Arterial Self, Problem e

Problem e: Others' Impressions of Us
There is a man serving behind the counter of a shop. Three people stand waiting as he is talking to the customer he is giving change to. As it turns out he mistakenly gives back the wrong money, and the customer then tells this to him.

The person beside him is a 'good living' man who is quick to mentally check all others' incongruities. He immediately assumes that the shop assistant meant to pocket the money if not caught.

The young chap beside him waiting, is an unashamed thief who enjoys the drama and excitement of suspicion. His estimation of the shop assistant grew in that one moment, surmising that even though the fellow was 'caught', he handled himself marvelously anyhow.

The third was a little further away from the happening and did not see the transaction at all. This was the manager, the overseer, who would reserve just a little doubt about him ever after.

The person to whom the wrong money was passed had not thought ill of the shop assistant at all, but took it to be just a genuine mistake, largely because she was enjoying the conversation so much with him, flattered by his attention. He had not been flirting as she had interpreted it, but had rather been nervous for it was his very first day, and he was after all, trying to create a good impression.

Commentary:
From this example we can get a very clear understanding of the unreliability these subjective impressionings can offer. Often as not it is the unusual which stands out as a noteworthy recollection and is so imparted to the man himself, rather than that which he may truly be known by.

The man behind the counter in the shop assistant’s uniform may be a man of any vocational caliber. His personality, open and good humored, he may be any man who could fumble the currency, but in the minds of the onlookers he is tinged with the dispute of his very worthiness.

Intuitively, men know just how far wrong these judgments are apt to be. They personally indulge in such assessments daily; and for good reason also, as it becomes a means to future discrimination as to their own behavior and needs of refinement. So it is, as they say, unavoidable.

We are showered with opinion and rarely is it of the strengthening variety. However, if indeed it is, and has come from such a person who perceives you to hold the most wonderful and admirable attributes, then it becomes an etheric enhancement which then brings about a vitality into the immediate aura of the man, assisting him with his further applications of true selfhood.

In contrast to this we find that the more negative the conjecture (whether it be true or false in its surmise) brings about the general feeling within the sufferer that everybody and everything is accusing him - just as baby Orpheus understood the Moon to condemn him, and the argument with the Wind and the Grass. The result is that there are many ill-tempered souls who are viewing each other suspiciously, feeling each other's unrest.

The Arterial Self is painfully aware of these mismatched affections and kinships. Fortunately a true love, a true knowing between one and another may arterially link both souls and they to God.