June 7, 2010

If the meanest, cruelest people in our life are in fact our greatest spiritual teachers….

The Dalai Llama says that the above is true, since they force us to look deep into ourselves for our true motivations and our darkest fears; to bring our unconscious aspects into our conscious awareness. All of this so our enemy cannot use it against us.

If this is the case, then let us consider the insidious voice that lives in us all. I have often wondered how the enlightened ones have dealt with that voice that we all share. This voice tells us that our plans will never succeed, that shirking our promises to ourselves doesn’t really matter, that it’s okay to put poison in our bodies, and so on. Then, if we succumb to that voice and have that ice cream or spend the evening watching re-runs instead of doing something enriching, it would sneer at us and call us a loser. If we let it, it would break us down in an unrelenting, merciless stream of negative thought, leaving us weak and full of self-loathing. Then we would be useless, because we’d have no strength left for creating the life we are meant to live. Finally, it would sit on our inert self and laugh, sneer, and kick us just to make sure we couldn’t get up again.

Of course, nothing can stop any of us from rising above it. Look at all the people who have kicked drugs, done the 12-step program, lost weight on purpose, overcome poverty, or mastered a disability. History is full of people not giving up.

It seems that this insidious voice is, in fact, our greatest spiritual teacher. It knows what we think, our every weakness, our every desire, and our every love. There is no way to bluff it. If we are to truly overcome this voice, we have to be authentic in ourself. This voice is an invitation to go deeper and become more conscious of our real strength and our real motives.

Ironically, the way it challenges us is by lying to us about everything. It tells us we don’t care when we do. It tells us we don’t want something when we want it very much. It tells us we need things that we just don’t need. It tells us we know what others are thinking when we don’t. It’s all lies. Sounds like the Judeo-Christian description of the Devil, the father of lies, or the Adversary. In fact, ‘Adversary’ is a great word for it because that’s just what it is: our most worthy adversary. It takes on any guise, creates entire movies in our imagination of ludicrous futures and distorted pasts. Over and over again, this adversary will keep us entertained and distracted from our reality. And why? …Why not? …What do you think, you who have read thus far? This is a destructive entity, a shadow self, a demon, etcetera.

Maybe it is there to make us or break us.