Telephone
Do you recall playing the game of “telephone” when you were a child?
It is a game where you sit in a circle with your friends. The first person comes up with a phrase and whispers it into the second person’s ear, something for them to pass along to the next person. The second person then whispers into the third person’s ear and around the circle it goes, until the last person states out loud the phrase that was whispered in his or her ear.
The reason that it is a fun game is because when the last person states the final ending phrase out loud, it is usually so shockingly different than the original phrase that the first person stated.
The reason I bring this game up is because there is a vital teaching in it – for ourselves as well as our children.
Somebody tells me something that someone did. I then tell another person what I heard. They then share that with another, and on and on it goes. We typically automatically just believe what we hear about another as truth.
But here’s the problem:
Every moment is given to us in order that we may stand in its presence and receive what is being given to us (from above). If we are able to properly sacrifice ourselves that way, the moment is truly reconciled and leaves no leftovers or residue to “pass along” to others about it.
If we aren’t present in the moment in order to see what we are being given to see, then the mind (the past) unconsciously feeds us its interpretation of the moment.
So, what this means is that what we “pass along” to others 99% of the time isn’t truth at all, but our mind’s interpretation of it. So, as it gets passed along to each person, it is reinterpreted by the person that receives it.
It’s no wonder this world is like it is.
I understand that some of this is difficult to see, but if you reach, you can see it.
It is SO harmful to not only ourselves but to others as well, when we gossip or speak about others in a way that elevates ourselves above them. Why else would we talk about them? Now, I’m not speaking about comments such as “Mary and Jim are expecting a baby.” We all know deep down what kind of comments I am speaking of.
It is a real challenge to keep our mouths shut, because it is so engrained in our collective consciousness and is done so automatically, so unconsciously.
Wouldn’t we be bringing something new into this world if our children learned this information? They wouldn’t do “the same old thing” that everyone else does. Instead, they would be a living example of truth that others would be inspired by. They would refuse to play the game of telephone.
That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be “tempted” to gossip and pass along misinformation, because they would. The difference is that they would understand where that temptation is coming from (their own mind), a level of consciousness that they no longer wish to feed. Instead, they would agree to sacrifice that temptation in order that something new could be brought into this world for themselves and for all.
The real game of telephone is a moment-to-moment communication with a consciousness above this level. When we accept that call, the message is clear and needs no reinterpretation.
Image courtesy of: Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash
Exercise for the week: See if you can catch a part of yourself that wants to talk about another or wants to “fish” for information about another. Suffer that part of yourself.
