Conditioning

What is conditioning? When your belief system does not evolve naturally, this is conditioning. For instance, let's say your mom was a fanatic about cleaning and you were cleaning all the time as a child. Now, as an adult, you can't leave the house for even 5 minutes unless everything is in good order --- no dishes, beds made, everything in place. Some people might call this obsessive compulsive, but you have definitely been conditioned by your upbringing to be like this. There is obviously religious conditioning, and there is societal conditioning. As a member of society, you are expected to conform to certain rules. Strong societal conditioning is why very few Germans spoke out against the treatment of Jews by Hitler. There is no conditioning of any kind that is good. It is a type of fear. You do something or you conform to some rules, because you fear the consequences if you don't conform. Without conditioning, without fear, we evolve to a belief system that supports our recognition of Oneness with God.

Lawrence Doochin