#3 The suffering caused by misinterpreting emotions.

One of the strongest sources of suffering that the modern human experiences in this day and age is caused by an incorrect understanding of one’s worth, which can lead individuals towards forming internally constructed value systems that prioritise the urge to fulfill superficial material aspects of one’s own life. The reason seeing oneself ultimately as a material finite creature causes an inner-disconnect is based on another philosophical presupposition that ‘Infinite Worth Meditation’ is based on. This principle is extremely simple and life transforming when truly understood. Simply put, your emotions ‘only’ know the truth of your infinite worth. This further implies that your emotions are ‘made of’ ancient unchanging wisdom that has been shaped over the course of the evolution of life on the humble yet infinitely profound fact that ‘life itself’ is of boundless worth.

This runs against modern materialistic mainstream views of what emotions are. It is generally thought that emotions are primal unsophisticated aspects of the modern human, which, compared to our uniquely evolved human mind of conscious reason, are of significantly less value and importance. This collective arrogant attitude we, as a species, hold towards the irrelevance of our emotional life has led to unprecedented levels of ‘collective ignorance’ in relation to understanding the true nature of why our emotions signal the way they do and how they fundamentally function. This lack of emotional understanding encourages individuals to construct inner-value systems that disregards the deep need to listen and correctly interpret the inner-communication one receives from their emotional centre. Even when people indeed value the importance of their own emotional signalling, the true message trying to be communicated is often completely misinterpreted.

Generally put, there are two very common mistakes people make when receiving emotional signalling, which stem from an incomplete understanding of one’s unlimited importance and, thus, identity. The first is related to beliefs in ‘inferiority’ and the second is related to beliefs in ‘superiority’ compared to others. It is also important to make clear that all thoughts and imagery conjured by the conscious mind are intertwined with certain emotional reactions, as it is impossible to disentangle conscious mind activity with the ancient emotions we are embodied with. The first type of mistake (emotional misinterpretation) is when we pay attention to ‘lack thoughts’ that arise from ‘lack beliefs’ one holds within themselves as an aspect of their identity. These thoughts / images relate to a belief that one is of limited worth to self and society, which is a belief that runs rife in our modern materialistic society (as we discussed in the previous blog). Such thoughts / beliefs stimulate negative contracting emotions. This ‘emotional contraction’ is then interpreted and logically believed by the individual as ‘felt confirmation’ that such thoughts must be true. Therefore, the belief in one’s limited worth becomes even more solidified within the make-up of one’s identity. In turn, believing this ‘emotional interpretation’ as a fundamental truth of experienced reality further stimulates and, thus, compounds the negative messaging received from our core, creating a layering upon layering of negative emotional experiences. As you can see, a negative feedback loop has been created that, if not dealt with in the light of truth, can send individuals into states of depression and immense suffering.

Let’s now analyse this situation with the understanding of the philosophical presupposition outlined in the first paragraph. When you believe and, thus, generate ‘self-lack’ thoughts, inevitably there will be associated feelings of negative contraction. We all know this as a common experience and source of anxiety and depression all humans can relate to. Though, if you know the fundamental truth of your own infinite worth and understand that your emotions are shaped by and function based on this foundational fact of reality, then it becomes clear as to the real meaning behind such negative emotional signalling. This negativity is a sign that you hold thoughts and sub-conscious beliefs towards yourself that are simply wrong. It really is that simple. When you think you are existentially ‘less and inferior’ to others your emotions signal their disapproval with such a false perception one has of themselves.

The correct response to such true emotional signalling is to simply pay attention respectfully to what the core of your ‘being’ is trying to tell you. This allows you to take a position of reflection and ask oneself, “what thoughts / underlying beliefs am I currently buying into that are shaped by an incorrect perception of self-lack?”. Simply taking this reflective stance will begin to neutralise the emotional negativity one is experiencing. When you subsequently correct your false beliefs and associated thinking, aligned with the fact of your infinite worth, the emotional messaging will completely change towards wholesome positive agreement with such truth.

Let’s now look at the second type of ‘emotional misinterpretation’ related to false beliefs in fundamentally being of superior worth compared to others. When an individual is lost in a materialistic identity of oneself, the tendency to compare their fundamental worth to others based on materialistic measures, such as appearance, wealth, possessions, skill, intellect etc, is all to strong and common. This belief in materialism is what creates attitudes of inferiority also. However, the belief that one is more valuable than others creates a different and more complex emotional response compared to the belief in self-lack. Initially thoughts of superiority will stimulate a desirable emotional responses, that can be very intensely imbued with a powerful sense of positivity and domination. It is this emotional response that can act like a drug and create an addiction for such emotional experiences, leading to very bad consequences for self and others, as history has illustrated time and time again. However, this drug of perceiving one’s superiority over others is obviously a hard one to shake, given the overabundance of such a false belief expressed in various ways throughout our modern society on individual and collective levels.

The powerful positive emotional reaction caused by thoughts / beliefs of over-inflated comparative self-worth are usually strong but short lasting with a sense of superficiality in its effect (just like a drug). This stimulates emotions that exist at shallow levels of one’s identity ie the ‘ego’ level. This is the level of identity where we construct a ‘personal’ sense of who we are. However, under these layers is an infinite regression of deeper layers of your being (identity) which is where the experience of far more profound ‘truth aligned’ emotions exist, such as the emotion of wholeness and pure alignment with the fact that your worth is infinitely deep.

So, we can see that the positivity associated with thoughts of superiority is related to the fact that your worth does expand indefinitely, although one is only perceiving one’s worth to be bound by comparison towards others. Therefore, the falsity in such powerful emotions quickly hollows out the felt positivity, which can lead to a ‘fall from grace’, one might say. Such an emotional fall from one’s high horse will often result in beliefs and thoughts of lack and inferiority, leading to emotions of jealousy and resentment. As the cycle of irrational thoughts and behaviour continues, it is likely that such an individual will seek out ways in which to signal virtue dominance over those they harbour resentment towards in order to stimulate the drug-like emotional response of shallow powerful positivity once again. And the cyclic pattern of emotional suffering continues to generate and feed itself. Therefore, individuals who suffer from a belief in superiority will likely also harbour equally false beliefs in inferiority, as, when you live with one falsehood, you expose yourself unwillingly to many more.

We can also see here that, individuals who find themselves in these cyclic patterns of emotional suffering perceive their own fundamental worth based on the perceptions others hold towards themselves. This is another outgrowth of seeing oneself as a materialistic creature who’s worth can only be measured relative to other’s materialistic characteristics and is, therefore, a core perceptual mistake many beliefs are influenced by that individuals commonly hold within themselves. This is another psychological plague that social media encourages, which is currently causing an immeasurable amount suffering individually and collectively.

The complexity of emotions related to beliefs in superiority are also related to the ‘shadow’ that exists within us all. There are many descriptions related to the nature of ‘the shadow’ we all harbour within. From my perspective, this shadow represents the ‘memory of the predator’ we are all emotionally interwoven with, as our emotions are the memory of our biological past that is always present an active. The shadow can create big problems for individuals unknowingly, though it is something that can be remedied straightforwardly with the knowledge of your true worth and how your emotions function as the memory of the past. This obviously requires further explaining and unpacking, which will be the focus for a future a blog.

What essentially occurs when we perceive ourselves, others and the world through a lens of inferiority / superiority, influenced largely by our awareness of how others perceive / judge us, is a disconnect between the raw knowledge of our emotions and the assumed knowledge of our sub-conscious beliefs and conscious thoughts. This disconnect is indicative of a dysfunctional relationship one has with their emotional Self. This emotional Self is where the true nature of your identity is found, as this emotional Self (aka the Infinite Self) has been around far far longer than you have as this modern embodied human being. This individual that resides deeply within you and indeed all iterations of life, is the knower of truth. This truth is communicated in a very simple straight forwards way through feelings of alignment, wholeness, centredness and pure worth. These sensations of truth are always present but can be obstructed by false belief structures, like the perfect blue sky that is always present behind the clouds. However, the false sense of identity we brick-up around ourselves serves to hinder the direct connection we have with this greater Self within.

When we contemplate and meditate on the possibility that life and, thus the direct experience of our own, is of unlimited divine worth, we collapse false beliefs that clog up our internal connection with the infinite. When we begin clearing the way and healing the divide with the wisdom at our centre, false thoughts begin to dissipate, as the underlying belief structure that scaffolds such thoughts is weakened at their foundations. This marks the beginning of an acceleration of awakening as truth breeds greater truths, marking the development of perceiving through a truer lens. When you have dealt internally with the struggle required to break down ‘inferior / superior’ belief sytems and associated patterns of thought, you are left with the understanding that everyone must be of the exact same infinite worth that you have uncovered within yourself. This is the only logical conclusion one can possibly draw as, if we compare individuals against this metaphysical measure, there is zero difference. Comparing infinity to infinity always result in sameness, which is precisely the underlying factor that unites the diversity human expression this ‘infinite worth’ unfolds itself as. On an emotional level, this truth is also confirmed, as our emotions clearly approve with feelings of unmistakable truth upon viewing others in the same light that shines brightly within oneself.

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(54) #3 The suffering caused by misinterpreting emotions - YouTube