"The Subtle Loss Of Your Identity To Things"

Chapter 12 

I call this "The Little Red Truck Syndrome."  Because I am male I use a toy truck and a boy to illustrate the syndrome.  If you are a female, please substitute the boy for a girl, and the truck for a rag doll.   Watch how the syndrome builds.   A little boy goes to play with other children in a sand box.  He approaches and asks, “Can I play with you” NO is the response.  A little discouraged he moves on.  Then he notices there is another sand box with kids playing.  He goes to the next and asks, “Can I play with you”.   NO, is the reply.  The kid now begins to feel the subtle ping of rejection, or begins to think there is something wrong with him, he begins to become a little self-conscious.   He sees one more sand box and goes over.  “Can I play with you”.  NO is the answer, but just as he is walking away one of the children notices a little red truck in the boys hand.  “Hey Kid come back here, I’ll play with you, you can play here”.  Can I play with your truck”? 

Can you see how this narrative can create a distorted sense of acceptance, friendship, love and the illusion that there is great power and security in material things?  

At least they think it does until someone comes along with a bigger red truck or a newer rag doll right.    The problem here is that it is possible for you to take this learning to the extreme, where it is no longer about love or acceptance.   You being to use this strategy to get out of life anything you want.  Unfortunately many innocent bystanders are hurt in the process.   The other problem that can grow from this learning, if practised, can be even more destructive to the person.   What happens if you begins to identify yourself with the object, the truck or the doll?  Can you see where this might leave you?  What happens if you were to lose the object, without it you may no longer feel whole?   Where is your identity to be found now?  Say it not an object but a title such as a doctor, lawyer, or minister, whatever, father or mother what happens then.  I know many people who are afflicted with this syndrome and when they are no long able to practice their craft, their trade or profession they lose sense of who they are.   They begin to feel, lost and useless.  The great danger here is that you never get to realize your full potential in life.      

Things, or your money, are not who you are, you are a unique creation, one of a kind meant for good.  You were not meant to live in the darkness but were meant for the fullness of life in the light.  It is you who are unique, special, precious, the only one of you in the universe.  If you have a problem accepting yourself as loved and precious, you will have a problem accepting others in the same way.   So then what is the key to seeing yourself and others as loved without things or conditions?   There is another kind of love that is needed in order to make you and your relationships stable.   It is an impossible love to achieve completely.  But you spiritual nature thrives at its best when you are reaching out to attain it, when you feed it.   It is a love without rejection or conditions, a love full of acceptance and grace no matter what, there are no strings attached.   In the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures you will find this in the writing of prophet Isaiah chapter 49, NIV in verse 1 “before I was borne the Lord called my name”  and in verse 15 “ can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget I will never forget.  See I have carved you on the palms of my hands.”  Yes even if a mother were to forget the child with her womb as many have done, even then God’s love for them does not change for the Mom or the child.  Nothing on this earth or in the heavens can separate us for this unconditional love of our true Parent, the one who created all of us.  This is an impossible love for our human nature to comprehend but remember your spiritual nature thrives on striving and reaching out towards it.  Why? Because it is the only true love there is.  It is the love we all long for, full and complete acceptance no strings attached.  

 Nothing can top it.     

God’s love for His children is not based on how good or how behaved we are.  God loves us because we are His and all we have to do is to take this love into our lives and accept the gift.  You cannot earn it, no good deed secures it, it doesn't come in degrees and is offer to all through GRACE.  You can accept it or you can reject it. God has placed this truth in your heart on the day of your conception.   There is and always will be a trace memory of this love within and it is rooted in your divine spiritual nature.  Everyone has it, but many have not accepted it, nor are they doing the things that strengthen and cultivate it.   It has no strings attached, visible or hidden.  In fact it is full of the qualities of divine love and grace as found written in 1 Corinthians 13 of the Christian New Testament.  It is probably the most famous of all verses used by many during wedding ceremonies within the church today but it is the least understood.  Here how it works.  I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT!  For good or bad, for better or for worst, in sickness or in health, until death do us part.  This love has no strings attached it is God’s unconditional love and it attributes can be heard as you read, beginning at verse 4:  “Love is patient, and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails.”  Sound familiar?

Next time:     “Improper Touching And It's Effects”