Acceptance and Non-acceptance

In this blog post I plan to ruminate around the subject of acceptance and non-acceptance. In general, when adults reach a certain age, the tendency is to move into acceptance regarding where they are in life, whether it is their circumstances, their health, their relationships, etc., etc.

An in-between stance is the acceptance of some things, but a never-ending fight with others, such as aging. In our younger years, non-acceptance of various conditions in one's life can result in self-destructive or anti-social behavior. Those who study Sociology have found that females tend more toward self-destructive behavior, and males toward anti-social behavior patterns.

Much in our lives we have been conditioned/programmed/indoctrinated to believe are Facts/conditions which we must accept. Frequently, fear is the underlying factor. A prime example is the subject of health--our own and that of others.

Only if you do your own research, will you discover that your physical and mental health is within your ability to control. Generally, fear will take over the intellect, the more serious the condition, and the greater the inclination to trust the established Experts. Happily, there are many now who have managed to go against the advice of the Doctors, and family and friends, as well as managed to avoid the other enforcers of the AMA Code, and taken charge of their condition and health.

If you have had an, "incurable" condition, but manage to return the body to health, you are likely to be told by your doctor that it was a, "spontaneous remission" and that, "such things happen." You may also be told that whatever you think you did to bring about a return to health had nothing to do with it whatsoever!

What is the existing state or condition is called the, "status quo". The problem of resisting primarily has to do with having been indoctrinated with a sense of powerlessness from a very young age. For about a half-century now, seemingly a large majority of people in this country have mindlessly accepted and believed what we have been told by the powers-that-be!

As in the '60s, we in this country are again witnessing a public display of non-acceptance of the status quo, with the powers-that-be doing its best to suppress the protesters. Unlike in the '60s, this rising up in resistance to those who set up the prior power structure started in other parts of the World. This is the first time since the '60s in this country that resistance has become more than a personal affair.

There are positive things which can be said about being in a state of acceptance. However, I would like to encourage practicing a personal, if not public, state of non-acceptance. Such a state, ideally, would question anything and everything which is the existing state, condition or established Fact, whether a personal, or generally established Fact.

Skeptics can be an annoying lot, primarily because most of the current outspoken group have made a habit/profession, of debunking anything that is not accepted as orthodox teaching/thinking/reality. They are a tool and upholders of the status quo.

The first definition given of a "Skeptic," according to Dictionary.com, is, "a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual." Maintaining such a mental state about anything and everything is hard. If, however, one selects certain areas to investigate what are the underpinnings of certain, accepted, "Facts" it becomes somewhat easier--not easy, but easier. If one has the Internet available, while time-consuming, it can be a great help.

I have, it seems, in a round-about fashion, returned to the need to examine what one has incorporated as Facts, throughout one's life which make up the Personal Belief System. Much of what we humans have accepted as a comfortable and unchangeable reality, has been and is, "rocking and rolling" perhaps in an effort to shake off our limiting beliefs about what is possible. As I have stated before, "nothing is impossible!"

So, with that, I end this post.

Shirley Gallup