Dear Bug,
you're going to hear a lot of platitudes in your lifetime. This is because not only do the majority of people fail to think in any original way, preferring instead to simply repeat the memes programmed into them throughout their lives, but also because the essential tragedy of the human condition is that most people want very simple to answers to maddeningly complex questions. This is why we have things like penitentiaries and fad diets. In any case, a platitude is a nauseatingly trite saying that people use to comfort themselves and others in times of uncertainty, which is pretty much all of the time.
Humans are a fearful species. Almost everything we do is an attempt to exert some control over an environment that has proven time and time again to be uncontrollable. We cannot control the weather, our biological makeup, or death, and yet we try - and how. War, abuse of religion, patriarchy, and drug addiction are all outgrowths of fear and a pathetic attempt at rationalizing a largely frightening and irrational place - our world.
One of the lies you will hear is that 'people are all really good at heart.' Don't believe this. Most people are not intrinsically good. This is not to say that they are evil instead; rather, they are just selfish. You can't really blame them for it; with all our kind has been up against since we crawled out of the mud and started walking on the earth, you can certainly understand why we might be hard-wired to be self-serving. Survival is no joke. So, despite all our iPhones and four-wheel drives, essentially we are all still relatively helpless, very stressed individuals trying to secure our next meal or mate, and that means that what is really important to nearly everyone you know is their own agenda and what's good for them and theirs - not you and yours.
Lest I sound horribly cynical, I do want you to know, also, that while people are not particularly good, everyone has something good within them. You can say this about the worst of people. I hear Adolf Hitler was a good artist, and he was known to be charming. Likewise, there is darkness is everyone, even the very best - Jesus had a temper (moneychangers, temple, ask me later if you want). Mother Teresa was known to be a hustler. So we all have a light side and a shadow side, but as your Godmother I want to say to you that you'll save yourself, your Mom and Dad, and me a lot of heartache if you remember to be careful of the company you keep, and take your time getting to know and trust others. Never assume that people are who or what they say they are; watch and listen, and see if what they say is in line with what they do - if it is, you may have a winner. If not, you're dealing with someone who is failing to live an authentic life, and those people are poisonous to your well-being.
Bug, most people are asleep at the wheel. They don't look up at the sky, they don't ask a lot of questions, they don't see the infinite connections present in the web of existence. Instead they see only what's right in front of them and they accept simple answers, because it's easier and often it's all they know. You are not asleep. You are your mother's daughter, you are my Godchild, you are an inquisitive little Scorpio who even at your age believes in other dimensions and things that can't be seen. You are exceptional, and because you have the potential to see differently than others, that makes you different, and dare I say, better than them. Be humble, don't ever think that your stuff doesn't stink, but do realize that you have a way of being in and looking at the world that most people don't, a way that is a gift and a responsibility, and that means you need to be exceptionally careful about how you operate in the world.
You have many of the goodies in life coming to you: you are smart. You are already charming. You will be tall, blonde, and stacked. You will inherit jewels, money, property, and intellect. You are surrounded by forceful, conscious people who love you, would die for you, and will do anything in their power to see that you have the best you can. This already puts you ahead of the game and not everyone you meet is going to be happy for you.
They say that misery loves company and I have found this to be incredibly true. People may say that they want you to do well, but the truth is that many people will feel schadenfreude (one of my favorite words) when you fall on your face and will be only to happy to dissect your misfortune at length with you, but when you succeed, you may see their smiles but feel their claws. My best friend's late father, dying of cancer, explained it in terms of a pie: no one wants you to have a bigger piece than they do. Sometimes it's okay to have the same sized piece, but never bigger, so be very circumspect about your good fortune and let your jewels and abundance of love be your own very private business.
Now here's the part where the exception to the rule - because there always is one - comes in. Bug, if you are very fortunate in life, and very prepared and conscious, you will be able to surround yourself with a few people who are loyal, loving, and unequivocally invested in your success; they will see your achievements and abundance as their own; they will want you to have anything and everything and when you get it, they will respect it and value it. That is love. That is loyalty. And that is what you should spend the rest of your life working hard as a dog to cultivate. When you do this, you will be truly alive, not asleep at the wheel, not going through the motions, not living in negativity and self-serving mindlessness. You will be blooming with all that is good, and only in this way can you transcend the prison of the mind that most others live in.
Love,
Auntie S.
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