340 thoughts on “Why Are We So Unquestioning?”

1. What a great approach to life Joel as we must also ask the question what is God and therefor what is our relationship with God? When we come to the answer to these questions we understand the lies we have been force feed to keep us from being connected to the inner wisdom we all come from.

2. Waiting until ‘the Messiah gets here’, like children at a kindergarten is really powerful to consider. I can remember this feeling of expectancy for God to step in – how often have I heard there can’t be a God because He wouldn’t let this level of suffering and abuse be present in the world?

   Waiting left a mixture of hope – it’ll be ok in the end, just got to wait it out; anger – how bad does it have to get before He steps in?!; and despair – am I stuck here and the suffering will never end, I can’t cope.

   What’s changing is realising God is always there and has never left. The brawl in the kindergarten is all of us deciding to play like that. It’s our responsibility to turn this around! So rather than wait I am taking care of how I am in the world, being loving and understanding, knowing how I am living could potentially inspire someone else.

   Also, because God never left – I know this everytime I reconnect and He is there, it’s my job to reconnect.

3. Love reading this. To question, to really ponder and reflect. So much goes on in the world that makes no sense when even a bit of questioning takes place. So often we are asked to go along with government policy for example that discriminates but where we can ignore it because we can use other areas where discrimination is frowned upon as exemplars and say, ‘oh, it’s not that bad’. How is it ok to tolerate any discrimination, just as an example?

   People, often including myself, don’t want to notice where there is inequality because to notice calls for a response: to be responsible. So I may say I didn’t realise when actually the truth is, I stayed conveniently ignorant.

   Waking up feels very sobering but it’s required so the abuses committed under the darkness of feigned ignorance, aka going along with lies, are no longer permitted. I know a lot of love and understanding supports me to really see what’s going on.

4. If everything is energy then what is the energy that is running humanity and would it make sense that the energy doesn’t want to be exposed? Which is why we do not question anything because there is no us to question, only the the astral energy running us and it is not going to expose itself.
   It takes someone who is not run by astral energy but aligned to that of God and the universe to show humanity by reflection that we are mere puppets to an energy that has had its way with us since this all began.

5. This is such a great question to ask ourselves
   “Why did I not question the concept that God sees us all equal, but each religion sees us as different?”
   Religion seems to me to be the total opposite of what God is and as you say Joel we have just accepted this without question.

6. Joel, your whole blog is GOLD and holds so many pearls…and once again this one is a winner: “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth? Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart? Could it be easier to defend our right to harm ourselves and others, than it is to start asking some real questions?…”

7. “Is it possible that the ‘titles and training’ gave me recognition?” – Recognition is a huge carrot that is dangled in front of us. Compared to love it has no worth, but without love recognition stands as the next best thing and so it is natural that we fall for it, seek it, depend on it and make it our medicine to soothe ourselves from the fact that we are not giving ourselves the real deal which is Love.

8. Joel, this question is total GOLD and is the reason why so many of us do not question things: “Is it possible I preferred to feel included than to really explore my relationship with God?” We seek to belong but we do not question what we seek to belong to, this is interesting and the lack of discernment is to me easily explained by the fact that we are actually delaying or denying the deepening of our relationship with God.

9. Life is easier when we go with the majority, the questions asked just make it more difficult to remain blinded. Many of us are happy to remain blinded and go with the flow, keep going around in circle in our struggles, our miseries or our success in work, with family and at home – until something big happens and we get a wake up call.

10. Joel asks some great questions for us to reflect on in this blog, ‘Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth? Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart? Could it be easier to defend our right to harm ourselves and others, than it is to start asking some real questions?…’

11. I can relate to this Richard, the good thing is we had enough honesty to say “this is still not it” and continued our search for something true. Little did we realise it was right there within us, however the support was very needed in my case with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine to assist me to reconnect to the truth within myself. I remember coming out of decades of exploring the New Age, philosophy, spirituality, religion, etc, and feeling so empty still, yet a part of me called out for the truth and was ready… and it came in the form of Universal Medicine.

12. We really do need to ask questions, including with ourselves, an honest enquiry. The harm of comfort is that it encourages us to accept the status quo, to accept the way life is, to solidify it as a norm… keep your head down, and don’t ask questions. Comfort also means we allow the status quo because we are ok in our pocket and we don’t have to look up and around and see what’s truly going on for everyone, and what needs to be done and how we have all contributed to it.

    1. Wow, Melinda, I absolutely love what you have said here. An honest enquiry is certainly called for and we need to be willing to see our comforts and our acceptance of those things that really are not acceptable. And hence it is about being OK with rocking the boat and ditching what we know to be untrue so that we make space for that which is true.

13. It is crazy to consider what we do and have signed up for in our search for love or to feel a sense of belonging. How have we have willingly disregarded ourselves, our truth. Your questions are brilliant and offer great points for us to consider. Are we actually seeking the truth, to honour and confirm who we are and inspire us to live our power, or are we seeking distraction, to stay in the comfort of the illusion that we have no responsibility.

    1. Truth or no Truth, that is the question.

14. Over the years the questioning has been there but certainly not voiced. Could it be that the level of comfort we sink into has us living at a lesser vibration and the questioning is numbed to the point of a fleeting thought and then dismissed as quickly as it came?

15. We cannot judge our past actions with the eyes of the present. We can only walk what we now see. Of course, we can pose all kinds of questions to inspire others to pose their own questions regarding what they see and do not see.

16. And another question is if everything is energy, which has been proven why is not universally understood that therefore everything is because of energy, which is in part answering many of your questions Joel!!? And thus what energy are we using when we heal is it actually healing longer term or harming longer term?

17. My sense is that the moment we question this way we re-empower ourselves and re-connect to our innate wisdom. We may not know the answers but starting to see the illogical nature of what we have taken as normal and asking why it is not offering us a life where we are connected with great care and love to each other stops us being hooked and following blindly.

18. That is a great question – I willingly and without a second thought have done some incredibly stupid things! And on the flip side I have been presented with wisdom and love like no other and resisted it with every fibre of my being. What is going on!

19. Brilliant Joel. Comfort is a huge thing for us all, we accept so much because it both fits our pictures and allows us to feel comfortable and we fit in … for to truly question is to stand out and to ask if there is another way and that is challenging for us and those we meet … and then it comes to what is more important truth or comfort and at some stage every single one of us will choose truth over comfort.

20. You ask some very good questions in this blog and I particularly like the one about what is the difference between exploration and indulgence? I would say that genuine exploration involves trying things out with honesty of what is working and what doesn’t for me and everyone else based on how things feel in my body, where as indulgence is an escape and an excuse from this honesty and the responsibility that comes with it.

21. I know I accept much to much of life without questioning it. I find often days can pass without me really observing and reflecting and questioning life – so my question is – could this be time wasted?

22. Maybe we know that if we begin to question the innumerable ideals and beliefs that we have and doggedly hang onto to, we would begin to see life differently, thereby exposing all of our ideals and beliefs as false. We have vested interests in hold onto these, for we personally identify with them and it keeps us and everything the same. Comfortable in other words.

    1. And are we addicted to all the ways of living that bring us our lot seemingly and never ask those questions that might up-turn the apple-cart, so our comfort-ability-ness is an addition we dare not question!!!

23. A life based on comfort, security and self does not lend itself to questions that probe more deeply and might even rattle the status quo – be quiet and don’t disturb the neighbours is the motto. And as long as we all keep doing what we are doing, it’s normal and please, let sleeping dogs lie.

24. Great questioning Joel. The only plausible reason behind the mad craziness of humanities ignorance to asking questions like this is that there must be something else running human life. There has to be given that if we truly were free to think we would have asked the questions you have here long long ago.

    1. Yes, there has to be something that has a vested interest in us not questioning. Now I also feel that we still have free choice to be sucked in to that because how else can we explain that moment where you extract yourself from the illusion and start to question? So we really need reflections in our lives that encourage us to question so we can see the marketing and the hooks of comfort for what they are.

    2. Exactly Joshua,
       “The only plausible reason behind the mad craziness of humanities ignorance to asking questions like this is that there must be something else running human life. There has to be given that if we truly were free to think we would have asked the questions you have here long long ago.”
       We don’t think, we are fed the thoughts we have, and until we accept this as a truth humanity will stay in the mad craziness because that is what is feeding the energy that gives us our thoughts. It feeds off our craziness!

25. “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” Truth often makes us feel uncomfortable because deep down we know the truth, and choosing comfort over truth only lasts for so long before we start feeling uncomfortable because we feel the truth beginning to bubble through, and then there is a choice to be made.

26. We choose our challenges. We choose how we want to be challenged. We choose what are we confirming of ourselves with the choice of the challenges. We also choose what we want to develop in ourselves. Challenges give us a sense of life and of ourselves based on our own choices. As such, there is nothing that may guarantee that the challenges we choose will help us to develop or to confirm what is true.

27. Could it be that we learnt as a child that if we kept asking ‘Why’ it was not welcomed by adults (and in most cases we knew what they were saying did not feel true or honest), so we learnt to not ask awkward questions because it made others uncomfortable and that was uncomfortable?

28. I often wonder whether it is possible that we do not question what we are presented with simply because we don’t want to hear the truth. Therefore, we make the choice to blindly accept what is presented so we can stay in our old familiar comfort. But I have found, often the hard way, that the truth has a way of eventually revealing itself giving us pause to ponder as to why we didn’t choose to ask the questions in the first place.

29. ‘Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?’ Definitely Joel and our patterns of behaviours that we continue to indulge in even though in our hearts we know they are not loving or healthy for us are evidence of this fact.

30. Astonishing questions revealing the unrevealed yet so on the surface laying questions. Again.. do we take those questions to a higher place by asking them and revealing the possible answers? Or do we hide and seek other remedies to not look at the root cause? Profound, without criticism, we can look at these things. For ourselves privately and together.

31. Killer questions Joel. I absolutely love how poignantly you put the spotlight on what we call normal. You are brilliant and getting us to question what’s really going on.

32. “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” This question lays bare our undeniable choice as a human being, that security and comfort have held us in situations that we have long known are detrimental to all of humanity. But the truth, well this begins to tip such comforts on their head, yes it can be scary and uncomfortable to go with truth. But it can also be the most amazing experience in our lives.

33. There is much in life that we need to question, otherwise we just assume that what we participate in or how we are is simply normal because it is a common experience. Questioning is really healthy as it asks us to stop and look at something and consider more deeply is there more going on here than meets the eye.

34. Great questions. There are so many things on offer that promise to make us feel a certain way and we indulge in that momentary uplift but hardly ever question what then was happening before for us to need and enjoy that effect so much. Busy hopping from one such option to another, we manage so-called life, and we know questioning would bring an inevitable stop to it all and all the dusts start to settle for us to see what is going on, and that, we avoid.

35. Wow those are extraordinairy questions, simply because we are not used to be questioned like that or ask those questions ourselves. That of prefering comfort over truth has resonated with me for a long time, and can equally recognize this in others.. Hence, if something horrific occurs, we seem to shock for a moment but then move on in the same rhythm of that created in the first place, a lot of the time (with exceptions ofcourse). So, questioning is indeed in its place.. Or to stand still by the fact that we have prefered not being questioned in the first place – hence the way it is the way it currently is.. Even though we can see a change of the extremes that are occuring and now we start to feel the need to look further – as it goes out of hands..

36. Much to ponder and feel the truth of, where are we now in our evolution as humanity? Thank you Joel.

37. We know how things feel no question. However, when the herd are all moving in one direction (no matter if we don’t know what that direction is, or even if it is heading off a cliff), its easier to feel included rather than to stand out and choose to move in your own way. The interesting thing is if we do move in our own way, it offers others an alternative so perhaps they can break free of the herd mentality and start to feel what is going on for them.

    1. Yes, and how silly do we feel when we realise that staying part of the herd was what was harming us!! The energy that plants the fear of standing out has so much responsibility for the world we now have. But we must remember, we can each choose to not subscribe to that model by changing the way we move and, as you say, perhaps offer others an alternative.

38. Your blog is very thought provoking Joel and I’m feeling on reading it how I’ve made my interaction with others more important than my relationship with God so often I’ve preferred the comfort of the group to the challenge of exploring and building my own relationship with God; this is shining another light on my comfort and this I will explore, thank you

39. Too many questions expose our wayward ways, and so it suits the spirit to stay in ignorance. Great blog Joel.

40. Nailed it!! Absolutely brilliant writing once again Joel. Simple questions – too simple to even be true – that’s how far off the mark we have gotten.

41. Such a good call Joel .. that we prefer to feel included rather than to question things! I reckon every single person can relate with this blog in that we have done something in life without stopping and truly feeling into it or questioning it.

42. We have lived and done so many things in so many ways and as the article is saying we have done them pretty much without question. It’s funny in a way when you see them written down like this, you actually laugh as I did. There are many things I have done and some I knew weren’t that great and yet I didn’t want to go against what many were doing, I thought there must be something wrong with me and so I followed everyone in anyway. I have watched the ‘norm’ move so many places over the years and looking back I would also follow and still do in some aspects follow the norm. For me it’s not about deliberately going against something either but about trusting what I truly feel and not being sucked into following like a sheep. It also shows a great way to expose things is to commit them to paper as I wouldn’t have been aware of this without seeing it all in one place like this.

43. Is so interesting the point you are making here Joel, as I have pondered on the same thing many times. How was it that I would, without question involved myself in many crazy New Age trips searching for the Truth . . . and yet when the real deal came my way, Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presenting a true way back to finding myself . . I struggled not wanting to give my power away yet again . . . only this time there was nobody interested in taking my power away from me, try as I did to give it away!

44. A brilliant exposure of how we are so readily willing forfeit questioning our lifestyle choices, regardless of how they are making us feel, so that that we avoid the responsibility of living truth, what we know is true. Could it be that even in our desire to fit in we are creating an excuse so that we can justify the lack of discernment we live with? Yet all the while we question, doubt and disregard the truth within us, that is a reflection of who really are and what in the end will guide us to know all that is needed to live the wisdom of our full divine potential.

45. A 5 year old child constantly asks the question why? And is the reason we cease our seeking of answers as we get older that we don’t want to hear the truth?

46. It is far easier to withhold what we feel than risk upsetting the apple cart, and accept the comfort in that, but soon it starts to be uncomfortable comfort. It feels limiting, and even though we know we might be at risk of facing an outburst, that becomes preferable to all that is not being said and is being stored up in our bodies. When we don’t say what needs to be said, it festers and often magnifies, quickly getting out of hand. When we speak up, we clear whatever is there, and it leaves no residue of unsaid feelings lingering.

47. “Could it be easier to defend our right to harm ourselves and others, than it is to start asking some real questions?”
    But is it? I now ask. I know I have been in this defence but when I take a moment to stop and feel it is easy but very taxing on my health. I feel we avoid the questions because we already know the answers. Our bodies are telling us the truth constantly and it becomes more a case of – how responsible am I willing to be in every moment?

48. When we don’t question we hold back which hurts us enormously…. especially going from a very inquisitive child, asking all kinds of questions, to often a shutdown thinking we are going with the flow teenager and adult. But we are in truth just wanting to stay under the radar and go with the flow of disregard and dishonouring. Asking questions offers ourselves and others an opportunity to stop and consider what is really going on.

49. We don’t question the obscene, the crazy or the deemed normalities of world-wide epidemics like obesity, domestic violence, war and poverty. We try to fix them, sure, but we don’t question why they are able to exist in the first place. But then, along comes truth in the form of Serge Benhayon and many other students of the Ageless Wisdom Teachings and these people and businesses are questioned beyond measure.

50. What are we getting when we don’t ask these questions? We make it harder for our physical body to cope with these antagonistic movements we are making against the simplicity of what is. We call it comfort, and we dare not allow ourselves to even feel how exhausting that is to live like that. We are eroding ourselves.

51. Love the questions Joel, why indeed do we not question things more?

52. An awesome article, questions we all can ask, everyone if them reflects the responsibility chosen to pose them, but this last question clearly puts the responsibility on our door. Each and every one of us carries this, whether we adhere to what it asks and offers, or not.
    “And of course, the ultimate question… what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way?”

53. ‘Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?’ Great point Joel, too many of us have turned a blind eye to the truth preferring to stay in comfort and not rock the boat. The power of us reclaiming our truth and expressing this brings about true change as it supports and ignites others who have been silent to also express where they have held back.

54. “Is it possible I preferred to feel included than to really explore my relationship with God?” How often do we get lead this way (down the garden path) because it is easy and less responsible to respond to what is needed (what we are feeling) , and possibly create tension by showing others there is more, and basically getting them to admit it too. Of course this is not always welcomed however, if you allow and appreciate it is not just about you all will be revealed- it is a greater position to be in why not get used to it?! This is the challenge worth being up for – How much can I allow through? How much joy can I feel after it comes through? This is the true concept of ‘work’ and possibly why we don’t enjoy what work is today.

55. Joel, I love how you present this so simply, we fall in line with the most unfathomable things with no good reason and yet those things which truly support us we fight … we definitely prefer comfort to truth and I know for me personally I often don’t want to be the person who stands out and says enough, and yet what is that saying – am I willing to stand by and tolerate abuse to myself and others (I have been) and yet that’s not how I see myself and it’s not how I can want to live, and so I continue to find that places where I do not stand up and learn to take the steps to stand. After all that’s what love is.

56. It’s funny isn’t it… I remember asking such questions in my younger years, and no-one really wanted to further the discussion. Some went to a point, but then the subject would be ‘artfully’ changed, the moment that a point of potential depth in the questioning, exposure and exploration was reached.
    And so yes, I agree with you in full Joel, when you ask (if not state): “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?”
    My reflection on the above is not only about the comfort of others, but also my own comfort – to sit back and in essence withdraw myself (though understandably perplexed and perhaps feeling shut down at such times) when others distracted from what was at hand. I let the fire within be dampened in the face of apathy, something that does not serve myself or others whatsoever.

57. In the disconnection of the love that we are, we are always in search of bliss as a filler for that which we are not willing to embrace witin ourselves. It is only by deepening our relationship with truth we will finally evolve the love that we truly are.

58. I have always found it quite fascinating that it is preached in churches that we are all equal but in the outside world if someone does not agree with your beliefs they think you are different and by some, even consider you as less than them.

59. I love that you are prepared to stand up and rock the apple cart… it is greatly needed if people are to become aware of the rot we have allowed ourselves to live in and from there start to do something about it.

60. In the beginning was… that no one truly asked me ever, but much was presented and told to be true or at least real or simply that´s the way it is and one has to learn to adapt. And then it seemed that I did´t have the trust that I would know anything with absolute certainty and believed others would know better. And I wanted to get the answers from them, needed them because who was I to know better or question?! It was with Serge Benhayon in one of the first presentations that I woke from this stupor, on one hand realizing that I really don´t know anything for sure because all knowledge I had accumulated during my life was never verified by my own understanding and judgement and second that from now on I would question everything until I could say this sits right or not with everything I can feel to be true inside.

61. Very reflective thoughts – “no one really knows the answer to that” is a common get back but the truth is there is an answer to all those things. And the answer in within us, as is the truth of all things.

62. I agree from my heart Joel! Lets question!
    With every question and truly seeking for an answer I have the opportunity to go deeper into understanding and my view does expand – so it is worth doing it. If not to say: a responsibility to do so.

63. Questions can liberate or dam us further into the ignorance we have chosen.

64. Thank you Joel for a really great blog, I did not question much in life but went along with things until one day I didn’t any more. These days I am open to the whys and the wherefores of my life, not in criticism but in learning. I was caught up in the never enough feeling which lead to the searching outside of myself for what I though I didn’t have, while all the time it lived inside of me waiting to be connected to.

65. Joel, I love the questions that you have asked here. These are questions that need to be asked and a lot of energy is taken up in avoiding asking them. We need to learn from children who constantly ask the “why” questions.

    1. Good spot Elizabeth – we expend enormous amounts of energy chasing our tails, exhausting our selves with human endeavour (or simply checking out) rather than just being… being our selves, being everything that God has planted equally inside every single one of us. Time to stop this crazy avoidance.

66. When we start questioning things and calling out what’s not right, life starts to make a whole lot more sense than when we mind-lessly accept it as it is. Plus a question literally has the power to change the world, and perhaps it all begins with a simple question.

67. Joel I had to laugh because of your second question: “Why did I excitedly and with minimum resistance choose to sit in a boiling hot ‘sweat lodge’ chanting in the dark with other naked sweating people?” I did this as well once and I too did not question it. It seemed that my mind was not open for such a question. Since I met Serge Benhayon I am more aware and I love it to ask myself questions like: “what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way?”

68. I have wondered for a while now about not wanting to ‘upset the apple cart’ when we ask – what am I feeling – and what have I done to feel that way? Who’s apple cart are we upsetting? who we truly are or the false ‘me’ I have invested in? Because the more that my feelings and the true reflection of who we truly are in essence as shown by Serge Benhayon upsets the apple cart the more of who I truly am I get to be aware of. In fact who I truly am doesn’t need a whole apple let alone a whole cart of them!

69. These are great questions Joel, I for one have not questioned anything as much as I questioned the Truth when I came upon it as in all my years of searching it was the only thing that ever truly asked me to step out of comfort and take responsibility for myself.

    1. And that’s the point isn’t it Kathleen? If we question – we get an answer. And this answer is maybe challenging us and asking us to make a change….and to get out of our comfort.

70. I love the questions that you ask Joel. These are questions that are really asking for truth and true change, these are questions that help us break out of our ill behaviours.

71. Yes Joel, we really need to ask questions. As a teenager I drove my friends mad at times asking questions, no one else seemed interested in either the questions or the answers – “let’s just keep having a good time” was the usual response! I feel it’s a natural thing to want to know more. And, questions are very necessary to draw out the truth. We seem to accept with complacency the way the world is when in actual fact we need to deeply question the way it is. We seem to care far too much about facades and politeness whilst the world is crumbling around us. Here’s to asking more questions and asking for transparency.

72. Simply brilliant Joel, your questions are gold. It feels very uncomfortable when we realise we have been choosing a life of comfort and various forms of indulgence to avoid the truth and the truth what we have accepted that has not been supportive ourselves or others. To take a moment to ask ourselves these questions is very supportive and assist us to take responsibility for our choices. I feel the ultimate indulgence is in avoiding truth and as a society we seem to be displaying behaviors that reflect this in all areas of our lives. Your blog and the teachings of Universal Medicine inspire us to question life as it currently is and ask, ‘Is there another way?’ Because the way humanity is currently living now is definitely not working. And the answer is yes, there is another way and that is to return to living with love and truth, to continuously discern what is true and what is not and allow the intelligence of our body to guide us through life.

73. The more I ponder on the control and manipulation of religion and the cruel, unloving and abusive way of life on earth the more I realise we’ve actually created this by choice. We’ve created all of this as a way to try and bury or hide the truth, a way to resist who we truly are. It requires a lot of effort and in fact life times of abuse to burry something so great! The beauty is that because the something so great, that is the love of who we truly are is so enormous it can in fact be returned in one moment, if we truly choose. So what is majority of the world truly choosing – the mess that we see.

74. Honesty is called for here Joel – even to hold the honesty whilst pondering the answer to the big questions you have posed feel difficult. Everything feels based on the fact that we ‘think’ we ‘think’ and because that is the case, we lay claim to all we think as being the ‘Truth’. We live according to this truth because we believe we are right and that we are ‘good’ people but many of your questions blow this out of the water. I particularly loved your last question Joel – ‘And of course, the ultimate question… what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way? – this is very timely for me right now. Thank you for sharing your enquiry, honesty and wisdom.

75. “Why did I follow the religion of my birth without question?” This is a question that always hovered in my mind but I didn’t want to explore as I knew it would then ask me so many more questions that would definitely ‘upset the apple cart’. When I met Serge Benhayon I realised that all the ideals and beliefs in my apple cart were rotten and the wheels on the cart were leading me in the wrong direction, away from the love of who I truly am. It is in The Livingness of all that I am that I find my way.

76. A great point, Joel – we mistake indulgence in perceived personal change panaceas for a true exploration and understanding of what has brought us to the moment when we feel we need it. So once the heat, the calm, the bliss, the placebo effect has worn off, nothing’s changed except our bank balance and our sense of disappointment.

    1. love it Cathy, the looking like we are doing good, work hard, working on our stuff…all so we can actually avoid true responsibility.

77. Great blog Joel. “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth? Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart? Could it be easier to defend our right to harm ourselves and others, than it is to start asking some real questions?…” Although always searching – and getting caught up in the spiritual new age – I was always looking outside of myself for the answers to life. I too didn’t ask the right (true) question and can reflect now that comfort played a huge part – for lifetimes. Now I have woken up to this (again) I am going for truth.

78. It seems the reason why we don’t challenge the ideas of obviously miss-guided theories is because we have become invested in someway. If that be being accepted, gaining recognition or simply living a comfortable life.

    Until we start to question our motivation it is nearly impossible to tackle the bigger systems at play. In saying that it is also difficult to look at our motivations until someone else points out otherwise. This is why inspiration is so important and working together in brotherhood is essential.

    1. Investments are a huge thing Luke…the more time, money and identity we sink into something the harder it is to be objective about its true merits.

       1. Yes, and thats where objectivity can only be achieved when the right perception is perceived. So by this logic not everyone has the capacity to be objective at this point in time.

79. The resistance to do some things can be so enormous and the unquestioning to do other things is equally worth a question! Why don’t we get educated to learn to ask the right questions that keep us self-empowered?

    1. Hi FelixSchumacher, Perhaps it is because we are more interested in protecting our comfort than finding out the truth. The truth brings responsibility. It seems that we avoid responsibility like the plague. I have noticed that I even find it hard to spell responsibility . . seem to need spell check every time!

    2. It is true felix, at times we rush into things that are so very harmful and then at other times we delay, ignore, resist things that are so very supportive and beneficial. as you say, we are not taught to understand why this is.

80. Asking the real questions of ourselves requires an honesty that will allow the answers to be revealed. Every single one of these questions you present here Joel are imperative to ask, thank you for asking.

81. We seek to be more when we have forgotten that love is enough, and love is what we all are. Void of this knowing, we are propelled forth on a never-ending quest to be more of ‘what we are not’, so that we do not have to bring more of ‘who we truly are’, back into the equation. We seek to be more when we run from love.

    1. We do indeed Liane, and the way you have worded this shows the ridiculousness of this All our pursuits ‘to become more’ of what we are not’ as we exhaust ourselves running from the love that we are.

    2. “We seek to be more when we have forgotten that love is enough” – this is such a pearl of wisdom Liane… it shows the reality of the things we do to replace what can never be lost.

82. Why does ‘God sees us all equal, but each religion sees us as different?’

    Great question Joel. Love sees all equal but we do not see all equal to this love. The ‘problem’ here lies in the eye of the beholder and not in the beholding light that is love.

    1. It sure does Liane! And that is not the only ‘problem’ that ‘lies in the eye of the beholder and not in the beholding light that is love’!

83. This is true Kristy, if we are all capable of having those aha moments, then we are also capable of keeping ourselves ignorant of just as many.

84. True Kristy. We love to avoid as much as possible, but what we don’t realise is, what we avoid never ever goes away, like a niggling pain. We are so much better of asking these questions and answering them as and when they come up. Imagine clearing all that rubbish that consumes us daily? Is that not the ticket to freedom or what?

85. Joel, I love your posts – this one in particular. Quite the thought provoker. The very last question you pose is a killer! I’m really starting to question how little we actually question and how much we simply accept. I’ve given my power away on several occasions for the simple reason that I have wanted to avoid feeling the truth of what I feel, and would prefer someone else dictate it for me. All I can say is – it doesn’t work people!! If you choose to ignore your body and yourself, there will be consequences, I am a living example of that, as are most of us. Self care, appreciation and love – a recipe that insures a joyful life experience.

    1. So true Elodie, our thirst for truth is so palpable and powerful that we will grab anything to quench this thirst. But just like soft drinks, start off feeling like they do the job, much of the new age, leaves you more thirsty than when you started.

86. The power of what we reflect to each other…if we are all engaging in an activity, or, at least a number of us engaging in an activity, we feel socially validated, irrespective of whether or not that activity is our truth or not. We have such power to endorse and confirm each other…great questions, Joel: why do we use this power of confirmation and validation for things in life that are so much less than who we truly are?
    What happens when we use the power of confirmation and validation for our truth? See “Universal Medicine” to research this latter situation….

87. Joel you have highlighted here a great truth that definitely needs to be addressed – Why are religions at the centre of so much war and abuse? And why is no one saying anything? Is it really worth it to remain silent and to be unquestioning in our following while there are such human acts happening, that do not need to happen.

88. All great questions Joel, and the fact of having been asked therein lie the answers.

89. Awesome questions Joel, I too can relate to a complacency, like a stagnancy – a lack of action and a lack of want for action that can take over and govern our lives. It is like a veil that drops over us – a veil that stops us from seeing, hearing and thinking clearly – a veil that is there to keep us in the fog of not-life never seeking more and never seeking true answers. Those that begin to break through the fog and begin to ask questions are also those that then get silenced in some way by another force or by the collective force of those enmeshed in the stagnancy. But this veil is on some level a choice – a choice to not hear see nor think that which frees us…and frees all of humanity. To be truly free from this veil does come with a level of responsibility that most of us will shy away from, hence the deliberate choice to live with the veil. What a crazy conundrum – we live a false repressed and reduced life, by choice and yet we know this and cannot stand it, yet when it comes to breaking free of it, we struggle to claim that truth and stand for it in full, unless we are put under the pump.

90. Once we start observing what we are up to with honesty, there will be a number of questions arising, as suddenly we will realise that what we thought to be reality was but a creation from our minds.

    1. Greatly succinct summary, Michael: “what we thought to be reality was but a creation from our minds.” Yes….we allow ourselves to be duped and our folly is to be a socially endorsed and accepted reality. Why?

91. Or do we dare not rock the comfort of others for fear of leaving our own behind?

    1. Interesting question Deborah and one I am partial to fall for and using to justify my choice to stay silent. How crazy, that we prefer to allow ‘our own’ to live in rot, rather than be uncomfortable for a moment while they realise this fact.

       1. True Joel…whilst we allow another to remain in comfort we will not disturb our own comfort.

92. Perhaps it is that we are being asked to stand in our power and deep knowing in a world that is sold on comfort and maintaining the status quo. Comfort doesn’t ask you to be honest, real or enquiring of life – in fact it will either leave you alone or will give you anything you desire as long as you agree to not disturb its nest.

93. What comes first – the questioning that initiates the answer or the answer we already know that initiates the question? In appreciation – Thanks Joel

    1. Great question ch1956!

94. Just love reading your blogs, Joel. “Why did I excitedly and with minimum resistance choose to sit in a boiling hot ‘sweat lodge’ chanting in the dark with other naked sweating people?” Not sure, can’t say I’m as adventurous as you!
    I’ve always been quite conservative, holding back before I launch myself into things, making sure it’s ‘safe’ before I enter. What great ‘cover’ for doing nothing!
    “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” …. absolutely, there it is, the truth, something we try so hard to avoid. Either by finding interesting distractions, or by choosing not to look very hard in the first place.

    1. Alison what I find fascinating about your observation “the truth, something we try so hard to avoid” is that even for me and the millions of others who were/are actively in search of the truth we were perhaps the furthest from it. I doggedly pursued yoga, thinking that it was taking me closer to the truth. The truth that I never felt at the time was that yoga as I practiced it, ensured that I was continually kept away from the truth. Cunning eh ?

95. It is interesting here how you have raised the question about being in the playground. Is it possible that as children we do in fact feel everything that is going on and have all these questions but can see that they will not be accepted, and so hold them back? Is this the start of holding back as an adult, not questioning or telling it like it absolutely is?

96. Joel when I first heard that there are 2 forms of energy in the world that set everything in motion I did not really understand it from my own body. Over the years I have come to really know this to be true. The form of energy that comes from truth will always create things that fold us back towards our self and therefore truth but the other form or source of energy will always lead us away from the truth. For me when I ask myself the question ‘why was I so unquestioning?’ it was because the energy that I had chosen to run my life was the one that continually kept me away from the truth and therefore did not allow me to ask questions that would have lead me to the truth. Now that I have chosen the energy that is leading me back to truth I feel like the fog has lifted and I am free to ask questions about what is really going on.

    1. Great explanation Alexis

    2. So true Alexis, learning (re-learning) to feel not just energy, but the quality of that energy is nothing sort of a revelation that can change the world.

97. I relate to this Linda, the questioning never goes, but because the questions are so often reacted to and the answers seem to fall so far short of what you feel to be true, that it becomes easier to give up and join the life others appear to have accepted as ‘the way’ to be. But there is another way.

    1. I totally relate to that cycle in my life, Joel: I always questioned – never stopped- but the answers often added more and more layers of complication so that, eventually, after decades, I started to ‘give up’ or just allow the status quo to be, as there was no other way presenting itself as absolutely true….now having re connected with truth through Universal Medicine, it is necessary not only to heal the falsehoods of the past, but also the giving up energy within my body, the reluctant, but exhausted resignation that came after these decades of questioning and finding nothing.
       The system protects itself well in this regard.

98. How true Joel..”Why did I challenge, question, resist and fight that reflection for so many years, and yet so easily followed everything else?”

99. Thanks Joel, brilliant! You have clearly outlined the comfort that comes from ‘the search’ for truth. You have highlighted the fact that perhaps people are more into the comfort of searching than they are into finding truth.
    When I did find the actual truth that was when I sat up and started to question like I had never questioned before in all my other wacko pursuits of truth. I fought this very real and actual truth in an internal battle for about 6 months.
    Your blog has made me realise why – the searching does not and never did require responsibility whereas the Truth demands it and asks us to be consistently more taking us well out of the comfort zone. A comfort zone I had managed to protect and maintain for so long in ‘the search’.

    1. This is so right Kathleen and Joel. There are many modalities out there that make us feel better. I once remember seeing the homeopath and saying I had excess mucous, i told him I thought it was there because I smoked cigarettes. He said no that doesn’t come into it with homeopathy. How little responsibility I was able to take was incredible, just take this remedy and all will be well. I loved this not needing to take responsibility so much I trained as a homeopath. It was not until I came across Universal Medicine that I really started to understand what self responsibility is and that everything I do, eat, smoke, drink, say, think – you name it – impacts on the way that I feel. No get out of jail free cards here.

       1. Exactly Kate and not only does every thought, word and action impact on the way we feel it also impacts on all others. We are all responsible for the whole not only the part. The real question is why do we shirk this responsibility so readily turning a blind eye when if each of us stood up and took responsibility the world would change in an instant?

    2. Thanks Kathleenbaldwin the comfort of the search is a huge one to over come, follow quickly by the comfort of wallowing in the clean up 🙂

       1. Haha, so true Joel, we are the masters of comfort. We can find comfort in almost anything!

       2. so true, we can be comfortable in the most uncomfortbale places

       3. So, so true Joel just like the comfort I am getting right now having the last say. hahah

100. A very thought provoking blog Joel…it really makes us look at our lives – where we have been and what we have done, and to the world at large, but most importantly the question of “Why?” which is what brings the honesty and the responsibility for our choices.

101. What great questions Joel. And your possible answers also offer much for me to ponder on. Not wanting to upset the apple cart is one thing that I have done for a long time. I’m getting more comfortable with asking and I’m enjoying speaking out more even if I do think it will provoke a reaction.

102. I really enjoyed reading your blog Joel – bringing the responsibility right around back to ones self. How wonderful is the learning from hindsight, but it seems far more so when we actually feel the responsibility we have for all of our choices, actions and behaviours and have revealed to us what in fact was the driving force, or from a position of knowing, where the impulse originally stems from – a mind enforced decision or a heartfelt impulse.
     While making choices, may we remember to ask the questions earlier that you pose, from a position of wisdom rather than later ‘after the horse has bolted’ so to speak.

103. Brilliant Joel such great questions we could all have asked and it exposes the comfort we are in in not really doing so.You bring truth and wisdom thank you.

104. So true what you are raising Joel, I love the questions! I too was training other people in energy modalities, without someone asking whether the energy of anger might be different to the energy of love? I just felt the difference after working a day with these healing modalities, I was exhausted and I had to sleep a lot to be able to handle the next day. In total difference to today, thanks to Universal Medicine, when I work a lot and I am astonished how much I get done, without being affected, my body feels great.

105. This would be funny were it not so true. How come health professionals are not healthy themselves? What’s the point of saying one thing and living another? I remember a chest consultant many years ago, smoking in the staff room, telling people they should stop smoking, and sure enough he became a patient on that very ward. There’s such a level of hypocrisy with that we had come to accept until we’ve had our eyes opened that this dual standards of behaviour can stop now. We have an example of integrity with Serge Benhayon that we too can live what we speak.

106. Joel, thanks for raising such major questions for us to reflect on. I was realising as I read your blog that over the years I haven’t really questioned the multitude of beliefs and ideals I have taken on but rather, gone along with them in the name of seeking recognition and acceptance. I can see how ridiculous this is now; not to mention the enormous pandering to egos over the years as part of this behaviour so as to not rock the boat. Yet, all along I thought I was being an intelligent being! Stepping back from this and taking the time to be honest about how I have gone along with the status quo is a work in progress but already I can feel quite a release of tension in my body.

107. Beautiful Joel. We, as a whole, have spent millenia living our lives without asking questions because maybe we are afraid of the answers, preferring to stay in our comfort. The irony is that living in our comfort is actually NOT comfortable, it has us squirming in our seats and totally missing the point of what life is all about. The way humanity is currently living is not our true way of being, and recognising this is the first step in returning to who we truly are by asking the questions that once upon a time we dare not ask. The answers are out there, and the Universe is waiting.

108. I love the honesty in your blog Joel. You’ve come a long way to be able to reflect so Truthfully, without any bashing of yourself, on your own choices. I can share that for me the comfort seems to be much more attractive, but the more I am actually connected to myself, the more I see and feel how I’ve actually missed myself and others all along (for lifetimes?). It is a bitter pill to swollow that I’ve actually rejected my own Love and from that chose a continious denial of that Love. Constantly working and proving that I am actually not Loving, that my core it that I don’t belong. Up until today I’ve not accepted in full that I am an actually deeply Caring and Loving person. I’ve felt it. But it is like a switch that I put on and off. Rather than taking the full responsibility of being with my Love all of the time – to the best of my ability of course. Thank you Joel. We’ll need to keep on asking those important questions you’ve raised. Over and over again and all along keep questioning ourselves too.

109. Reblogged this on florisvanderschot's Blog and commented:
     A blog that’s is full of honesty, asking to answer simple, yet profound questions about why we accept comfort over Truth? And why…

110. Love your questions Joel. It is true they are often not asked especially the last one: “what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way?”, could change the complete health care system as everyone could take responsibility for their own health and how they are feeling. These kind of questions break the accepted ‘normals’ and the ‘it is just the way it is’ and give space for a truer way of living.

111. Great questions to ask Joel, and ponder upon. When we allow tolerance or comfort to be the norm we allow untruths to proliferate and this results in more division amongst humanity.
     Love instead unites and heals.

112. Joel I love your blogs, this is another great one… it is so true, I did that exact thing – sweat-lodge, naked, native american parables, stinking headache, felt sick… but somehow never questioned it. I just thought I was the problem! Today that seems almost inconceivable and yet l’ll still be doing a version of that with the things l’ve decided are ‘comfortable’ now… how and why is definitely something to ponder deeply, thank you!

     1. Thanks Jenny for your words, too. If I look back from now there was a lot of comfort in my life, and sure I still have comfort hidden somewhere, but the difference is; I do welcome to look at it and to change it into responsibility, once the willingness is there, that’s the trick.

        1. Yes… Willingness is something I have come to know much better lately, and our heads can be saying yes, yes, but if our actions don’t follow suit, then it is a case of the Will is saying a very clear No!

113. “And because they didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it?”
     Equally i hold my hand up to drifting through life without questioning much of what i knew did not feel true. I became a people pleaser which kept the apple cart steady, but evolved no one and felt increasingly empty – i abandoned myself & lost the will to see that i even had a choice. Meeting Universal Medicine was like being asked to wear yourself inside out – no one had ever asked me to be this honest with myself, the apple cart came crashing down and the truth was looking straight at me. I mean where had i been that i needed to be given permission to feel & honour my body?

     1. Love that expression ‘to wear ourselves inside out’. It seems such a strange concept yet its perfect for the switch from the chameleon who is looking to the outside for confirmation of who to be, rather than just living all of me from deep inside, no matter what.

114. Thank you Joel. Great questions you pose. All these questions, though, for me come down to one to be constantly asking myself, ‘Where I am accepting comfort instead of questioning what is be presented to me?’

115. Before i had met Serge Benhayon I lived a life where I avoided asking these questions although they where there so obvious in my face. Instead I was continuously searching for ways to avoid to go to the truth that was there waiting for me to look at. Serge Benhayon has awakened me out of the horrible dream by openly asking this questions that opened my eyes to what was there all the time to show me the truth of life but what I not wanted to truly look at.

116. Such powerful questions posed Joel. So many that I feel are never considered in today’s society out of fear of what other’s may think or say. Living in comfort is fleeting and living with love is enduring forevermore.

117. Awesome Joel, you are asking the right questions – how is it that we have not questioned so much of this before, even when we knew the world was out of kilter we chose to resign ourselves to it or give up and go into our own little comfort zone. Becoming honest about why we choose to not speak up is the first step towards being able to understand exactly why the world has become so crazy, and our role in allowing that to happen.

     1. I agree Annie…honesty is key in bringing change – truly positive change, and taking responsibility for our part brings a depth to that honesty where we meet truth.

118. I could relate to all these unquestioned choices and the fact that they didn’t ask me to look at anything I wasn’t prepared to let go of. The comfort of this feels like a well worn path but one that leads us round in circles, not back to ourselves, brotherhood or God. Arrogance and the need to think we are able to choose/be individual, whether that is good for us or not seems to be a big factor that keeps us choosing these comfortable options.

     1. That is so true Fiona , I have felt the same in my life, I have deliberately chosen this comfortable ways to not move on with my things (hurts) in life, like you said: anything I wasn’t prepared to let go of. That feels so true. I have chosen this comfort over truth as it suited me better as an individual, or at least I thought. My set-up to fail and not show and live the truth I know is truth. This was leaving me empty and power-less as I was choosing to leave my truth and love.
        To me this blog is very powerful in many ways because it is offering us truth again on those areas where we have not allowed the truth to be what it is and expose our choices. And that is offering us the fact that we are not lost, and we can choose power, truth and love again.

119. Thank you Joel, its crazy indeed that all these questions don’t get asked. I can feel how I didn’t ask them to not be reminded of what I left and how I and the world are lost in some crazy things that are not truly us.

120. This is great and thought provoking Joel. Why are we so unquestioning? What I felt when reading the blog was that old chestnut ‘responsibility’. If we lay low and don’t question, then chances are we don’t have to take responsibility for ourselves or our actions. Part of it for me was also that endless search – Reiki was a good example, studied right through to “masters’ only to find that it wasn’t it – and it’s true, no-one ever questioned my life-style or what energy I was in previous to any treatments.

121. Joel this is super powerful. Like you I have gone through life really questioning very little, in fact I often studied and then practiced modalities because the idea of them sounded great (but the practice of them where often somewhat different). Why do we eat things, that we know are not good for us? This lists goes on. But as your point says comfort is the real thing that we do need to start challenging for ourselves and that source of comfort may be different for each of us and holding onto our hurts blinds us from seeing and feeling the extent to the rot we get ourselves in because of such comfort. It does hurt to see this, but opening ourselves up and beginning to ask ourselves questions, we begin to work through all of that that holds us back from who we we are.

122. I too learnt Reiki and not long after I can remember sitting in front of my fire place feeling such a coldness and dampness in my heart that I knew it wasn’t right. I actually raised this with a friend, who also happened to be doing Reiki and even though she was telling me that it was ok, it would pass, deep inside I knew it wasn’t true. It took until I began studying with Universal Medicine for me to feel just how much I had known that the coldness in my heart was definitely my body reacting to what I had subjected it to. For now I can feel the warmth in my heart of true connection to myself, something Reiki never offered to me. So yes Joel what you present and the questions you ask are very important, for they give us all a moment to stop, evaluate why we do what we do and to maybe begin to choose to follow the warmth of our own hearts.

123. I feel comfort has an enormous hook in people and not wanting to rock the apple cart definitely plays a role in people not speaking up. This is done usually to not upset or offend anyone. But at what cost are we doing this. As a school teacher I can only tackle certain and accepted issues with children. For example I cannot suggest a child is obese at the age of 12 and needs support with food and healthy choices as the sugar in their diet is effecting their ability to learn, but I can report them for smoking, drugs, bullying etc. Society has said what we can and can’t do and this suits the comfort we coast along in. The cost of this financially and emotionally will be sky high. Like with most areas of human life it will have to get so bad before we stop and try a new direction. There is another way though. The Way of The Livingness as presented by Universal Medicine . A way where you take responsibility for your life and choose love in all you do.

     1. What a great observation Tracy.. it’s so true what you point out about what can and can’t be ‘pulled up’ or supported in kids at school… it’s crazy when you put it like that!

124. It is obvious from the numbers of people partaking in activities such as bickram yoga, crystal healing, sweat lodges, drugs, ashrams, self help books and alcohol just to name a few, that a huge proportion of humanity is searching for something. I imagine the search will continue until the right questions are asked, like the ones you have proposed here Joel. In the meantime, what’s used, such as caffeine, to fill in the blanks between what we have and what we are searching for is on the rise. What if it is the questions that we are asking ourselves or rather not asking that will be the catalyst?

125. I love what you have written and for the most part life certainly does not ask you to challenge the way you think. If this is done, it is usually from a very emotional place and in reaction. Not from a still, quiet place within that feels and knows there must be another way.

126. Its true Joel, many times have I done things that I thought were normal without questioning them. Why did I go and play football? I didn’t like being hurt but i played anyway. In my case I wanted to fit in at school. When I was in my later teens I started to question a lot of things, mostly from the angst of knowing things were just not right and I had lost a sweetness and easy way with myself that I had when I was a child.

127. Joel I appreciate your lightness and wisdom you have shared in this blog. The questions you ask here are certainly worth reflecting on – thank you for such an awesome blog.

128. What an eye opener of a blog, so relevant for me today. Why did I passively stand there and let someone reprimand me for something that was nothing to do with themselves but a mutual friend whom I was enquiring after? Why did I not Love and value myself enough to speak the truth of the matter in the moment? I love your questions, thank you Joel.

129. Some awesome questions Joel, this blog has definately initiated some self reflection for me.

130. So many great questions…. I love that you are now challenging them all!

131. Great questions. My experience is that some of us do question what the majority accepts as the way it is – be it religion, the education, the tradition etc., but when we are not equipped with a clear knowing of ‘what is’ we just ends up being rebellious, and do not get anywhere near the truth.

     1. Great point Fumiyo, I know that certainly happened for me! I questioned what was going on but then had the thought about how great it is to be ignorant and so blissful about what is truly going on, I remember distinctly having a conversation with a friend when I was about 15/16 the problem was I then gave up and joined in more so, even though I still had the questioning feelings because I did not know or could not at the time fathom the ‘what is’ as it felt too much and that how could ‘I’ really change anything.

     2. Fumiyo such a great point. I reacted to everything I saw pretty much. The church I grew up in, the government services I worked for. My reaction was to run away essentially because ‘what could I do to change anything’. While it’s important to feel all of what goes on in society, the strength and the steadiness to remain involved but to live another way, without reaction is the true gift.

     3. I have had experiences where I questioned my religious teachers for example, as for me there were so many holes in the bible and what they were teaching. I asked the same question to many teachers and I got a different response every time, so I figured that I would have to work it out myself, and that the bible was not a reliable source of information entirely, that there was more to the picture. I wasn’t exactly ‘rebellious’ but I couldn’t sit back and just accept what was on offer.

132. Very few people make me laugh as they ask me to explore questions that crack open a portion of life that has been left unchallenged and unquestioned.
     You Joel are one such person.
     Your parallels between religion and kindergarten had me in stiches, and simultaneously stunned. The major difference being that my local kindergarten has not declared war on the one in the next suburb…not to my knowledge anyway.
     And as for more wondering… how many things have I just said yes to and gone skippingly along with and how many things have told me I am not up to scratch and I bent over backwards to “scratch” myself up to that mythical standard, and never met it anyway.
     What I feel is that we need a lot more “?” in life…professional and personal life equally.

133. ‘Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart?’ Why is it that we are so unquestioning of the world around us. It rather like we absorb the role that we are all victims of circumstance and not the creators of those same circumstances. You pose great questions Joel, questions that need to be answered by us all. Great blog.

134. Great points, Joel. “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” Absolutely yes! When we choose to be ignorant of the truth we don’t have to take responsibility for all our choices and the consequences thereof, and can live in ‘ignorant bliss’. But we can’t ignore the truth forever, it is constantly presented to us along with the opportunity to step out of that comfort (which is not really comfortable, after all).

135. I suppose that many of those things we tried without question were because we knew there was more to life than meets the eye, yet there was a lot of comfort in being the same way as everyone else and joining in with the things that were just toppings to the way we lived rather than fundamentally changing anything.
     Comfort is holding us back. It is comfortable to believe what we are told. It is comfort to try things that are invigorating or excitingly revelatory and then go back to our old ways. It is comfort not to speak an uncomfortable truth.

136. What a way to start the day, reading this blog. A reminder that a choice question is so often more powerful than a hundred pieces of advice. The blog reminds me of my search for truth growing up. I was fascinated by religion but just didn’t get it. I joined discussion groups with the school chaplain, did a theology A-level and later a parallel degree in theology, all to try to get to the bottom of it. Yet I never could – so much of it didn’t feel true. I remember studying the ‘4 idols’ – death, love, sex and money and how each religion teaches different things – how can that be? So I claimed atheism in place of truth and that stemmed my questions for a while – in more areas of my life than just religion. The God and humanity questions never truly went away, though. It wasn’t until I picked up a book by Serge Benhayon’s that I found my answers – TRUTH jumping off the page and speaking to the core of my being. Thank you for opening up a wider and deeper line of enquiry, Joel; there is a lot more to explore for me here about what I am accepting today that is not truth.

     1. Like you Jen, I was deeply interested in finding the grander truth early on in my life, but the established places just did not quite add up – being outdated, or more often than not sullied by centuries of abuse that then coloured any truth at their core.. and so I gave up. It is such a waste of an opportunity, and these religions should be held accountable for their failure. I’m delighted to have found someone who is living that Truth today, and much to thank Serge Benhayon for, not least the inspiration to live from a place deep within me.

137. Comfort over truth, our pride and attachment to creation drives this wilting apple cart forwards – how many apples will we need to upset before we are prepared to open up to the possibility of another way forth.

138. Maybe we gave up questioning because we could tell the answers we were getting weren’t true.

139. This is a very thought provoking blog, Joel. I really relate to the line “Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart? “. I feel that I have spent many lifetimes doing just that. Until the last few years, I was always so careful to not upset the apple cart. I have realised recently, the huge amount of control that was involved in this, I always wanted to have harmony around me, and the way to achieve that control was for me to “walk on eggshells” I have put it, or never “rocking the boat”, to try to keep harmony, first within my family of parents and sisters, then my own family, husband and two sons. I was always trying to control situations and “keep the peace”. Interesting all the sayings we have describing very similar behaviours.

     It has only since meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, that I have learned that it is much more self-loving and loving of others, to lovingly express my truth about situations where it is required for them and myself to evolve.

140. This is a great blog Joel asking some some very important questions. For me it would have been staying in comfort and as long as it didn’t affect me, there was no need to get involved. But, in truth, everything that happens in this world does affect everyone and it is time that we started to ask these questions.

     1. Yes you are absolutely right, it is time to see that everything affects everyone as everything is energy. Truth is shown in how well someone feels within the body, as it is the marker for the truth.

141. I never questioned anything until I came across the work of Serge Benhayon.
     Like you Joel I never questioned that what I was doing and wanting and trying to get in life had a hidden agenda which was Recognition. I wanted to be recognised for what I was doing and it always left me with a void inside. No matter how much I did that emptiness came up day after day and played havoc in my life.
     Ending this behaviour with the help of Universal Medicine has given me a life today that is filled with true deep contentment. I know I am enough and that is my start point.
     My next thing is to QUESTION anything and everything and I cannot imagine living another way now.

     1. Agreed Bina Pattel, the real game changer is coming to these questions not from anger or fear but quite simply from Love.

     2. So true Bina Pattel. The knowing to be enough is such a massive change to most of our lives. Suddenly we cannot but question anything and everything, as close to nothing that we accepted as normal before seems to be acceptable anymore.

     3. Dear Bina and Joel (great blog btw), I don’t think you are alone in this one because I too question so much more since coming across the work of Serge Benhayon. And as I read this and typed this, I realised how ludicrous the accusations that we are all in a cult, blindly following this one man because it is the absolute opposite. I question much more (including what Serge presents) about life and have much more understanding of what goes on around as I have broadened what I choose to see. And are not so willing to just blindly follow and take things as I first see them.

     4. Knowing that we are enough already takes all the fight out of life. We can blossom being ourselves, and let the natural desire to express how gorgeous we feel take over.

        1. Hi Simon, how gorgeous are your words!!! Knowing we are enough already does indeed take the fight out of life…..here’s to blossoming! It beats fighting anyway 🙂

        2. Yes we can Simon, and it is such a huge difference once a person shows the gorgeous feelings they have found for themselves back to others and to the world.

142. Such a great question Joel and thanks for asking. Your sweat lodge story reminded me of a time I went along to a women’s healing night. There were a series of activities, a discussion and presentations, drinking chai, then a loud cathartic experience whilst music played of moving our bodies and making noise that all felt, very hard, awful and far from the grace and delicateness I know myself as today. Followed by lying on mattresses in the semi dark writing in our journals. I left that knowing I would never go back to another one and sensing that there was another space I had to go into that wasn’t me, so it didn’t bring me a clearer or deeper connection to myself as it was advertising itself as.

     There is so much disparity in the world, so much presented as right and true yet when you check the energy and how it feels in your body, it’s not the case at all.

     Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon was the first organisation/person that truly presented on discerning what you see, hear, read, are told and questioning is a very healthy way of living so long as it is not intended to harm anyone or cause argument.

143. Love what you bring and how you bring it Joel. I signed up without question for so many things and as much as I told myself at the time I was looking for the truth and for answers I can feel now how much I just wanted relief, a distraction from the practicalities of life and as you called it, indulgence. Great questions especially why we will sign up for anything but when the truth is presented we hesitate.

144. Wise wise questions to ask Joel, Such Truth in your words.

145. It seems to me that we have been searching and trying to get out of all the different sweat lodges without knowing how to do it on our own. Serge Benhayon has shown us that there is another way to live, and that love is the answer to all our questions.

146. This line really stood out for me Joel “Could it be easier to withhold what we feel so we don’t upset the apple cart?” I can say a big yes to this one. I have done this time and time again holding back so as to not upset people. But what happens then is as I hold back it stops me from offering that person a point of evolution so in affect holding back is not just harming me, but also another.

     1. I was a big yes to that too Donna, less so now but I still hold back and the crazy thing I know that I am doing it. As you say this affects everything and everyone, not just me and not just the other person. I can find myself almost ‘predicting’ a possible outcome, which I use as my excuse to do say what I need to say. It’s all a game.

     2. Maybe when we accept that the truth in all its power is likely to create disturbances, we can all begin to realistically feel ok with saying what is there to be said, and knowing there are likely to be reactions and if so, that it is a normal thing. It is better for truth to rise up in us all even if a mini internal earthquake must accompany what has been spoken.

147. Before I came to Universal Medicine and learnt about energetic integrity and energetic responsibility I worked as a masseuse and energy healer. At this stage in my life I drank, took drugs and smoked cigarettes and was extremely unhealthy, apparently no different to many other health practitioners working in the field. As you say Joel, no-one questioned this; it was considered ‘normal’. I now know this was harmful for, not only myself, but all the clients I treated. Now I do not smoke, nor drink, nor take any drugs and I lead a very healthy lifestyle, therefore taking responsibility for the energy I am in when I treat clients.

     1. Not only can that integrity be felt in the work you do Mary-Louise, but it can be felt in how you live and interact with people throughout your day. It is a source of great inspiration to see people living with integrity in the way they move through the whole of life.

        1. Today I am a person reflecting to others as an inspiration, too. Before I had only seen others being more advanced than myself, which did not help my self worth issue that I had.
           Being inspired by Mary Louise is totally different – she shares herself with others in an equalness, with her I feel very much held in the same beautiful way she is with herself, that is natural and inviting to allow the same.

148. Comfort is momentary, true loveliness is constant. Great blog.

149. A powerful blog Joel, I truly appreciate all these questions you have asked.

150. Thanks Joel, awesome questions that we should all be asking ourselves. We as a society don’t challenge life and just go with the flow but it’s not getting us anywhere and certainly not to where we enjoy more vitality and love in our lives. Why?

     1. It’s crazy isn’t it Franciscoclara8? So much so that our worlds deteriorating health is definitely terrible, but believed to be part and parcel of growing older. This belief is so harmful as people genuinely believe this and don’t even question does this have to be the way and that we can live, as you say a life where we enjoy more vitality and joy everyday and be involved and committed to life.

151. Love it Joel, superb questions that we should be asking every day. Why do we care more about a child’s ability to spell a word than their emotional and physical wellbeing? Why do our religious beliefs result in war? What does the word Love really mean? These are fundamental questions that we all have a responsibility to ask and address. When we begin to truly care for ourselves, to know our own worth just for being ourselves, only then can we bring this care to humanity in its totality. Understanding brings compassion and resolutions, so taking a step back to observe, see the bigger picture, join the dots up and ask questions is essential to resolving our differences and establishing unity.

     1. Rowena it astounds me how the issue of spelling and punctuation takes priority over self care. For years if I saw a mistake in punctuation then my brain would flash an alert, literally a revolving red light would spin in my head and yet I could smoke a cigarette with a tumbler of Jack Daniels and there would be no warning or flashing light registered in my brain ! Huh what’s going on when this is happening ? I now have an alert that pops up when I am doing something unloving but it still doesn’t come up with the intensity of the alert that comes up if I see a comma after the word
        but’ !

        1. Well said Alexis, smoking a cigarette and drinking alcohol, but rejecting the responsibility and swapping to the mistakes of others in wrong punctuation. Rewarding self for seeing the mistakes of others, rather than looking at their own mistakes. This is huge, and I see this a lot.

152. A classroom where there is a true equality between teachers and students and where students are as well teachers as teachers are students.

153. From what I have experienced through the inspiration of Universal Medicine is that we are the only ones responsible for what is going on in our lives. It is us who can observe with honesty why we have made certain choices and that everything in our lives is a result of our choices. It maybe quite confronting not to have anyone to blame for what does not feel right or easy in your life, but in fact it is just the most freeing experience you can make: the only one who can change your life is yourself – independent of anyone or anything.

154. This blog makes me think why was I so reckless with myself and if I did have a thought to do something different, why would I not listen to that and go against the grain. Could it be that by going against the grain would mean that we would get noticed and stand out? Do we so desperately want to fit in with everyone else that we choose to change ourselves in order to do that? For myself I can say that I have been a chameleon and changed myself to suit other people in order to please and be liked.

155. So true…a lot of us do go through life not asking these questions. Could it be because of comfort and we just want to fit in? I wonder….

156. Maybe if we started asking “Why” we can start a new deeper conversation that challenges the comfort and brings a greater clarity and a more considered choice.

157. Top blog once again Joel Levin.
     I questioned as a young child the hypocrisy of the Hindu religion as it made no sense. I had a questioning mind but was never satisfied with the answers I got. I soon gave up and stopped questioning. I recall then becoming a follower of the new age spiritual movement and never questioned anything. It was like I lost my ability to ask questions and things changed once I came to the teachings of Serge Benhayon who gave me the tools to discern what is Truth and what is not.

158. Have you seen those little plastic nodding dolls in cars or on colleagues desks at work, this article reminded me of them, you can rock and bump them, they’re just going along for the ride taking on everything that’s being dished out yet, their lips so tightly sealed not a peep will be uttered, is this what we have let happen by being so unquestionable.

159. Love this blog Joel. What stands out to me from the many true points and questions you raise is: ‘years (maybe lifetimes) of going along with things that never truly challenged me. Years (maybe lifetimes) of choosing to be challenged by things that told me I was not enough… and needed to do, and be, something more’. Exactly, mad isn’t it? Except we get to stay where we feel safe (comfortable) while deluding ourselves we are actually ‘doing’ something worthwhile.

160. Great questions Joel, To have the ability to question must be applauded, and that when asked, it has the potential to expand the universe, and bring correction or evolution.

161. what a gorgeous and exposing blog Joel. I did ask the question but never really was ready to listen to my own answers. My comfort and avoidance came through doubting what i felt and the often thought phrase ‘who am i to doubt/crititise this person, modality etc’ It is a great way of not being responsible for the choices we make and for breaking free from the mold we have so readily accepted.

162. Great questions and great blog Joel. I agree with the comments shared. Why have we stopped asking questions and accepted and switched off our feeling that lead us to the truth of this world. The fear of standing out is a big one for me. Being different is not openly accepted or encouraged in our society. But where has this fitting in gotten us. It is clearly not working evident by the deep dissatisfaction that people feel in their lives. To be curious to ask questions and evolve is our natural way. Suppressing these natural propensities is indeed an insidious way of staying small.

163. An amazing blog Joel. If we do indeed love comfort over taking action and responsibility the pay off must be that we can accept that these events such as abuse, inequality, war and lovelessness don’t really exist for us. Therefore we need not do anything about them . What a huge wakeup call we need.

     1. I agree Roslyn, it’s awful to accept that comfort has allowed the world to be how it is today – with war, sexual abuse, suicide, cancer etc. if it doesn’t affect us personally we believe we need not do anything about it. How arrogant is this?
        What about brotherhood?

164. I just had a big laugh when I read about your sweat lodge experience, It made me think of my sweat lodge experiences. I did not ask why, why Mariette are you doing this? The experience was awful and I had to leave the tent as my body was reacting to the intense heat and all the emotions. So many things I have done without discerning what is truly going on. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, for reflecting truth.

165. Awesome blog, love every word of it, so many amazing questions raised.”Why are we so unquestioning?” The question that particular resonated in me was “why did I not question the concept that God sees us all equal, but each religion sees us as different?”
     We accept so much untruth in life that it seems that we are blinded to see the constant contradictions we are living in and our capacity to question them seems to be educated out of us. If we consider ourselves intelligent, how can intelligent people buy into this. How strong must be the illusion we live in that makes us live in this reduced way? Thank you Joel for truly questioning!

166. What a pearler Joel! So many questions that do not get asked enough.
     Your sweat lodge experience really struck a chord with me as I too did not ask, I just went along with the others thinking I was elite for ‘indulging’ in spirituality and shamanic rituals.
     I disliked the experience very much and needed to stick my head out of the bottom of the tent so I didn’t pass out! All the while feeling somewhat possessed by the constant chanting. I didn’t honour how I felt and didn’t ask the questions to explore what was really going on. Spiritual indulgence, comfort and hiding.

167. You make such a fantastic point in this blog, Joel. There are so many things in this life that I have gone along with, jumped into head first and/or followed with rigorous pursuit without question. Yet when I had it reflected to me that everything I am was already there inside me – and amazing! – I questioned it, scrutinised it and turned it over and over, almost unwilling to accept it. At the same time there was a deep knowing, with every fibre of my being, that it is true. So yes, I do believe there is something inside us that prefers comfort to truth, but just how comfortable is it really?

168. Absurd! Why would we do that, that is not question something that is not loving, yet resist with all our ‘might’ something that is? Well presented Joel you expose the falsity behind this so clearly.

169. Reading this blog I can feel how astounding it is that we do not question the many things that make no sense. We get taught that security is the only thing that matters when all we crave is love. The comfort that we stay in as a result of staying silent is actually awful. Thank you for reminding us all how important it is to question the truth behind it all Joel.

170. Great blog Joel, I can feel how choosing comfort over truth is such a way of life for so many that it seems to encourage more of the same, and that questioning things can be seen as uncomfortable, annoying or not normal. I know I have chosen comfort over truth many a time and still do at times – I can feel how much this needs to change, for if it doesn’t start with ourselves, where does truth come from?

171. “Is it possible I preferred to feel included than to really explore my relationship with God? And because they didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it?” I agree and what a statement Joel. What was I feeling when I was younger and didn’t really want to go and play football on the oval at school? Why did it hurt so much to play anyway? thanks for asking these questions Joel and allowing us to do the same, and question all of our choices, have they been true to our inner-most?

172. They’re great question Joel, definitely ones to ponder on. Thank you for sharing this blog

173. Great questions raised Joel and absolutely agree with what you say here “Only once has my growth occurred through someone (a group of people in fact) reflecting back to me just how much I truly was already. And in the deep stillness of this reflection I was given a choice: to keep going as I was, or feel the joy that sat patiently waiting for me to return.” as previously any groups or study I turned to kept me in my mess by providing more distractions and ways to deny and numb what was really going on and needed to be addressed. I have never met anyone or a group of people who have supported me in my growth as Universal Medicine.

174. Awesome blog Joel. There are so many questions being asked and more waiting to be asked, when comfort no longer feels uncomfortable. It certainly rocks the boat, and there is a lot of understanding to be lived with ourselves and others. But no longer can truth allow silence to rule our lives. What am I feeling this moment? That there is a further expansion waiting and I want to delay but it’s not really possible to, so thank you for this timely blog, to allow me to come back to my true self and purpose.

175. I love your blog Joel, the way you pose each question makes the whole blog so open. I love your analogy of the kindergarteners, waiting to be picked up by their parents as being a metaphor for many religious people who are waiting for someone to come and get them/save them. I felt your ending question was really powerful, especially as I sit here with the beginning of a stinking cold – how do I feel and what have I done to feel this way?

176. So many beautiful, worthwhile questions posed in your blog. It sometimes feels like we have given up on asking them and yet in posing them we open up a new curiosity inside ourselves and can get to a level of responsibility. And yes I have certainly favored comfort over truth.

177. Joel your questions ought to be getting asked in many places, and perhaps this blog is the beginning.This one: “Why did I challenge, question, resist and fight that reflection for so many years, and yet so easily followed everything else?” is very revealing. You spoke about staying in comfort. Well it seems to me that being presented by a reflection of a powerful and responsible way to be, and resisting and fighting that reflection while passively accepting the things that let us stay irresponsible – indicates going for comfort instead of uncomfortable truth. Only uncomfortable because we know it wasn’t right to be silent and accept contradictions, inequalities,

     1. abuses and suppressions.

        1. Absolutely Dianne, until the point comes that what was comfort begins to feel uncomfortable because we know what is true.

178. This messiah thing is so practical, as it helps us to be busy and not aware of the fact that our fears for example make sure the traffic will contiunue.

     1. True Michael. It also allows us to live in disregard without taking responsibility because the messiah is coming and will ‘fix’ it all anyway.

        1. So true revans917…. I wonder why is it so easy for some people to give all their power away by saying “god will fix it”, instead of taking responsibility for it themselves? Could it be if they take responsibility for it they then know they will have to face it?

        2. Yes Jody, not only do we have to face our choices, we also have to choose differently once we have felt them. For me, it is very hard to live in disregard and ignorance once I have said yes to taking responsibility for myself. There is something very beautiful about being accountable for our own actions and something I am committed to working on.

        3. That ‘Messiah will come and take away all our sins and fix it all’ thing really bothered me even as a child. I saw younger children being toilet trained, later shown how to wash & dress themselves, how to prepare food, use the phone, make their beds, etc. It was a natural progression of learning self-responsibility in the world. So to me, this ‘somebody else fixes it’ mentality was unnatural, and the opposite of the natural learning and claiming of self-responsibility. Why does the church promote the relinquishing of responsibility by people for their harmful choices?

179. I love the powerful questions at the end of your blog. Every single one of them asks us to stop the sleep walking through life and be more responsible.

180. Oh my God, I just love this blog. What a great question you ask Joel. I remember going to church on a Sunday and then the very same people who were in church would go outside at the end and collected money for a paramilitary organisation. How crazy is that and yet lots of people went along with it. You are correct, we go along with so much stuff that does not feel right yet when love presents itself to us we fight it, or try and reduce it to something else or just plain deny it. What are we so afraid of? Perhaps we are afraid of getting the very thing we have always wanted which is to be loved for who we truly are. If that occurs we would have no one to blame for anything and then we would be faced with our own responsibility and choices.

     1. Yes, Sunday always seemed a strange day to me as a child, all that was said in church, the best clothes that we wore and our ‘Sunday’ behaviour didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the week.

        To me, more so now, there is no special day, because every day has the potential to be special, it is my choice.

     2. That is exactly what love reminds us of Elizabeth, that we have no-one to blame and that we are responsible for all of our choices. Love asks us to see both the grandness that we are and the choices we make to hold that back.

181. Since I came to understand and feel what comfort is, then a mirror has bee held up to me and each of your questions Joel reflect that comfort. ‘Where have we been?’ is another way of asking many of them! Thank God we have been directed back to our own self responsibility and shown that the love we already are is waiting right inside of us!

182. This blog touches on something very deep in our consciousness and exposes the ridiculousness of human life in its current forms. We all deeply want true love but we will do almost anything to avoid it! Why? And why are we not asking why more often?

     1. Indeed andrewmooney26, “we all deeply want true love but we will do almost anything to avoid it!”. It is crazy really and makes no sense. Because the love we are from and all innately are asks us to be responsible for all our choices, for many this is too much to handle and so it is then easier to reject love when it comes rather than fully embrace it.

183. When I think back to how I was prior to finding Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, I now know that I wasn’t asking enough questions, but accepting everything as that’s the way it is and I can’t do anything about it, type of thing. There was also this belief that those people who did speak up and questioned things didn’t have anything better to do with their time. I can now see how wrong I was.

184. Great questions, Joel, that highlight how so many of us choose a lack of awareness rather than challenge the status quo. What will it take to knock humanity in general out of its slumber enough to see what is really going on and, as your questions reveal, how nonsensical many major things in the world around us are?

185. And why do we accept it all and fight love, when we know it works, to live misery so comfortably? And why do we play less when we could each be so great? I loved your exposé Joel, and have added some questions for myself. It’s impossible not to ponder the scary thought that if Serge Benhayon had not come along, I may still be doing these things without question.

     1. “ponder the scary thought that if Serge Benhayon had not come along, I may still be doing these things without question.” A worthwhile pondering indeed, Melinda! It is a scary thought. Serge Benhayon is the best apple-cart-upsetting I’ve ever experienced. If the apples are rotten, the cart sure needs to be upset.

     2. This is a big one…. why do we fight love to live misery?…. ouch.

186. Thanks Joel, yes it its all about comfort and not upsetting the apple cart ,we have settled for a life of protection and that is why evil gets to play out in so many ways. I liked this in relation to you birth religion and going along with it ” Why didn’t anyone point out to me how kindergarten says something very similar, ‘play nicely with the other children, don’t wander, and wait until mum/dad picks you up’? Where is the empowerment in that? Why did I not question the concept that God sees us all equal, but each religion sees us as different? ” Thanks for presenting the questions that we choose not to ask when playing out our lives in comfort, protection and numbness.

187. Sheesh Joel, what a great blog to read. You hit the nail on the head when you outed your preferred feeling of inclusiveness. That is super prevalent for me in many areas of my life. Instead of asking questions and feeling for myself I will go along with what everyone else is doing. A great thing to look at…

188. ‘Is it possible that I mistook indulgence for true exploration of my life? And because it didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it?’ so true Joel. I love how you express yourself and reveal the comfort we are hiding in…
     Indulgence or true exploration?

189. There are some great questions asked, and there is indeed a big amount of unquestioning going on in this world, everything is at it is. But what if there is much more than the way the world is right now? I would never have found out if I wasn’t inspired by Serge Benhayon to question this norm, and feel that there is much more to explore. And we are much more than the norm in this world says we are.

     Amazing blog Joel, thank you.

     1. Awesome question Benkt: what if there is much more than the way the world is right now? What if there is another way, a way back to a harmonious way of living full of love? And yes, we are much more than the norm in this world says we are. We are superintelligent and superwise beings playing a game to not own up to that.

190. I can relate Joel, it was very uncomfortable in those sweat lodges, that’s for sure. 🙂 You pose some great questions here Joel and one especially stands out,”what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way?”

191. Lots to ponder on here Joel, as it is true we can choose to go through life without questioning what we align ourselves to based upon our upbringing or the mentality that “it’s just the way things are”. If this is so why is it, as you say, ok that so much of it brings pain, hurt, confusion and conflict? Perhaps it is time we all began to dig a little deeper and begin to question our role in it and consider whether or not we want to continue to contribute to it or choose to perhaps live another way.

192. Joel you have proposed some great questions. Why do we accept the status quo and not speak out when certain things don’t feel right? e.g. challenge the education system; question the law re detractors; the right to perform the death penalty in certain countries; hide the sexual abuse that goes on by priests; be made aware of alcohol intake or lack of sleep experienced by surgeons before doing surgery etc?
     If we don’t speak up and offer another way of thinking then change will not happen.
     So thank you Joel for doing so in your blog.

     1. I agree Loretta … Speaking up and challenging the status quo must occur for changes to happen.

193. Joel, I just so enjoy your reflections. Yes why can’t we see that God sees us as equals but religions see us as different and question how that makes us truly feel inside. I was with a religion from birth knowing that it was not the truth but also for a long time scared that if I left it something “bad” would happen to me! It is a relief and a blessing that I have been able to shed the ideals and beliefs around this religion and after much questioning am now able to understand that being connected to God is about being connected to me in the most loving way.

194. ‘Is it possible I preferred to feel included than to really explore my relationship with God?’ I can so relate to this question and can see the trick it has been playing in my life. The truth is, when we do explore our relationship with God we naturally feel we are part of everything so the need to feel included or fit in drops away.

195. I love this question Joel! Why are we so unquestioning? It shows our complacency. As children we all had a lot of “Why?” questions – what happened to them? Did we give up, because we did not get any answers? Or did we shut up because we were told so – or out of fear because we could feel that our questions rocked the status quo? Going through life without asking these questions is not a very healthy way to live.

     1. It is a well known fact that small children from the time they speak they ask WHY questions about everything all the time and as you had said Judith – did we give up, because we did not get any answers. It takes 5 years to be taught how to speak and then spend the rest of our growing up years being told to be quite! College students ask one or two questions a day… is this what we have been moulded into? I had a tee shirt when I was in the military I liked to wear, an office once told me I could get in trouble for wearing that, and I just replied yes, I know. The shirt said ‘question authority’.

        1. My favourite book when I was a child was about an inquisitive calf who went around the farm asking all the different animals what was going on and why. I loved that book and haven’t thought of it for over thirty years but reading this took me back to that time when I was like that calf as I constantly used to ask my father questions. Maybe we gave up questioning sjmatsonuk because we could tell the answers we were getting weren’t true.

        2. Love the tee shirt Steve, and the answer even more. Because yes, we do know. that small soul voice gets bigger and bigger, louder and louder until we begin to listen, and all our questions come alive again, and are answered.

     2. This is what I loved too Judith “Why are we so unquestioning?” This blog really highlights the fact that somewhere along the line we give up and just accept the status quo. I know at school I gave up asking questions for fear of getting it wrong or standing out for questioning something that did not feel true to me.

        1. Very true alsionmoir, the standing out and seemingly being different to everyone else is a big reason why we shut up.

     3. I have found the same as well Judith, lots of why questions – I remember my grandmother getting annoyed at me for asking why this and why that – I can see now that without trying to it was challenging what she was doing. It was easier to put me down, in my place and to defend what she was doing rather than answer why. I know I have found it much easier at times to do the same, especially when I have been doing something I know does not seem to be the best thing to be doing. The innocent questioning is something we should allow children to explore, I know I will with my children!

     4. I can remember a few children who used to ask why? after every answer they were given. Many years ago I can remember giving one child answer and after answer until I ran out of answers and could only answer ‘just because that’s the way it is.’

        I remember feeling uncomfortable about never giving an answer that fully satisfied his questioning. I was unnerved by being unable to answer a four year old’s most simplest of questions – what if I didn’t actually know it all as I’d assumed. I noticed others getting irritated with his why questions, perhaps because we like to protect our ignorance knowing it gives a semblance of an excuse to carry on in ways that harm ourselves and others.

196. Some great questions asked here Joel – great now you don’t have to sit in a sweat lodge anymore to feel you.

197. There a great number of great questions here Joel but for me the one that stands out for me on this time of reading is, “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” Oh, yes, never a truer word spoken!

     1. Yes Johnathan comfort over truth… Our greatest illness?

        1. It is an age old theme comfort. Even protecting our own family at the expensive of another is a comfort – not love.

        2. That sounds like it can just be it Kathryn and Jonathan. Even though we know the truth to the core of our bones we settle for less to make sure our comfort isn’t rocked. And our outer life reflects this sell-out, everything is a misinterpretation, if not a perversion of the glorious way it can and ought to be.

        3. Indeed comfort and the lies it brings vs truth. Logically truth is a no brainer, it makes sense yet because we want to ‘fit in’, and have allowed truth to be so morphed that what is now considered a ‘normal’ way to live is a million miles away from what is normal for the body. Truth then comes along and challenges our new ‘normal’, which is accepted by society and so many people do not actually want truth as this would mean making choices to change the way they have been living and taking full responsibility for their life’s. For me, yes I have found it hard at times, but only hard because of how much I have invested in comfort and the lies. I know when I express truth my whole body says yes, and supports me fully.

     2. Crazy isn’t it that we choose comfort over and over again. When in actual fact that ‘comfort’ is restricting, painful, keeping us down and holding us back from seeing, and being, the amazingness of who we truly are.

        1. I agree Catherine…I wonder why some of us do it to ourselves?

198. Joel, you ask great questions, what struck me in particular is your question of what is considered in ‘love’ it is crazy when you express it as truthfully as you have.

199. One of the many aspects of Universal Medicine I love is that I am encouraged to question.

200. Great questions indeed Joel. Although they would be at the back of most people’s mind, we go with the flow. It takes commitment to challenge the status quo and ask WHY?

201. A true thought provoking blog Joel. When I read your blog I could recognize myself in what you were sharing about not questioning life as it is. A long time I did not think outside of the current belief systems but slowly, after attending workshops and presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, my innate ability to feel what is true is awakening again and this part of me starts to speak very loudly. It makes me aware of so many common sense things like: how our society is not working as how can our society be called successful with the rates of illness and disease that are sky high, the high level of stress and anxiety, depression, violence, abuse and so on. It is truly empowering to start to think like that and I feel my responsibility in all this.

202. WOW, Great questions you are asking here, Joel! They are spot on and revealing with no holding back how much we live/ lived in comfort – AUTSCH.

203. Oh, the old sweat lodges. This brings back memories. I can still remember sitting there very quietly thinking to myself how very strange the whole experience was. I did question it but not loud enough to say ‘how on earth does this change a thing.’

     1. hilarious really Vicky, me too… very similar experience. Hot sweaty and red faced for hours afterward and nothing had truly changed.

204. Thank you Joel – the depth of wisdom you write with is beautiful. Your last question is what can be considered confronting and answers why we are so unquestioning. To answer honestly would mean we have to look at the part we play in how we feel and be open to seeing that it may not be true that things just happen to us or that they occur randomly.

205. Joel, another one of your gems I found here! I really enjoyed reading your blog, especially: “Why did I follow the religion of my birth without question? Sure, its general tenets were like many others: be good to your fellow man (do unto others and all that), don’t challenge other religious views (tolerance), stay part of ‘our community’, it will all be okay once ‘the messiah’ gets here. Why didn’t anyone point out to me how kindergarten says something very similar, ‘play nicely with the other children, don’t wander, and wait until mum/dad picks you up’? Where is the empowerment in that?” Too true…. and well said. And for myself it’s: why did I not look for the answer within myself when I realised nobody I knew around me as a child would know the answer to my burning question of what the difference between soul and spirit was….

206. The ‘could we be more comfortable not questioning life’ makes a lot of sense when taken into account the seeming nonchalant or even defeatist behaviour people display when problems arise or get questioned. It is either ‘not my problem’ or ‘just have to live with it/can’t do anything about it’ – but why? Questioning my life in a way that includes me in the making of my life has only ever supported my understanding of the last question you posed. This blog reminds me of the ‘Why?’ game I used to play as a child, just keep asking why and eventually the game brings up irritation and dismissing – why is it that we prefer to not know the answers to why life happens the way it does? When we have the phrase ‘Everything is Energy and Everything is Because of Energy’ then why continue to say ‘I don’t know?’

207. Joel you pose so many great points and I feel it all comes back to asking ourselves to take more responsibility for choices made and asking the question “why?” more often. Thank you.

208. Thank you Joel for posing so many great questions. I feel we’re so well indoctrinated from a young age not to question that we come to accept this as normal even though deep down it doesn’t feel okay. To not challenge authority, upset the apple cart etc., etc. As a child I would do everything I possibly could to not attend Sunday school and church. What was hilarious was that my mother whilst driving me there would declare them all to be a bunch of hypocrites. There’s a certain amount of giving up and going with the flow because it’s all too hard and yes it becomes easier to just get on with life, family, children, work, etc. until we get to the point where we realise that none of this is easing the deep well of emptiness within and when we do start to awaken and look around there’s not much there and what is there can hold just enough of a kernel of truth and we give whatever it is a go for however long until we become further dissatisfied realising that nothing we’ve tried has offered the deep and lasting changes we were looking for and go in search for the next thing. This all changed for me when I found Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and being presented with the truth that we need to understand that life is about taking personal responsibility for everything we’ve created and that there is a way to live that involves deep self care and honouring of ourselves which then naturally flows on to honouring others in the same way.

209. Funny how each of us are FULL of questions as soon as we have the words to ask, when we are kids, what happens to our curiosity?

210. While reading your blog Joel I was feeling how arrogant it is to not ask the questions about our responsibility. I have been in a various range of new age modalities and I realised just now that I knew it was not true but it gave me recognition and the feeling I was a better person than people who were against all the alternative courses and workshops. It feels as though I rather stayed in the ignorance than to ask why are you not content with yourself, why do you smoke, why do you eat so much chocolate and telling me your choice is the answer. The last years I have made the choice to observe and to take responsibility for myself and my choices. And for the first time in my life I am truly joyful.

211. Why do we not question life is definitely a question that needs to be asked, because once we start questioning we realise how little life makes sense. Of course it does not make sense for health professionals to be unhealthy – but once you ask that one question a thousand other questions pop up!

212. Joel you pose a great question that I too had to ask myself and the answer was that I was more invested in comfort than the truth! Although this was a hard pill to swallow, I now have commited to knowing and sharing the truth as a priority in my life.

     1. Yes, I hear this too Sharon, I’ve gone with comfort and hiding over the years – and interestingly this has only lead to tension and discomfort within me. I now understand the expression – ‘the truth sets you free’

213. Great questions Joel and many that I have often pondered on over the years. I also recognise though how for most of my life I stopped questioning what was happening around me and I certainly didn’t question the choices I was making, I just went along with everyone else – I guess you could say I took the easy road and definitely the comfortable one!. My son has actually reminded me of the importance of questioning with his constant why? Bring on the questions I say from kids and adults alike.

     1. Well said Michelle; I agree, I was so compliant and didn’t ask any questions, just keep the peace; and of course keeping myself and everybody around me ‘comfortable’, not pushing anybody’s buttons. It’s a big ouch, and a reflection of the lack of responsibility taken. Now I am making different choices, even though it may not always seem convenient for myself and others, but it’s true and offers a different way.

214. What a great surprise to find another blog written by you Joel. This one just happened to not meet my eyes when it was published and was saved for today.
     I love what you share here:
     Why did I eagerly train in modalities like Reiki, and then happily trained other people in these modalities, without someone (including myself) asking whether the energy of anger might be different to the energy of love? Or what effect does the practitioner have on the quality of the energy (eg: if we do drugs or alcohol the night before, what happens the next day?).

     Is it possible that the ‘titles and training’ gave me recognition? And because they didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it?

     I did the same thing, train and then train others, not question why we would still drink or be angry whilst doing all of the “healing”. I know for sure that I was identified with it all. It gave me the false impression that I was something, because at least I was reiki master.

     What an illusion was I in!

215. There are a lot of obvious questions not being asked. I can sense the discomfort that would be if we start asking those questions, and realise how much we do prefer comfort to truth, but to clearly see the situation we are in because of not speaking out, it really highlights how important it is to ask those questions. Ultimately, truth is much more precious than staying in comfort.

216. I have spent so much of my life being unquestioning and can really feel how this has been because I preferred comfort and fitting in over asking questions that challenged the ‘status quo’ even though I could feel the contradictions there under the surface and had to work hard to suppress them. Love the questions you pose particularly ‘what am I feeling right now – and what have I done to feel that way?’ so much more supportive of a return to a joyful way of life. Thank you Joel for getting to the heart of the matter.

217. Is it possible that I mistook indulgence for true exploration of my life? Wow, this line really stood out for me and explains so much of why I also trained and gained titles in Reiki, rebirthing, yoga and a few more…which made me feel good about myself at that time, but nothing ever changed in my life, and actually just buried all my ‘stuff’ or issues deeper, so that I did not have to feel the emptiness inside and how disconnected I was to my body. That has all changed since I began to take responsibility for my life and past choices as mentioned and truly began to heal and clear my child hood issues/hurts. This happened for me when I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and attented courses and presentations.

218. I love the clarity with which you write. And the humour – the comment on kindergarten saying the same thing as religion made me laugh. Your blog made me question why I had done things like train in Reiki and followed so many things without questioning. There is a lot there for me to ponder on. It is scary what potential harm we can do to ourselves when we blindly follow without stopping to feel from our body if this is what we want to do.

219. I love what you have written here Joel, “And in the deep stillness of this reflection I was given the choice: to keep going as I was, or feel the joy that sat patiently waiting for me to return.” This is the choice we are all given. Thanks Joel.

220. Thank you Joel. I really like this blog. In particular, the fact that your association with Universal Medicine opened up a series of matters you made decisions on, based on the logic of inclusion, without ever considering in full what was at stake. Now that you can see the whole picture, you can understand why the decisions you made did not evolve you and add “because they didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it”. How many things, we have accepted at face value, did not consider in full the implications of our choices and this fact gave us the peace of mind of not knowing different and belonging?

221. I always love reading your blogs, Joel! This one touches me because it hits a point – comfort. Yes, it is the first step to take – to ask myself as you shared “what have I done to feel that way?” I’ve let go of responsibility, love and acceptance. Instead I had chosen comfort in blaming others, shutting down, preferring recognition to traue love. Very exposing.

222. Joel, I found the simplicity of what you have presented by your questions to be really profound. I am sitting here reflecting back on the multiple ways I have chosen comfort over the truth. The arrogance, pride and recognition seeking behind the comfort has many strings attached which feel very ancient but are slowly getting called out as I continue to learn to believe in the real ‘me’.

223. Sensational questions Joel that make you stop and feel the ridiculousness in which we live. So much of life needs to be questioned like this and as you have shown, so much about ourselves…for yes the comfort for most is indeed seemingly preferred to truth and so the reasons for which are worth challenging and exploring….and upsetting the apple cart!

224. I had to laugh – sorry but your description about people “chanting in a super hot temperatures to stimulate the blood flow to FEEL invigorated” was very funny for me and I was asking myself immediately why do they so???? So thanks Joel for your amazing blog and all the questions you are asking . . . I also love the point when you mentioned: “to feel the joy that sat patiently waiting for me to return.” From my own experience I can tell you that joy is also infectious . . .

225. Another very inspirational blog from Joel, this time posing some very pertinent questions for our consideration, while at the same time highlighting how many of us (me included) have chosen comfort over truth.

226. Great questions Joel. There are so many of us (including myself) that accept what we are presented with from birth, without asking these questions. Perhaps there is a niggling feeling in the back of our mind throughout our life and these questions arise, but another voice tells us to keep quiet, not ask, we doubt and sit down and say nothing. That’s been my experience anyway. I am deeply grateful to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for presenting these questions which have led me to discover that there is another way – a way that discerns what energy we choose to live in and from and that every choice we make has an affect on ourselves and on others. We then become responsible and our life isn’t just ‘the way it is’ but a result of ‘how we choose to live’.

227. Some good questions, and for me the question about accepting formal / mainstream education is the big one. Just because lots of others are doing it, or it is accepted as normal, the mainstream has been something I have been happy to follow my entire life without questioning why these lessons have not led to happier / healthier human beings?

     1. For me I was happy to follow many alternate practices as they were age-old and were “traditional”. I didn’t question them as I had subscribed to the belief that because they were ancient they must have ancient wisdom in them. Eek!! Even writing that now my body does strange things to tell me this was so wrong.

228. What if we have chosen to distract ourselves in the asking questions from a stance of unknowing, to avoid admitting that we know the answers? and have done all this time.

     1. Great question Leigh. It’s like Joel has noted we question the truth but happily accept all those comfortable lies. Could it be that the deep knowing you speak of knows and that we know if we truly feel and live it, things have to change and maybe just maybe we’re not fully ready to see that we never needed to be anything other than love, we never needed the mess we created for ourselves. We tricked ourselves and love is there ready and waiting and we know it, but we’ve not been willing to admit we hurt ourselves, we created our own misery. Time to drop the pride.

229. Joel, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said ” could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth” ?

230. “Is it possible I preferred to feel included than to really explore my relationship with God? And because they didn’t ask me to admit this, I didn’t need to challenge it?” When I read this line Joel I had to say yes to myself, and know there were times when I have accepted what was being offered to me because it suited me at that moment. There was a comfort in not questioning or exploring any further than having my need satisfied, the need to be part of something, and to be included. To challenge something I had chosen meant I would have to question my choices and my pride would stubbornly get in the way. It was great to explore this and feel how this has held me back. Thank you Joel a great blog

231. Joel your reflection on life and how we have lived is spot on. I also had spent years searching for truth, but was still caught up moving with the pack of what was the norm. As you said ‘joy that sat patiently waiting for me to return’ is there waiting for everyone.

232. Some great questions here Joel. Thankyou. “Could it be that something inside us prefers comfort to truth?” I put up my hand for this one, an uncomfortable feeling in my body as I do so, yet I know I still do this, ouch, much less than I used to, but…….Something to ponder on more deeply every time I make a choice – comfort – or truth.

233. Joel, It is such a huge thing to ask ‘do we prefer comfort over truth?’ Now that I am asking more and deeper “whys” I’m feeling that once we clear away the pain of not living the truths we know inside, there is something way beyond comfort…and worth every discomfort to come back to!

234. Thank you Joel, you have raised significant points…..a timeless post.

235. Joel, love your questions, so spot on and make absolute sense – yet I like you and others bought into things I knew weren’t true just to fit in – for comfort. I settled for comfort rather than truth until I happened upon Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon and began once again to ask ‘why’ and see and feel again what I’d bought into that just wasn’t true and ouch, I knew it. Thanks, your questions remind me to continue to allow that deep honesty.

236. Awesomely written, Joel. Thank you.
     I know why I said ‘yes’ to so much that was – in retrospect – bunkum. I knew that the ‘way life was being lived’ was most definitely not ‘it’, so I went a-looking. The big ‘why’, is why didn’t I just trust all I already knew and felt to be true? And I know the answer to that also – I was completely overwhelmed by the lack of love around me (in relationships, educational systems, the way people punished their bodies..).
     I love how our “why’s” can become deeper, more honest and to ‘the core of it’ questions as we go along, and that someone such as Serge Benhayon chose to speak what HE knew and felt to be true, that I might get back in touch with that place in ME that did, and does, know it too.

237. Awesome, wow Joel it is so empowering just to read and feel your words. I appreciate your ability to say it how it is without holding back, I Love it, thank you

238. Thanks Joel… I am opening myself back up to my perpetual ‘why’!

239. I know exactly what you’re saying Joel – I recently realised the same thing through writing my own article, I had settled for the mainstreams truth eventhough I deep down knew it was seldom if ever my truth. Not until Serge Benhayon taught me how to discern and claim my OWN truth, did I realise that not only does my truth matter, it is the only way I can truly take responsbility for the way I live my life and thus also how I effect those around me.

240. Love the very adult WHY’s you have raised, Joel.
     Most young children ask ‘WHY?’ in their developing years, however this mostly gets stopped when the adults either get fed up with the persistence of it all or feel uncomfortable because of what is being questioned or commented on – the “out of the mouth of babe’s” scenario…
     How wonderful it would be if society realised these WHY’s you have presented are truly worth examining.

     1. Absolutely Judith children naturally ask ‘Why?’ when things don’t make sense to them but if they are surrounded by adults who have become unquestioning they are not supported to explore the many contradictions in our life currently.

     2. Wonderful observations Judith. The “Whys” from children can be very testing as, we as adults can be very challenged to answer as it can feel very uncomfortable at times. I don’t know when I stopped asking why, but doing so certainly lead me down some paths I would rather have not gone down. Now, with much more awareness, I do ask why more often, but still not nearly enough. And I now love answering the why questions from my grandchildren, and if I feel uncomfortable in doing so, I simply ask myself, why?

241. This is great, Joel – I can fully relate to signing up to and following whatever promised to give me the next dose of relief and something to do and sink my teeth into, so to speak.
     Until that wasn’t doing it anymore and the next thing came along. Crazy, but only in hindsight I have to say – at the time I was too busy looking for something, anything that was better than what I had made my life to be.

242. This poses an interesting point for me as I can remember questioning or some would say resisting things in life to a point and then in the end giving up and enjoining what everyone else was doing. One example was when I got to University, for about a year I stayed away from parties and drinking only to be given a stern talking to by my friends to let my hair down and enjoy myself, life was too short, I was missing out, people thought I was a ‘nerd’ etc. So I enjoined my friends and became involved in the very social scene at University. So for me a good question to reflect on is why did I let go of who I was? I have just given one example but there are many and in all of them I had a choice. I allowed myself to be coerced and manipulated to live by influences outside of myself. I falsely fell for the need to fit in, be recognised, to be liked and to be accepted. I fell deeply for the ideal and belief that life outside of myself, outside of what I was feeling, was greater than me.

243. Joel, I love how you question yourself about not questioning your self when you should have. I was involved with alternative therapies for almost two decades. In the late eighties early nineties, I even managed at the time Europe’s largest alternative health centre – every modality under the sun – you name it, we had it. And same there – yoga teacher who was chubby – no questions asked, mediation teachers – very highly strung and explosive – again no questions asked, macrobiotic counsellors daily drinking coffees and chain smoking + alcohol – nope, nobody asked a question, shiatsu massage practitioners with back pains and exhausted, feng-shui ‘masters’ ‘sorting out’ everyone’s relationships yet, going through not one, not two but three divorce cases… and the list goes on.
     It is well over due that more questions should be asked everywhere and at any time. Thank you for the reminder!

     1. A great exposé Draganabrown. Today, the integrity of the practitioner is foremost for me and I do ask these questions.

     2. Awesome Dragana, and as Joel says, how is it that we don’t ask the questions when something so obviously doesn’t not seem right. I spent time observing a healer in Brazil – and while thousands flocked to see him, his life was a complete mess. There were excuses made for him because he did such great work and sacrificed himself – but the whole picture didn’t add up.

     3. When it is simply exposed, as in your examples draganabrown, it seems ludicrous we don’t question what just doesn’t make sense. Clearly something is being missed here.

     4. Love the examples you have given here…I was walking through a local market a few month ago and a spiritual medium was having a stand up abusive shouting match with his partner…it was so violent, I needed to get his attention to break the momentum. none of the surrounding stall holders stepped in or even questioned how so much violence could come from stall supposedly representing the divine.

244. Great questions that simply ask us to consider that there maybe something going on that not many want to admit or face up to. We are all responsible for the lack of love and harmony in the world and with true reflection we can change it one by one.

     1. Exactly Lee. And each of one can make a big difference by simply choosing to look at his or her responsibility and from there start to live a different life. A life full of simplicity, joy and harmony, that will truly inspire others. By that a single person can be an amazingly powerful inspiration: just like Serge Benhayon, who simply lives and shares his truth and with that has inspired an amazing number of people to walk the same path and by that make amazing changes to their lives and the lives of everybody around them.

     2. Yes Lee, if we want change in the world it begins with us, and that change will come about by asking the same questions that Joel has asked – but we will need to be ready for the answers as they will rock our world and our comfort, because that is what truth does.

245. Thank you Joel for writing a story that is also what many of us did. We knew that there was more to life but we chose comfort over truth. We accepted what we were taught without question to fit in and to be recognised. We felt the emptiness but filled it with distraction. But once we met someone who reflected back to us who we truly were, we were given a choice, once we saw the choice there was really no choice, it was like coming home… Anne McRitchie

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