That's Gangsta

Depending on your background; you had a polarized reaction to the title. "Gangsta" is one of those words that have a lot of different meanings to a lot of different kinds of people. Either you felt slightly offended or repulsed by the word "gangsta", or you felt a little empowered by the word.

This fact alone illustrates how life is open to interpretation. In other words the meaning of any and everything that one perceives in life is all determined in the eye of the beholder. Outside of that; there is no true meaning or definition. There is only the meaning that you give it.

So what is being referred to as gangsta in this case? Spirituality. Spirituality is gangsta by my personal definition. I define gangsta as being in a position of power. Most people will agree that by structure; all world governments, armies, and police forces are set up to control power in the same way that an organized crime or gangster organization is designed (see The Illusion of Opposites).

The reason why I chose a word of "negative" connotation is because there really is no negative and positive. It is really a matter of perspective and personal responsibility. We all know that all governments, armies, and police forces are not 100% "positive" and that all people who consider themselves gangsta are not 100% negative. As a matter of fact, in both cases they all have good intentions and most have severe flaws.

Gangsta is an appropriate word to describe what I'm talking about because what is really empowering about the way they work is the elimination of the middlemen to rise to higher states of power. This can be illustrated in many gangster movies such as, "American Gangster" and "Scarface." In both of these movies; in many more movies; and more importantly, in real life, the main character got to the height of their power by getting rid of the people that stood between themselves and their source of power.

In the case of spirituality, religion may be seen as the middlemen and God, the source of power. For a great part of human history, religious organizations have had a monopoly on God. There have been many who have seen right through the way religion works; but the majority of the world's population over the years has been caught by the illusion that you need to go to somebody else to have a direct relationship with the Creator.

I, like many others before me, am here to let you see that there is not a need to be trapped in dogma. You have a direct line to the Universal Intelligence. It just needs some attention. For more on how to cut out the middle man and merge with the Source, read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

4 comments:

bometernally said...

Kudos! Great way to speak about Spirituality! I totally concur that "life is open to interpretation." You are totally on in saying there is no need to get caught in the "dogma". All one has to do is to begin being in the moment and use critical thinking. All one has to do is to begin to wake up and see what is right in front of them - their own reflection of their thoughts. Now "that's gangsta".

C. Om said...

Indeed. Most people can see without out looking to hard the good intention behind self empowerment. Thanks for your insight Bometernally.

Walt said...

Perfect usage of words to draw emotion out. I am starting to see that the power of words is just that: Their ability to invoke emotion. I had issue for a while dealing with what I thought was the futility of speech, but I came to the ultimate conclusion that as often as words repulse us, they also connect us. A word is like water, it can either save you or drown you.

C. Om said...

Absolutely. A word by itself is just a random sound. The true meaning of the word only lives with in the interpretation of the person who hears it. Knowing this, a person can transcend being offended by any word. It is the acceptance or resistance to the word that creates the feeling. Like you said, "save you or drown you."

Thanks for the comment Walt.