I resonate with all that you have said here except I stumble a bit on this. I have a hard time recognizing when someone has bad intentions because I see the Light in everyone. This has resulted in getting used and scammed, a lot.

In the past year or so I've been practicing self-compassion. I was raised in the Catholic faith, which believes that self-compassion is vanity and pride. I was always taught that suffering is an acceptable offering to their god, similar to the way many Hindu gods appreciate fruit and flowers and the African diaspora gods enjoy meat, drum, and dance.

Since I've been practicing self-compassion, my fake-dar is kicking in. There's one guy in my area who gives me the creeps. Turns out he's a sorcerer. I've met a few budding cult leaders in my life and used to fall for them. Recently met one and I knew right away that something just wasn't quite right. Got to talking with him and realized that his heart is in the right place but his mind is caught up in ego. It's been an interesting year or so since I've realised that self-compassion is good. Maybe my fake-dar was shut down by my early indoctrinations in Catholicism.

Thanks again for your writings. They are very helpful to those of us who have come here on a mission. Blessings to you!