The Glory of Human Nature

"The tasks facing us today are enormous, but it is the glory of human nature that there will always be those rare individuals who say, Let there be dangers, let there be difficulties -- whatever it costs, I want to live to the full height of my being, my feet still on the ground but my head crowned with stars."  Eknath Easwaran, The Compassionate Universe

I think the first enormous task is to face the fact that we primarily act not from our conscious thought, but from our old habituated thinking patterns -- which are found deep in our psyches, in the "ruts" and "abysses" of our history.  There is a very easy way to see what those old patterns are, however.  Just look around.

Our own judgments and feelings are perfect mirrors for our own old stuff.  For example, if you get defensive in the face of every criticism, realize that it is an old abyss in your deep consciousness that needs to be backfilled.  Take every opportunity to breathe deeply, let the criticism flow in and through and out.  What happens with the abysses is, they trap everything and we wallow in the resulting sludge!  If we let the criticism just flow on through and out of us, it doesn't add to our habit of thinking, wallowing, feeling bad about ourselves and angry at others.

Take every opportunity to see what it is that life is reflecting back to you.  It is the quickest way I have found to alert myself to the old habits that can control my behavior and my feelings.  Then I can take the discovery into meditation and go deep with it, and then begin to backfill that rut or abyss with love and compassion.

Take affirmative action too -- praise those you are angry at, praise those you judge, thank those who criticize you.  That kind of affirmative approach helps form a new habit of thinking and feeling -- one based on loving kindness.  When someone really ticks me off, I know it is time to find things to thank them for and praise them for.  As soon as I begin, I can feel the relief -- my abdominal muscles and my shoulders relax, the knot in my solar plexus begins to ease, and I can again feel positive about life in general.

Once I begin to face the "dangers and difficulties" within myself -- which are the scariest ones of all -- I feel my head moving toward the stars.  I feel my own height increasing, my own power moving through my being.  I feel myself infused with energy for another beautiful day of life!