Becoming Enlightened — Part 3 … (02/05/12)
ON BECOMING ENLIGHTENED — Part 3 …
Maybe you engaged yesterday’s two “Enlightenment Tasks” and maybe you didn’t … No matter, really. If you did, then you will be a little more prepared for today’s Final Step to Oneness — but only a little.
You see, the Path to Enlightenment runs directly contrary to all our primitive, self-centered instincts … It is a Road that leads straight to — and straight through — your deepest fear: the fear of your enemies; all those people in your life who you set aside as “other”, who you keep outside your tight-knit circle of friends, who you criticize and condemn, reproach and reject. If we are to truly become Enlightened, we must have the gumption to experience our Oneness with EVERYONE in our lives, especially those folks we care for the least.
And this is not a matter of vague morality. We are not to Love our enemies merely because it is “the Right thing to do”. No, it also happens to be the most practical thing we can do. Loving the enemy WORKS — every time. It’s a matter of the most fundamental psychology of being human, really.
Doubts, you have? Well consider the following …
*Loving your enemies ACTUALLY WORKS for you. Those secular pain studies I mentioned yesterday do not only relate to experiences of physical pain. They are equally relevant when dealing with emotional trauma as well. Over 90% of all our emotional suffering comes NOT from the source of our pain, but from our fear of that pain; NOT from the source of our anger or sadness (the “enemy”), but rather from our rejection of them — our condemnation of them as “dysfunctional” or “mean” or even “evil”. If we then remove that self-focus — if we have the audacity to extend Caring towards them instead of contempt, that 90%+ portion of our emotional suffering will also steadily disappear. It is literally impossible to be angry or sad of afraid while you are actively Caring for another person — period!
*Loving your enemies ACTUALLY WORKS for others. The abusive people in your life are not looking for our “energy” and they are certainly not being mean simply to be mean. They have a goal — and that goal is the enhancement of their own sense of empowerment by gaining control over a “victim”. And here rests their ultimate weakness: for their strategy to work they need our help. If we refuse to be a victim — if we refuse to react with the rejections of anger or sadness or fear — if we choose instead to reach out towards them with Compassion for their psychological illness, then they have only one choice: awaken and be Kind to us in return (which admittedly almost never happens) or leave us in order to find a victim elsewhere.
And when we do so — when we persist in being Kind when least inclined, our “perpetrators” are reminded that they too are worthy of Love; they are reminded that they too can reach out with Kindness instead of lashing out with pain; they are reminded that they too are not “mean” or “evil”; they are reminded that they too are human beings — that every time they lash out at another, they are effectively lashing out at a member of their own Family.
And the effect of this awakening is always a lessening of their brutality. If we reject them in order to “protect ourselves”, all we really do is throw our suffering onto their next victims. And yet if we reach out to them with Kindness, we assure that their next attack will not be half as damaging … We save them from the trauma of inflicting pain on others, and we save those others from a large portion of that pain.
So that is TASK #3 — go forth today and do a Kind deed for one of your enemies. See past their behaviors to the Child within them; See past their cruel or annoying behaviors to the Child that wants so much to be forgiven and Loved … to the Child that feels so unworthy of the same.
Let go of your resentments from the past — resentments that are weighing you down and keeping you from Peace.
Let go of your desires to “change them for the better” — judgments that are actually encouraging your enemies to continue to hurt you.
Let go of your hopes for “a better future” — expectations that are preventing you from remembering that you are already a Power-full Force for Good; that you are already primed and able to effectuate great, positive change in your surroundings — today … right now — if you but have the courage to extend Kindness to those in your life who “deserve it the least”.
That’s it … This is the “express lane” to Oneness … This is the free pass to experiencing Enlightenment.
This third step is actually the only step you have to make on the very short Road. It’s a very difficult step to take, of course — probably the most difficult step any human can make — and yet there is nothing but fear blocking your way; a fear that is vapor thin and easy to pierce.
And once you do make that step, your arrival in the Bliss of Oneness is guaranteed. Your life will be more than merely “happy” or pleasurable … Your life will be filled with deep-seated Peace and lasting Joy … At that point, your life will become truly Meaning-full!
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Note that this is not a “one and done” Journey – this is no merit badge that will make the rest of your life easy and perfect. Pain will continue to come to you … People will continue to harm you … Life will continue to shatter your dreams … AND YET, once you start down this glorious Path, you will realize that when these disappointments do arrive, you will no longer be required to suffer from them. You will instead be able to pause in gratitude for your ablity to choose your response, and then you will be able to use these difficulties to emPower your subsequent acts of Kindness — and thereby come again and again and again into the Heaven that is the experience of Oneness — the Paradise that is the of Enlightenment of true Love.
With that in mind (and in Heart), I wish you all a BON VOYAGE!
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