Influence
"Who you surround yourself with represents your chief influences. Just as a political leader will surround themselves with a group of advisors who have great bearing on that individual’s decision-making and perception, you as an individual surround yourself with people who will become your chief advisors and influences. Even if you do not wholly respect or agree with their views, they will still have great bearing on your own. This is the power of influence in the mental environment."[1]
Directives
"We are adamant that students of Knowledge become very conscious of their influences. What is influencing you? Often this question is seen as a limitation of your personal freedom, but it is more a form of protection for you because as your mind begins to open, you become much more vulnerable. Here you are more easily persuaded, and until your powers of discernment have grown strong, you can be influenced in all kinds of directions. You are less shielded now. You are more open. Therefore, it is important that you become more discerning and more attentive."[2]
Influence for good
"Knowledge is a very pervasive kind of influence. You cannot trace its impact on others, nor can you follow the direction in which it will travel, whom it will contact and how they will respond."[3]
Sensitive, impressionable children
Children "are extremely impressionable and sensitive, and so they pick up all of the powerful influences in the mental environment—the environment of thought around them. And because they are helpless and have not the strength yet to determine their own awareness and their own boundaries, they are open to all of these forces and influences."[4]
References
- ↑ Freedom From Manipulation (October 7, 2008)
- ↑ Wisdom from the Greater Community, Book 1, Chapter 28: Using Power for Good
- ↑ Wisdom from the Greater Community, Book 2, Chapter 15: Responding to the Greater Community
- ↑ Love and Relationships: Raising Children
See Also
Further Study
- Harmful Influences (May 13, 2011)