There exists connections between us all. Connections that are yet another vital ingredient in the recipe that is life, impossible for us to live without. No one can even imagine the thought of living without them, as they have long been unavoidable and continue to forever expand like our universe. Such connections come about naturally and often without notice, to aid us on our journeys as we grow. They provide the sources of inspiration and motivation that further propel us to seek the ultimate happiness we so desire. They guide us whenever uncertainty raises its head, and they facilitate each and every challenge we face to some degree. Being our four walls and the many supplies within, we always feel safer when these connections are in play. And the strongest or most cared for of connections, guarantee us a better understanding of life as well as the choices we make. What links us together is precious and ensures good times and smiles are many.
What exactly are these connections I speak about here? Primarily they are the cogs to the machine of human interaction and communication. It's not clear as to how many there are, but at least two stand out the most. The first of them being one we are all very familiar with: 'Love'. Both a word and practice which speaks for our hearts. It is everything from appreciation, friendship and respect, to adoration, lust and intimacy. Regardless of whether it's conditional or unconditional, love is all we live for and all which makes us happy. It is a form of escapism, providing the endless ease and comfort we forever crave. We are always happy to show it and happier whenever we get to share it with others. Because of these pleasurable qualities, love is often likened to a drug. It isn't wrong to see it this way, as people can let it get to their head and allow for it to make them do crazy things. But so long as it's used well, it never becomes a problem. And if a drug, love would be the absolute best of them. Natural, safe and forever filled with benefits.
The other notable wire which connects us to one another, is one I feel the need to go into more detail about here. This wire represents 'Trust', and it is something that forever requires more thought. When love and its beauty lifts us off the ground, trust always makes sure we come back down. It's an occasional reminder of reality along with the importance of building true, solid relationships. Moments we often experience without much focus, are those when we test the characters of people around us. We leave them with the added responsibility of being there whenever we require assistance. We ask for favours and we share confidential information. Our dependence on others may now and then leave us feeling a little unsettled, as we give away some control over our lives. It is a normal occurrence in us, as we have the natural tendency to believe we can be trusted whilst doubting to a certain extent whether others can be trusted. For every time we feel uneasy with our reliance on another person, we're to always know that it's a question of trust.
Both love and trust are fundamental components in every single relationship between two or more people or things. But what I find to be a major problem is how we as a society are failing to measure the significant gap which separates them. In a world that's becoming more dangerous by the day, we are required to dedicate more time to proper thought and analysis. However, every single one of us is instead coaxed into the opposite direction where we are encouraged to accept everything for what it is without ever asking why. Love and trust as a result, are left to be treated in the exact same way. It's because we love a particular person or thing, we're to also immediately consider them trustworthy. We're to straight away believe they return everything back to us. At no time is there any presence of doubt or any chance of reconsideration. All of what we bind ourselves to is of complete coherence, and any possibility regarding otherwise does not exist.
The issues we face today, are having a larger impact on the health of many relationships between us. Adding further confusion, are the countless new science practices and media outlets competing with each other for profits as well as the faith of the general public. Because of this combined with constrained time, individuals are left approaching everything in either a rushed or relatively lazier manner. They are applying less exertion in selling themselves to people. They are more often than not jumping to conclusions, effortlessly assuming that most of what they see and hear from anyone and everyone around them is true. The time for thinking is minimal and the idea of having second thoughts is fast becoming some sort of relic. The very fabric of trust is being abused as we falsely make it out through our actions that we have greater power in reading one another's mind. Somehow and in some way, we have gained the ability to always (and with great effectiveness) detect truth and honesty within any person outside of ourselves.
How are we to know where and when we are being fed truthful information? How do we conclude whether one is honest or not when it comes to what they say? What truly is it about the news and people we follow, that has us believing much of what they share? These are extremely important questions, albeit difficult to answer. They are too questions we're tending to ignore at a time when they are growing further in relevance. Trust is something that relies purely on our judgement. All of what we put our faith in, are merely sources we seem to gain most from personally. They are our ways of advancing to become better versions of ourselves. And because trust is a matter of judgement, it is only ever measurable. Here is where I believe the problem lies. Our inability and refusal to commit to a proper review of our trusted sources, is sparking more feuds between people as well as communities. We are simply not putting enough time and effort into our judgements.
The truth is getting lost within our mess. That truth being trust and how it is never concrete. As mentioned earlier, we are sacrificing a little control of ourselves. Each time trust is shown for someone, we are handing over a bit of our lives to them. Most importantly, we do this without ever being able to completely know them. We cannot read minds. We cannot ever work out exactly what one is thinking at any given point in time. Irrespective of how well we believe to know somebody, there will always at least remain the tiniest decimal of incertitude. A decimal which not even the honest words from a close friend can completely eradicate. This decimal represents the fact that we are not those whom we are trusting. We have no clear idea of their mentality and no clear idea of their approaches. It's like a case of 'seeing is believing', where we have to really be in each other's shoes and share experiences as well as memories to achieve 100% trust.
Not even a polygraph can truly separate the truth tellers from liars. Such technology is often used to detect lies in people through measuring blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. However, it too relies on a certain atmosphere for greater effectiveness. The lie detector test is often used for small rooms where there is almost complete silence. Also influencing the results, is the use of stern authority. Either these ensure better results or they are just nuisance variables. Regardless, any person who undertakes a polygraph can easily render it unsuccessful. In other words, they have a way of lying many times and getting away with it. The key involves training the body to relieve itself from all tensions and allowing the mind to stick by any fib and firmly establish it to the point where it in a way becomes a new truth. As of now, there remains no technology that can properly determine the honesty of a person.
Of course we don't ever have to go this far with trusting one another. It is safe at anytime to assume that most of whom we associate with and get to know well are genuine, trustworthy people. But we shouldn't really fault anybody for taking precautions here if they believe that is what helps them out, especially with life now continuing to open itself to greater dangers. Much of the internet nowadays is a new breeding ground for human relationships, providing several social media platforms for personal and business matters. However, it too has become a massive hotspot for obscurity and suspicious activity. People are provided the opportunity to conceal their identities online and reveal less about themselves to others. Then there's high-class cyber criminals deceiving innocent web users into giving out personal details through phishing, scams and other fraudulent schemes. With a fast-growing reliance on internet and modern computer technologies, there is no doubt we are heading into more dangerous times. Thinking and other trust building exercises have never looked so critical than they do today.
I base much of my online activity on the idea that love is easy to express and trust is hard to come by. I step onto platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, not trusting many people and believing nobody trusts me. So a lot of what I do on social media is a means of earning such trust. Whilst ensuring some of my personal details remain private for the sake of my family's heath and well-being, I attempt to reveal as much as I possibly can about myself. I share my passions and find many ways to engage with my audience in a friendly manner. I too try my hardest in sharing stories as well as listening to those from my fellow users. I regularly honour and praise others for their publicly shared content. And above all, I allow people the choice in sharing their details. Never do I try forcing personal information out of them. Never do I sell them out unless they approve or say otherwise. All of this is me hoping people can feel safe and comfortable around me. I also do this with the hope of making true friends.
With more risks coming into play, I'm seeing a greater importance in us opening ourselves to all possibilities. There is a growing need to be better prepared for anything and everything. None of this however is necessarily me saying that the world is full of liars. Besides, I don't see much of an issue in the act of lying when compared to the showing of faith. In spite of it being a sinful behaviour and one I by no means condone, lying at times can be a normal thing to do. Everybody does this, or at least has done so once at some point during their lives. I'm not afraid to admit that I have frequently lied about certain things in the past, and perhaps I still do now. At no time am I proud of it though, and I usually allow for each lie to weigh me down a fair bit. But one thing I know for certain is that whenever I myself lie about something, I do so with good intentions. Most of the time, it is me not wanting to hurt others or have them stressing out. It is understandable for anybody to take this approach. But we are to know that lying is never right and it's a part of our characters which we have to work in fixing.
None of us like ever being fooled into believing something that isn't true. However, I see the problems surrounding this not ever being as severe when we are more careful and thorough in our trusting of others. The effective ways of building honest relationships are fairly simple, but are disregarded by our lack of endeavour and misuse of time. Trust for the most part, depends on our knowledge of certain people along with the respect we have for them. The more love we show and get in return, would guarantee any showing of trust being safer than previously. As for such things that are not people like where we receive news or other factual information, it becomes a matter of determining the accuracy and validity of the source. This involves comparing it with other sources and studying general consensus. It can help just as much to read what critics say and view all separate opinions. Although we are all different in our personal experiences and tastes, our views can indeed reshape one another's. Trust may never be concrete, but all of these strategies with some hard thinking will ensure our trusting of the world is as close to concrete as possible.
As our world advances and steps into more topical territories, the complexities surrounding trust are becoming more prominent. And because we as a collective are looking the other way, we are faced with an unprecedented hostility between us. Opinions today are not as well constructed and people in general are becoming more easily persuaded by information. The energy to stop and think is slowly disappearing. So I'm here reminding whoever I can that trust is not a toy. We have an obligation to keep our minds exercising and continue taking steps with great caution. We're to acknowledge the differences in everyone of us and occasionally use them to improve on our own differences. I remind all to distinguish the connections of love and trust, for the sake of their safety. We all need to educate each other about faith and put an end to any growing divide. We're to prove our intelligence and show the world we can be ready for anything that comes our way.
Travis "TJ" James
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