What is Acceptance?

The need to be accepted is something that all humans have in common. This human need crosses all boundaries. If we don't feel we are accepted, we experience feelings of rejection, loneliness and even abandonment. Which can be devastating to the human psyche and result in all manner of inappropriate actions. Discrimination, riots, murders and war are some examples of people acting out because someone else has a different point of view. We even go as far as feeling justified in punishing someone simply because they do something that we don't agree with.  

So, what do we do to be accepted?  

We may act certain ways that are acceptable within our own culture. How to behave is a lesson, often times, hard won in childhood. We go through quite an extensive training program to learn how to behave. It is something that starts at birth, with our parents directing us, teaching us right from wrong, then the pass picks up a bit when we start school (the lessons there are learnt a little harsher than before) and continues through out our whole lives. (well, until we get old enough not to care anymore) 

We may achieve certain milestones that our environment seems to demand from us, such as getting an education or a college degree. In fact the whole sequence of events of how our life plays out is dictated by our individual culture. You start school at 5, you complete all 13 years of school, then you go to college, establish your career, get married, have children and eventually retire. This sequence of events (although they seem logical) are all dictated by our cultures. We comply, mostly, without giving it much thought because this is just what is expected of us. We do all of this to be accepted within our little part of the world. We all have seen, maybe some have experienced, what happens to those that don't "fit" in. That girl over there, well, she got pregnant at 16 and she didn't know who the father was and, and, and......

How are we accepting of others?

We pass judgement on others all the time. Over the years we develop our own set of standards. A set of morals that we choose to live by. Some of these standards are driven by our culture, some come from the religion we were raised in and some are taught by our families.  These are the standards that we use to judge every one else by. Upon observing the other person for even just a few seconds in some cases, we come to a swift decision about them. Sometimes it's good and they fit right in but sometimes it's bad and they are excluded. Or at the very least treated as if they are not good enough. We feel justified in our treatment of the other because we deem them as different and therefore wrong. And if our personal beliefs are challenged in anyway we take it as a personal attack and often times lash out irrationally. 

Real acceptance

The world is slowly realizing that a lot of the beliefs we inherited are not how the world should be and are taking the time to figure out not only how we want to see the world but what, we, personally can do about it.  We are starting to fight the habitual thought patterns that happen when we see someone who is different and are even starting to engage in conversations, with genuine interest, with out feeling the need to to convert them to our own way of thinking. 

The old ways of non acceptance are falling away and it is time to create the new. We are entering into an era of greater spirituality. Of greater personal awareness.  Meditation, yoga, taking care of the body etc are no longer seen as out there but are becoming apart of the normal persons reality.