391. How To Change The Opinion Of Others
Now I know what you’re about to say… how can I speak on how it’s not fair to change others one minute, but helping you to change the opinion of others the next minute. Quite contradictory, huh?
I think that there’s a very stark difference between changing who we are as a person, in other words, our learning lessons and experiences as people, our core values, our goals and accomplishment, versus our singular/limited opinions that we have on things, which may be warped by our negative experiences. Consider that we’re looking to change opinions and perhaps even behaviors all the time. We can first start with advertising and marketing. Granted, advertising doesn’t have the best reputation, but what about the self-help and care space? The health space? If we can help mold, shift and change the thoughts, ideas and behaviors of others, we can help save lives. Improve the lives of many. And help shift, change and evolve the world.
This is rooted in metaphysics, and goes beyond a simple conversation. Of course, when presented with information, examples and/or facts, we can presume that some, if not many, may end up changing their minds. However, there are some topics which are so grand, or so deeply rooted, they stir up quite the controversy. You can pretty much look to politics to know/understand what I’m talking about.
Thankfully, as a collective, things have somewhat cooled down after the Trump presidency and COVID. This isn’t to say people aren’t up and arms, but it seems like energy has dismissed itself for the time being. I’m thankful for this, but as we know… history tends to repeat itself.
To be honest, I think one could take any angle on this. Are you looking to influence/change the opinions of your friends? Coworkers? Maybe the collective at large. Influence can be as small or as large as you’d like it to be.
Understand the core value or theme of your proposition/argument: Everything has an overarching concept and theme. Typically when people react negatively, strongly or too quickly to something, they are working from a place of fear. In other words, they have had a similar-ish experience which resulted in a negative consequence for them. Rather than processing or transmuting this energy, it lives rejected and repressed inside fo them, and acts as a prism in which they receive information and communicate to the rest of the world. if we can understand the theme of what they’re talking about, we can better understand how to fix it. For example, if someone was cheated on by a romantic partner, they likely see the world through a prism of cheating and disloyalty. They will need to work on this theme in the future in order to not see the world through a disloyalty lens.
Ask the right questions: When presented with their response, it’s important to dig into this topic from an objective POV. Think of it like you’re a therapist. If you’re doing something which is triggering to another person, ask them how it makes them feel. For example, I recently traveled out of the country and it triggered my parents. In this situation, I would ask them directly how it makes them feel that I’m doing this. Since I understand the deeper meaning as to why this is triggering them by understanding concepts and themes, I then realize that being out of their comfort zone or going to parts unknown is lighting up a negative experience or experiences they have had when they went out of their comfort zone. I can therefore ask them, how does it feel when you do something out of your comfort zone? How does it feel when you go to parts unknown?
Encourage proactive discussions and/or facing these fears: Now that you are understanding the concept and theme and are asking the right questions, remember this moving forward. Bring up questions or discussions to work through their explanations. Remember that often times people are not presented with a mirror of truth in their lives. So this process is likely much different than other experiences they’ve been presented. Perhaps when triggered or faced with opposition, a screaming match occurs, which ultimately “cements” these negatively repressed energies and experiences even more. By acknowledging, accepting and proactively transmuting this energy, it releases itself. But there needs to be a lack of shame in order to do so. Being able to allow someone to feel safe and secure to re-access these feelings will be particularly helpful.
Support person or people throughout this process, and their journey moving forward: No one can go on their healing journey alone. If you feel inclined, help support this person or these people on their journey to enlightenment. You can simply be a person to talk to, or help them by directing them for ways to get help. Encourage them to seek out new opportunities and experiences to proactively transmute these energies. Encourage things which will help push them out of their comfort zone and face their fears. Even your presence may be helpful. Consider that the deeper that you are in a ditch, the more someone will need to lean over and in, in order to help you out.
No one said that this process was easy! But short-term fixes are only that. They do not address the root cause of these problems. Now, you may think… you’re talking about alignment, but is it possible or even good for the collective to entirely align? I do believe that there is a place that we can be as a collective where we see the world in different ways, but help to support each other, rather than tear each other down. Our alignment is intuitive in the moment on the evolution and progression of our species. Perhaps there may always be some level of dichotomy, but we will stop intentionally arresting our development. The collective purposely arrests their development, because they do not want to let go of negativity or the past for personal or ego centric reasons. By understanding these concepts more and intellectualizing energy, fear or metaphysics as a whole, we can actually progress. Evolution is alignment at the end of the day. Alignment to truth, alignment to each other and the universe. To allow us to be on the same page with major collective decisions will greatly ease this process, and I often wonder if it will prevent the suffering of innocent people, as well.
