturity. It's a form of giving unconditional love.
What does it mean to accept others for who they are? It means we do not judge who someone is or look down upon them. It means no expectations because when we place expectations on someone then we are either judging who they are or hoping that they will be more. It means accepting each person for who they are at any given moment.
By accepting others for who they are at any moment we are offering a form of spiritual unconditional love. Does this mean that we must love every person that we meet? Yes and no. We do not need to love every person in a physical or emotional way but we do need to love them in a spiritual way.
Now just because we accept people for who they are, this does not mean that they will do the same for us. Not everyone has learned how to do this yet and not everyone is able to do it yet. This too we must accept.
You might be saying something like, "What about people who are cruel, mean, or hurtful to us?" These folks will test us the most. We still must accept who they are. We only have control over ourselves and our actions and reactions. No matter what we do, we cannot change others.
So herein lies the choice. With each person that we meet we need to see them for who they are. Once we have this information we have to choose. Do we become and/or remain angry at people for the way they are? Do we try to change others to fit what we would like them to be or who we think they should be? Or... Do we accept people for who they are? As you can see accepting others for who they are is not only in their best interests but in our own best interest as well. We are able to release the need to stay angry or hurt and in doing so keep illnesses caused by negative emotion away.
Accepting others does not mean that we must continuously subject ourselves to unhealthy situations. If a person is cruel or mean, we can accept that and release them if necessary. Accepting others is not about being a doormat or allowing ourselves to be abused. It's about seeing reality and dropping perceptions that are unrealistic.
And when we accept others for who they really are, we allow them the ability to share "their" truth with us. We give them the freedom to be themselves with us. We also give ourselves the freedom to be our authentic self and in doing so we allow ourselves the room to disover more of the true self.
Over the coming weeks we will discuss more about acceptance, unconditional love, releasing negative people, and the authentic self. I feel these are all core issues in living a spiritual life and learning emotional maturity.
