On the Altruistic Heart as It Should Be (Part 1)

★When you don’t know what a true altruistic heart is

Today let’s cut into a sensitive issue having to do with the individual heart.

It is the present situation that “far too many people mistake movements of thought that have strayed from a true altruistic heart for altruism, think, speak, and act on that basis, and then feel stressed by the very thoughts, words, and deeds they believe to be altruistic.”

This is a delicate topic that is very hard to explain in words, and it includes things that can’t help touching the folds of your heart. So if you read on, please read with an open heart, with the lock taken off.

Otherwise, the ego’s resistance may make you feel extremely uncomfortable and cloud your surface consciousness.

All right?

If not, please move on to another page.

Now, to the main point: a surprising number of people suppress their own good qualities simply because they don’t know what the state of a true altruistic heart is.

In that state of mind, they’ve tied a lead weight of self-suppression—easily mistaken for altruism—around the ankles of their heart, and can’t use their consciousness freely. So the fog of suffering called stress never clears from the sky of their heart, and they are always in anguish.

It’s a state you could call a pitfall peculiar to people who are good at heart. But if you notice it and use your consciousness so as not to fall into that pitfall, you can express altruistic thoughts, words, and deeds with a natural feeling, without tensing up.

So from here, let’s look concretely at the state of consciousness of people who feel stressed practicing altruism because they don’t know what the state of a true altruistic heart is.

For example, let’s see… there are cases where you are so considerate of others that you lose sight of the most important thing—your own feelings—right?

Do you know why that happens?

★Love yourself before anyone else, and be loved by yourself

It’s because… you’ve put a lid on your honest feelings and suppressed your own wishes—”I want to be like this,” “I want to do this.”

That is a state of lying to yourself.

You could also call it a state of deceiving yourself.

According to truth, people are originally meant to love and cherish themselves first, before anyone else, and are beings who should be loved and cherished by themselves.

And yet, if you keep the pivot foot of your heart in the dimensional space of dualistic opposition and value other people’s feelings too much above your own, your heart strays from the original nature of life and a sense of discord arises. That grows into suffering and fills your surface consciousness, and if it goes too far, you may end up with a self-protective feeling—”I’m the only one making sacrifices (losing out)”—and in the end you may come to live in a state of shifting responsibility, blaming others and your circumstances.

What matters is not to consider what other people want or what they think, but to choose and carry out your own thoughts, words, and deeds based on what you want and what you’d like to do.

The foundation for this is the truth we just mentioned—”love and cherish yourself first, before anyone else.” But many people can’t apply this truth well and fall into a state of suffering. (To be continued next time)