Chains of Associations

Chains of Associations

Tunia via channel A. S.

Posted on July 6, 2024

 

My dearest brothers and sisters,

This is Tunia speaking. I love you so very much.

Today I would like to discuss what I call chains of associations. Chains of associations are an unconscious series of associations that can lead a person to irrational and inaccurate conclusions, in a way where they may not even realize that they’re being irrational and inaccurate.

For example, let’s say that Tom has a friend and normally Tom’s friend calls him every month. But the friend didn’t call Tom last month.

Then Tom’s chain of association might be: my friend hasn’t called last month. That’s because he doesn’t want to talk to me. He doesn’t want to talk to me because he doesn’t like me. In fact, he has never liked me. And he doesn’t like me because he thinks I’m an unlovable awful person. And in fact he’s right, I am an unlovable awful person.

So as you can see, chains of associations can be a series of wildly inaccurate, fear-based assumptions that can lead people to conclusions that may be completely irrational and unjustified and fear-driven. Because perhaps the real reason why his friend hasn’t called is that the friend was just really busy, or something awful happened in the friend’s life and said friend is currently distracted.

And sure, it looks kind of silly if I spell it out like this. But likely at the moment itself, Tom probably doesn’t consciously observe every step of this chain of associations. Instead, Tom realizes his friend hasn’t called, and immediately Tom feels bad or feels insecure because his chain immediately and unconsciously jumps to the end point that he is unlovable. And so Tom feels bad, and perhaps engages a defense mechanism where he says “screw that guy, he’s not my friend.” Or perhaps Tom eats something unhealthy to numb the fear, or just pushes the anxiety down where it nonetheless continues to fester. Instead of, you know, Tom just picking up the phone himself and calling his friend.

If Tom was more conscious, he would either observe (parts of) this chain of associations. Or the chain of associations wouldn’t form at all and Tom would just think: “oh hey, my friend hasn’t called. I wonder why that is. Tonight I’ll call him myself and ask him how he’s doing.”

You can imagine that the average person forms these chains of associations many times every single day and is frequently led astray by them.

This is also why in past messages we have emphasized the importance of observation. How does your body feel? What are you actually seeing and hearing with your ears and eyes? And what emotions and assumptions and thoughts are arising in response to that?

What are the actual observations or facts, and what are assumptions or projections or strawmans?

Don’t just jump to conclusions — actually observe first.

These chains of associations can occur in pretty much any area of life. They also make political discussions harder and more unconscious.

For example, in the mind of some left-wingers, the statement “men commit more crimes” has a chain of associations that leads to: “saying this statement makes men behave better and makes women safer and is therefore a net good.” A discussion could be had if that’s actually true, but that is the chain of associations that some people on the left have.

Conversely, in the mind of some left-wingers, the statement “immigrants from wildly different cultures commit statistically more crimes” has a chain of associations that leads to: “saying this statement increases violence and bigotry and therefore is harmful.” Again, a discussion could be had if this is actually true. One could argue that such frank discussions lead to a better immigration policy which then leads to less violence and less prejudice and less economic hardship.

So because some people on the left have wildly different chains of associations, they’re fine with negatively stereotyping men, but not with negatively stereotyping immigrants from very different cultures. Which is inconsistent. But, that’s what the chains of associations say.

Note that it may not even enter the mind of some left-wingers that negatively stereotyping men can lead to violence or prejudice or unfair bias against men. I’m not saying that left-wingers rationally consider this idea, but then ultimately reject it. Instead, I’m saying that this idea may not even enter the mind of some left-wingers.

Why not? Well, it’s because most people on both political sides don’t actually rationally think things through. Instead they just get prepackaged chains of associations from others, and then they just fire up those chains over and over and over again, unconsciously jumping to the end point of the chains each time.

Which is why political debate often devolves into both sides throwing prepackaged slogans and gotchas at each other.

The right isn’t immune to this. For example, some right-wingers have a chain of associations that ties any struggling person to: “this person is lazy or made bad decisions, so in some ways it’s justified that they’re struggling. Also, the solution to their problem is just working harder and spending less money, that will fix their problems.” And, sure, in some cases this is completely true. But this isn’t always true.

Through consciousness work, through observing yourself and your thoughts and assumptions, you can free yourself from these chains of associations and become a more nuanced and more accurate thinker.

Good immigration policy can only be made by people who can hear the statement that immigrants from wildly different cultures commit more crimes, and don’t immediately get dragged away by their chains of associations to either “censor this statement” or “deport all brown people.”

Plus you can stop yourself from getting emotionally upset at things or people or political movements when rationally speaking there isn’t any benefit to you getting emotionally upset at them.

Because after all, if you have chains of associations that tie the entire left or the entire right to an irredeemable and awful strawman, then you’re likely to get emotionally upset at them. Conversely, you’re less likely to get emotionally upset if you perceive them as they really are, which is that they have some good and some bad points. Maybe more bad than good, sure, but they’re not irredeemable monsters hell-bent on destruction. Plus, it’s not like your own political side is flawless either.

The next time you see or hear something and you immediately feel some kind of fear or anxiety or anger or judgement, I invite you to take a moment to observe what is actually happening. Because it’s possible that some chain of association is tugging at you and is trying to drag you away to some unconscious, potentially unjustified and perhaps fear-based conclusion.

So: just take a moment to observe.

I hope this was helpful. I love you so very much.

Your star sister,

Tunia

For Era of Light

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Everyone is Trying to Get Their Needs Met

Everyone is Trying to Get Their Needs Met

Tunia via channel A. S.

Posted on March 31, 2024

 

 

Anecdote from the channeler: sometimes I’m anxious about something, even though it’s likely that in five year’s time I won’t even remember whether I failed or succeeded at that thing. So in other words, sometimes I’m anxious about something that in the long run will not really matter. In such a case, if I ask a Pleiadian friend if I’ll succeed, she will often say: “my dear, you are safe whether you succeed or not.”

On to Tunia’s message.

My dearest brothers and sisters,

This is Tunia speaking. I love you so very much.

The situation on Earth is a bit hard for me to wrap my head around, and pretty horrifying. But to me, what seems to be going on is the following:

Pretty much everyone has several unmet needs.

This can be the physical need of having enough to eat, or the need of being free from physical or psychological pain. Or it can be the need to feel safe and financially secure, or the need to feel connected and heard and seen and understood, or the need of being surrounded by a like-minded and safe community. Or it can be the need to feel that your lives matter and your pain is worth it, or the need to feel that you are a good person and that you are making a difference and contributing enough, et cetera.

Even people who think they don’t have unmet needs, probably have the unmet need of being fully seen and understood on a very deep level. Or they have the unmet need of having a subconscious free of fear and of old pain. Or they have the unmet need of having high-conscious, emotionally safe, spiritually advanced people around them. Or they have the unmet need of having an emotionally safe, deeply satisfying relationship with an amazing partner.

As we sometimes remark to the channeler: if you can’t teleport yet, you’re not fully empty yet. And while that’s more of a quip than a reliable criterion of judging someone’s level of consciousness, there is some truth to it. A person who is actually clear and empty and has their needs met would radiate love and have several so-called supernatural abilities. Such a person would automatically appear to be a spiritual master in the eyes of the average person, even if that person hadn’t consciously practiced spirituality.

So: pretty much everyone has unmet needs. And while people can usually cope with one or two unmet needs, most people have had several deep unmet needs for a long time.

To deal with unmet needs, people may start coping. This can be trying to censor everyone with a different viewpoint, or it can be drugs or alcohol or food, or it can just be distractions such as spending very large amounts of time behind a screen. Or it can be a childless woman calling herself a cat mom.

People who have unmet needs can engage in short-termism. You even see this in corporate culture at the moment, where investors demand short-term profits rather than long-term profits, and companies prioritize short-term profits over long-term health.

Or to meet their needs, people can have the desire to make other people suffer as they have suffered. While that is destructive and while I don’t endorse this, there can be an element there of a connection-starved person trying to make other people understand them and emphasize with them.

Or to meet their needs, people can let their ego or their spiritual ego take over, because it’s quite good at superficially meeting some needs in the short term..

Or to meet their needs, people can dive into self-healing, self-help or spirituality. And of course, this is a productive response. If you are receiving this message, it is quite likely that at some point you made the productive choice to go into self-help or spirituality to meet some unmet need of yours, and I would like to congratulate you on your courageous decision. After all, most people deal with their unmet needs in a less productive way. So, great job. Really. I mean it. You have all my respect.

Or to meet their needs, some people may start being selfish and manipulative. It’s not inherent to people to be selfish or manipulative, but if people feel they can’t meet their needs otherwise, they may become selfish and manipulative and engage in under-handed tactics to meet their needs. Which is part of why everyone seems to think that there’s suddenly narcissists everywhere — part of that is people trying to meet their self-esteem and their feel-loved needs in manipulative ways.

Or to meet their psychological needs, people tell themselves a story that probably isn’t fully true, but that is psychologically pleasing to them. In this story they’re usually either better or harder working or more virtuous than other people, or they’re the social justice hero, or they’re the oppressed victim who did nothing wrong and who isn’t to blame for their current not-so-great-life. There is actually a whole lot of this going on, because people are in so much pain.

The stereotypical right-wing flavor of this is illustrated by the following Trump quote: “My whole life really has been a ‘no’ and I fought through it. It has not been easy for me, it has not been easy for me. And you know I started off in Brooklyn, my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.”

So here you see someone fulfilling their own psychological needs by telling a story that makes them a hero — they had it so tough, but they overcame it because they’re so virtuous or hard-working or something like that. Even though most people don’t have the luxury of getting a loan of a million dollars. Plus Trump didn’t just get a one million dollar loan, he also inherited lots of money.

Similarly there’s also the stereotypical example of the parent who says that his or her generation had it so tough and that they worked so hard, and the younger generation is lazy. In reality, things are very difficult for the younger generation.

Another example is someone who says or implies that they succeeded through hard work and smart choices, and therefore everyone who fails is either lazy or made stupid choices. The attitude here is sometimes: “I am reasonably comfortable. If you are not reasonably comfortable, screw you, I got mine. Furthermore, my reasonable level of success proves that I am a good, hard-working person, and your lack of success proves that you are lazy or made bad choices, and in both cases you deserve to suffer.”

This is psychologically pleasing because the person who says it feels like a virtuous person, and also it stops them from feeling bad that their sisters and brothers are suffering.

Now, personal responsibility is absolutely very important.

At the same time, often such an “I got mine, screw you” person overlooks advantages that the person may have had over other people. For example, they may simply have been born with a higher IQ than average — which actually is a massive advantage. Now, a smart but not genius type of person might not think of themselves as having the advantage of being born with an above-average IQ. However, such a person does often think of the average person as being quite stupid — and part of that is that they were born with a higher IQ than the average person.

Even if you take a person who is average in all respects, well, this person still had a more advantageous birth and youth than half of all people. That’s what being average means. Even if an average person didn’t have any advantages, they may still not have had to deal with disadvantages that other people may struggle with, such as health conditions, being born into an unstable or poor family, being abused, being born with a below-average IQ, prejudice, et cetera.

So while personal responsibility matters, it’s often too simple to say: “I succeeded because I’m a good and hard-working person, if other people fail they’re just lazy or made bad choices.” Yes, some people are lazy and made bad choices, but not everyone who is struggling was lazy or made bad choices.

Some people on the right adopt this “screw you, I got mine” attitude anyway because it’s psychologically pleasing to them.

On the other hand, this attitude can make unsuccessful people feel unsafe and unseen. And thereby it increases the political divide and radicalizes the other side a bit.

That’s an unfortunate result or what happens when a person doesn’t get their needs met and starts coping or trying to get their needs met in other ways. Often, that makes the people around them feel less safe and less seen.

There are also left-wing versions of a person telling themselves a narrative so that they can meet their psychological needs. One such version is: I am a woman or I am black, therefore I am oppressed by those evil men or white people. It is their fault that my life is tough.

Now yes, there are misogynists and racists out there. That is true, and it’s not a bad thing to acknowledge reality.

At the same time, some people on the left go overboard with this and create a narrative about how they’re oppressed victims and how white people or men are evil. And while that may fulfill short-term psychological needs, this victim mentality isn’t actually beneficial for the person in the longer term. Plus it splits society in two.

Also, this creates blindness to cases where there is prejudice or discrimination against men or white people. Pointing out that there are cases of prejudice or discrimination against men or white people disrupts the “I, as a woman or black person, am oppressed” narrative. Therefore anti-male or anti-white prejudice and discrimination is swept under the rug by some left-wingers who… claim to be against prejudice and discrimination.

A somewhat related example is of a person claiming to have trauma or claiming that they were abused, when in reality they just had an unpleasant experience. Some people make stories up or heavily exaggerate things to get sympathy. Although of course, there are also people out there who genuinely are traumatized and genuinely were abused, and if you have trauma or you were abused then it’s completely fine to say that you went through that. And I’m very sorry if you experienced that.

Or a left-wing person might feel that their life is meaningless and has no purpose and that they are one of billions of interchangeable, unremarkable people who won’t be remembered after death.

I’m not saying that a so-called average life is meaningless, but that is what some people feel, deep down. Hence, some people on the left try to address this anxiety by, for example, inventing a new gender for themselves. Perhaps in their mind this makes them no longer yet another interchangeable, unremarkable person.

Another left-wing version of “fulfil my own needs by creating a narrative for myself” is when a left-wing person stands up for a group that is perceived to be oppressed, such as women or black people or trans people.

This can lead to situations where a white left-wing person claims to be fighting for black people, and in the process this white left-wing person censors a black person who speaks out against a left-wing narrative. This illustrates that sometimes it’s not actually about social justice, it’s just about the left-wing person wanting to be a hero in order to meet their own psychological needs.

It is interesting to note that people in the past were primarily concerned about material well-being, and back then the left was mostly interested in helping working-class people financially. And now a lot of people are more concerned with psychological pain, and now the left is helping them with that, by giving people a ready-made narrative where they can either label themselves as the oppressed victim or as the hero who stands up against racism.

This has led to the observation that “the demand for racism has outstripped its supply.” Hence we see nowadays that even being opposed to illegal immigration is called racist — because left-wing people want there to be evil racists that they can heroically defeat, so that the left-winger meets their own psychological needs.

At the same time, of course anti-women sexists and anti-black-people racists really do exist. The left isn’t just all virtue-signalling, or as I prefer to call it, please-love-me signalling. On the left, there is also genuine compassion and a genuine desire to improve society.

Similarly, there genuinely is a hard-work and personal responsibility and freedom-minded ethos on the right. The right isn’t all just people saying “screw you, I got mine, I’m the virtuous hardworking person who deserves success. And if you’re struggling, then I don’t need to feel sorry for you because you deserve it, you’re lazy or you made bad choices.” Although that is a part of the right.

So as you can see, both the left and the right sometimes try to fulfill their own psychological needs by creating narratives that are pleasing to their ego, but often those narratives aren’t fully true. Furthermore, those narratives often make other people feel unsafe and unseen. And people who fully identify with these narratives might seem narcissistic or self-absorbed or callous to people on the other political side.

So, what’s the solution? Well, the solution is for people to get their needs met without having to engage in coping mechanisms and without having to create these kinds of self-justifying narratives. I know that’s easier said than done. Still, you too can be part of the solution just by being kind to other people and by listening to them. That actually matters a great deal, far more than it might seem.

So, is humanity inherently evil, or selfish? No. It’s just that almost everyone on Earth has several unmet needs. When Earth becomes a place where people get their needs met, Earth humans will also start behaving in dramatically better and more productive ways. Almost no one in our society behaves in a destructive way, and we’re humans just as you are.

This also means that yelling at people to stop virtue signalling, or stop being selfish, or whatever, probably will not work.

I love humans — I love the people of Earth. I feel a deep sense of compassion for the people of Earth, for you, because it must be horrible to live with so many unmet needs for so long. I can’t even imagine what that would be like, and my heart goes out to you.

But, yes, at the same time it is useful to understand that a whole lot of people are currently trying to cope with their unmet needs in unproductive ways — which also contributes to the huge political divide. The channeler has been disappointed and dismayed at just how many people are acting in selfish ways.

Also, it can be pretty disturbing to realize that partly because of unmet needs, most people are acting in a sort of unconscious, robotic, survival mechanism way. For the average person, if tv tells them to believe or do a certain thing, that’s what they do. They’re almost like a robot that receives input and generates predictable output. And it’s sad that many humans have been reduced to this.

At the same time, humanity is waking up. And there are also beautiful, amazing, selfless people out there who are doing their own work and helping others.

Waves of light are happening all the time, where one person is kind to someone else, and then that person is kinder to the people in their surroundings as a result, and so the wave of light just cascades outwards. What starts as one kind action can eventually touch most of humanity. Which is heart-warming and inspiring and beautiful to see.

Or one person heals some deep trauma they have, and in response the entire human collective consciousness is touched. People they’ve never even met, people on the other side of the globe may feel inspiration and relief and a nudge to go and do their own work.

You are rising as one race. You are ascending.

I know it’s hard. I know it’s painful. But Earth humans really are going in a positive direction.

And while not guaranteed, it really is likely that this year or the next we will finally be able to physically meet you. And I can’t wait — that will be a celebration and a sharing that will reverberate across the galaxy and across the ages.

You have all my love and respect. You’re doing amazing and you are in my thoughts every single day.

Your star sister,

Tunia

For Era of Light

Video: https://www.youtube.com/...

 

These channelings are exclusively submitted to EraofLight.com by the channeler. If you wish to share them elsewhere, please include a link back to this original post.