Expectation has become the cornerstone of life on Earth. In every aspect of our life, we are conditioned from a very young age to expect certain things from life and to achieve and accomplish certain things in life. In school, we are expected to achieve and this sets up expectation within our own mind to do well in exams. When we don't do as well as we expected, we feel disappointed within our self, perhaps angry with our self, even guilty that we didn't do well. We feel under pressure from our teachers and our parents to do well and this creates an experience of fear and anxiety early on in life.
The fear surrounding the expectation to do well, to not let others down, to not let our self down, is often far worse than the actual experience of "failing" to do well. This fear and anxiety of failing to do well can be felt deep within our psyche and has a deeply scarring effect. It is a silent fear that steals away our sense of inner peace, changing who we are and limiting our natural potential. It is a silent fear that exists within nearly all people and we are mostly unconscious of it.
Because we are programmed largely by society to feel disappointed in our self if we don't meet certain expectations, society must be held accountable for an increasing number of "lost souls" who feel overwhelmed and depressed in a society geared for material and individual success.
The formula that steals our sense of inner peace can be described as follows: society conditions and places expectation on us to achieve + we place expectation on our self to achieve = we feel the fear and anxiety of potentially not achieving and failing = our sense of inner peace is stolen.
Society has supported and fostered this formula as a formula for success; a formula to get the most out of us as individuals; a formula to create the most successful society. It is a formula that creates a successful society based on material success alone, what the Bible refers to as Mammon.
Yet this supposed "winning" formula that society has adopted and supported and continues to push down our throats comes at a cost, a tremendous cost to each of us as individuals, and to society as a whole. If you look around at the Western world today, you will see a society built on this formula for "material" success, built on the God of Mammon.
The cost is that we as individuals and as a society are "slaves" to this God of Mammon. We as individuals lose our sense of inner peace serving it, feeding it, and striving to become a part of it.
And it is not just the "expectation" to become materially successful that steals our sense of inner peace. The continued expectation to become materially successful creates neural pathways in our brain that sets up a standard in our mind that anything less than perfection is unacceptable. Our mind expects that we must have perfection, success, security, comfort-ability always - otherwise we will be miserable and unhappy.
This creates an unrealistic expectation within our mind that everything must be perfect all the time. And so when we experience a "loss", whether it be the loss of a job, a loved one, material possessions or money, loss of status or reputation, ill health or even simply a change in circumstances for the worse, we feel anger, grief, and disappointment.
The fear of experiencing a "loss" is often far worse than the loss itself. Our expectation that we should only experience perfection, and never anything less, means we often spend a good part of our life living in fear of something terrible happening in our life, in the future. We know logically that material perfection cannot be sustained indefinitely and so we live in fear. This deep subconscious fear exists within nearly all people - and it is the expectation itself that life should be perfect always - that creates the fear. We may fear losing a job, getting sick and dying, getting old, not finding our perfect soul mate, losing someone we love, losing our money and becoming homeless, and the list goes on.
As an experiment, write a list of all the things you fear happening or not happening in the future. This will be a good indicator to you as to the level of "expectation" you have within your own mind to live the perfect life. It will also be a good indicator to the degree to which you are living your life in fear, serving the God of Mammon - the God of Expectation. It will reveal how much of your peace has been stolen by this God that seeks to keep you a prisoner of your own fear.
It must be noted that there is a big difference between expecting an outcome and pursuing goals you are passionate about. Expectation is an emotional attachment to an outcome. You can pursue goals in life without having an emotional attachment to them happening or not happening.
Yet "expectation" is promoted by the media and our society in many subtle and seemingly innocent ways. Television and movies "idealize" the concept of the perfect life and encourage us to expect it. To give a classic example, let us look at the movie and fairytale, Cinderella. In this fairytale, we are conditioned that hardship (in this case poverty and servitude) is an "unacceptable" condition and that we cannot find peace of mind in such a condition. We are conditioned that we must find happiness "externally" by finding the perfect soul mate (prince charming) and that wealth and riches will bring us happiness, while being materially poor and serving others will bring us unhappiness and misery.
What is even more subtle is we are encouraged to expect and seek happiness. What? I can hear you say. Aren't we meant to be happy and to experience happiness on Earth? This is perhaps one of the most subtle and dangerous lies that has been perpetrated upon the human race.
Happiness is a "high" state. It is a state of excitement and ecstasy. When you are in a high state you will experience a low state soon after. This is because the high state cannot be maintained indefinitely. You soon realize that the thing you attained or achieved that brought you "happiness" does not last forever, and then you feel disappointed and empty and unfulfilled again, seeking out the next new thing to fulfill you and "make" you happy. Think about your life, aren't you perpetually going after one thing after the next in order to "bring" happiness into your life? If not, then you are in the small minority.
When you chase happiness in this way, you are again serving the God of Mammon - the God of Expectation. You are continually expecting that each new thing or venture or relationship in your life will bring you everlasting happiness, when in reality it will not. When you chase happiness in this way, you mentally affirm that your life is in some way lacking and unfulfilled. This creates the "emotion" of feeling unfulfilled and unhappy and lacking inside. You then look for the next "happiness high" - creating a vicious cycle.
It is a candy apple syndrome, because we as individuals are duped into chasing after the goodness of the apple (which represents true inner contentment), yet the apple is coated with sticky candy (happiness) that gives us a feel-good high but makes us sick - stealing our inner health which is our ability to live in the now and our inner peace - and keeps us addicted to going back for more. In reality, chasing happiness is an addiction and happiness is the addictive substance.
So what should I be seeking? I hear you ask. You should be cultivating a state of inner peace. Inner peace is neither a high, nor a low. It is a state of emotional harmony and equilibrium where you feel centered and contented. It can only be cultivated by detaching yourself emotionally from all outcomes, all expectations. When you stop living in fear of something happening or not happening, you will feel a peace that surpasses all understanding. When you feel at peace with what you have, where you are at, where you are going, and who you are, then you will find a great inner contentment. Your state of inner peace must not be based on what others are doing around you, who or what is in your life, or how much money or material possessions you have. You should be completely free of ALL expectation.
You should also cultivate a feeling of gratitude for everything you experience in life - whether this experience be positive, difficult, or neutral - for every experience is an opportunity for new growth.
When you appreciate and feel gratitude for what you have right now, you are affirming that your life is abundant and fulfilled. You then "feel" abundant and fulfilled and at peace. And this is the secret to a successful life. This is the secret to the abundant life.
Glen Russell is a Spiritual Counselor and Medium for Spirit. To uncover more about the teachings of Maitreya and the Return of the Christ Energy visit http://www.maitreya-teachings.org
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