ExploreTruth.com

I used to get so excited I could practically see it before it even happened. I’d walk through the front door into the living room, look around at the windows, the door frame, quickly inspect the perimeter of the home before beginning my pitch.

“So it looks like we can install a complete security system for you for under $100 dollars, and your monthly bill will only be $39.95.”

This of course, wasn’t before I had built an extreme amount of value in our company, product, reliable monitoring system, and for added effect, I’d throw in the most recent crime/home robbery statistics in the home owners immediate neighborhood.

I wanted the sale.  They didn’t know that I was behind on my rent, and a week shy from the electricity being cut.  They didn’t know how desperate I was.  Or did they?

That was years ago.  Lately I’ve been having these conversations regarding religion, and ones beliefs, with various individuals, and it got me thinking about my time in sales.  Much of which taught me a few things about human beings, and how we work. It occurred to me, that much of my failures in sales may have been directly related to my sense of desperation, or desire to control the outcome of my presentation.

I wanted to control them, or at least the outcome.

I was so stuck inside my head…so focused on what I had to offer them.  So engrossed in the reality of my financial needs, that it left little room for the possibility that they might not be interested.  Now I wasn’t the stereotypical used car salesman by any stretch, nor was it overtly obvious how desperate my situation was.  But I realized that albeit I may have been a bit inexperienced and new to sales, my perspective customers at times could smell my fundamental desire to control the outcome.

I think this is one of the hardest parts of sales, or transferring your beliefs in general.  One truly has to internalize the fact that what you have to offer, however amazing, cannot trump the sanctity of the humans gift of choice, and may not even be what the person wants, needs, or chooses to agree to at the exact time you deem best for them.

One has to learn to become comfortable with the word no.  And in so doing, develop a posture of confidence, and mutual respect despite the outcome.

I’ve been on the receiving end of this, as I’m sure you have.  Everyone has had an experience where they were being “sold” something.  How did that feel?

Since beginning this website(exploretruth), and in sharing my reasoning and future desires with people, I’ve felt the same atmospheric pressure at times from others, revealed in a similar line of questioning, albeit subtle, from some professed Christians:

“So if one  inspires people to become more critical about life, develop a hunger for truth, and a Socratic questioning about life’s meaning and the world around us, what then?  How do you lead them to Jesus, your church, or religion, etc etc.”

In other words, to borrow the sales vernacular:

How do you seal the deal?!

I’m sometimes stumped by this, although I can empathize with the place that it’s coming from, and think its a worthy conversation to have.

But here’s where’s I’m cautious…

History reveals a spectrum of examples on how truth has been communicated to others.  I look at Jesus, and I don’t see an arm twister.  The twisting was only in the acts of radical love.  But then I also reflect on the subsequent dark ages of the institutional church and I see experiments in attempts at more effective salesmanship:

Buy Christianity or die.  Simple. Let’s just say they sold a lot of product with a ton of buyers remorse.

And today, I see many of the religious evangelistic tactics dancing anywhere along this continuum of force.  From change displayed through love, to change displayed and enforced through force and control.

Releasing Yourself From The Outcome

So how does one share a spiritual experience they genuinely feel has liberated them, and led them to what they believe to be true?

Well in the Christian tradition, and in other spiritual teachings, love is(not always practiced) held up as a supreme value whereby all other values must bow.

Do I have opinions, beliefs, mixed with uncertainties?  The answer is yes, yes, and yes.  But I’m learning that human beings don’t do things simply because you’ve told them too.  And manipulation and force have a short shelf life.  People typically like to arrive at decisions on their own(or at least believe they have).  And where there are sheep, I hope more are painted with the blackness that identifies independent thought and spirit.

But in the end…all I can do is share my journey, and leave the rest to you.  A pilgrimage ripe with hypocrisy, duality, doubt, faith, questions, fears and hopes of forever becoming more True.  All I can do is attempt to live the life of one intentionally grappling with the big questions, and also re-examining the traditional religious and societal norms that haven’t been put through the test of deep analysis, or the petri dish of a real lived experience.

My commitment is to make Explore Truth a non threatening environment, and movement, where views can be shared, dialogue can occur, but love remain central.  Yes, I come from a Christocentric ethos that sees the example of unconditional love as worthy of contemplation, and reflection, outside of the oft misrepresentation of much of institutional Christianity.

Yes, I lean towards a sensibility that believes in the example(s) of the highest form of unconditional love to be crucial to understanding or realizing mans exit strategy from humanities historic tales of madness.

But I cannot reconcile strong arm tactics of conversion with an orientation of supreme love.  They just dont mix.

Sorry to all the spiritual arm twisters, religious infomercials, and formula driven religious control freaks. If you believe in a real God/Spirit that speaks, and works in the minds and hearts of people, why not let Him/Her/the Unknown figure out the rest?

Featured Picture: Leo Roubos