If you did not rely on dignity so much, your life would be easier.
When you have true dignity, you don’t have to rely on it. You don’t have to worry that someone is going to topple over your dignity. Dignity isn’t something the world gives you. It is a reliance on yourself, and it is a reliance on Me. Don’t stand on dignity. Dignity from the outside isn’t much.
Dignity from the inside is not your concern. Have a good laugh at yourself. Laughter is better than dignity.
Dignity is ceremonious.
Just don’t take yourself and life so seriously. Life is the backdrop upon which you act in a play. Consider that you are in a rehearsal. You can relax. You are not really on stage. There is no audience. There is you and I. What is the big fuss about?
Early on, you needed approbation, and you need it still even when it is no longer needed. You have outgrown your need for it. Now it is a habit you have kept.
Now it is for you to approve and uphold others. The shoe is on the other foot.
You need nothing at all but to give. Your life depends on you now. Your life depends on how much you take focus off yourself and put it on others. This does not mean to efface yourself. It just means you get beyond yourself. Too much attention on yourself holds you back. It is like shifting gears in a car. You can’t go in first gear on the whole trip.
I am talking about speeding up your evolution. Vroom.
There is no haste, and yet you don’t want to hold back. There is no reason to. What you might call racing is your normal speed. That is, that is your evolution without delay.
Yet, you can’t spend time thinking of your evolution. It is not for you to think about at all. It is for you to simply move forward without further delay. And the way to do that is to stop thinking about yourself and your evolution. Your evolution is not a product. It is a by-product. It is a by-product of thinking of what you can do for others. Of course, I am not speaking of undermining yourself. It is more like mining yourself for the gold you inherently are.
Focusing on your evolution can overtake your life and become a selfish act. It isn’t your path of evolution to be selfish. I would say not. Over-weaning attention on yourself is a good way not to evolve even when you are taking steps for your greater evolution.
Your greatest obstacle to evolution is focus on yourself.
The Great Ones got past themselves. Established in Me, they gave service. Evolution equals service. You are not here on Earth for yourself alone. You may not be here for yourself at all.
Look, the Great Ones ate and slept. They took care of themselves, and yet they, themselves, were not the main object of their lives. What dignity was Buddha looking for as he sat and laughed under the Banyan tree? Did he promote himself? Did he raise his rates? Did he look for Me to give him a promotion? He accepted that he was already Buddha.
We could say that he went about his Father’s business.
He was in Heaven, and the world came to him. He lived under the Banyan tree. What symbol might the Banyan tree be? What symbol do you live under? How much thought do you give beyond yourself? How much selfishness do you put behind you, and why not?