Comparison breeds Contempt

**Before I begin let me digress. Am I the only one that reads others blogs and gets inspired? I don't get inspired in the traditional sense of the word. Instead I simply begin to see the things that where always there to be said. The things I write here are my life lessons, the things I've done, seen, heard and learned from (or simple revelation from the Great Unknowable lived out in day to day life). Sometimes its easy to trivialize these things, and I think as we go through life we don't "forget" these things much in the same way you never "forget" how to ride your bike, although I do think we consciously forget, and I tend to do that.

I think our life lessons work the way the Great Divines word is written on our hearts, I think it works more like muscle memory. Muscle memory is the idea that once you've done something enough times it becomes ingrained in your brain and becomes associated with that particular movement and sometimes specific equipment, so the idea is once your muscles start doing the movements again you find that even though you can't specifically recall how to do those things your muscles are naturally inclined to do them. So for example a basketball team runs a certain play lots and lots of times so that they will remember how to run it without even having to think about it.

I think this is true for our life lessons and the Great Divines word, it becomes ingrained in us and associated with certain situations so that when we face adversity we find ourselves making certain decisions without hesitation, I guess conscience is really the word for it but I feel the word doesn't convey the whole thought. I think others blogs work to bring out those life lessons to the forefront, for me at least. Wow, I really digressed pretty far, ON WITH THE SHOW!**

"Comparison breeds contempt.", another personal mantra of mine. The Great Divine told me this once, and it took me days before I realized how true this was and exactly how far the rabbit hole went with this one. The first time you hear those words you kind of listen to it the way you listen to music, you simply listen to the words but don't really pay attention to what the song is saying. I think its because there are SO many sayings like this and after a while they all muddle together and we build up an immunity to them. Once you start to really analyze whats being said though and apply it to your own life you start to realize how true this is. At first I thought it was only a one way thing, sort of a "you shouldn't consider yourself better than others" thing, then I realized it goes both ways. No matter what the outcome of the comparison it always ends in contempt. "That person makes more money, has a better car, looks better than me etc etc etc." Once you start thinking that, it doesn't take long for contempt to settle in. At first thats as far as I took it and I put forth the effort to apply the principal to my life.

Then the Great Divine took it deeper, showing me that I should be careful not to compare my SPIRITUALITY against others as it also leads to contempt. The concept is a hard one to follow, as we live in a society that requires empirical evidence as well as a way to measure their success against yours aka the zero's on your paycheck, the kind of car you drive, and the list goes on. Because of that we can find ourselves trying to find an empirical way to measure our spirituality against others and we can find ourselves hating others at church and having a hard time figuring out why. Then we find ourselves disillusioned and hating church and the people who go there. Its hard for me to keep myself from comparing myself against others as I'm a very empirical sort of person. I like to have something to compare against and its easy for me to fall into the trap of comparing myself with others. The Unknowable has called us to love one another, and in his world there is no first place. Try as we might we can't earn what he gives us and we certainly aren't deserving of it either. Its interesting when you realize how deep seeded comparison is in your life and how it affects how you view others. I just hope I can live a life without comparison and not fall into the rabbit hole that leads to contempt and hatred in my life.