OUR EGO IS NOT OUR AMIGO

 We are asked not only to tolerate the other, but also to actively engage the love that transmutes the lead of ignorance and hatred into the gold of authentic connection. This is the 'narrow gate'..... Don’t come this way unless you’re willing to stretch, bend, and transform for the sake of love.-- Mirabai Starr

Ah, doesn't that sound inviting...to transform for the sake of love? Comforting...simple on its face. 

In fact, this is but another crossing where the road gets narrower. We make our mental commitment and believe we've moved on up. We may have, but the up is infinitesimal; and when we fail to "tolerate the other and...," we slide back times two to two hundred plus.

But we've made our commitment, we trust our God, we try again until...oh, great gettin' up morning, we succeed! We not only succeed in getting over ourself, we make a new friend and know ourself to be a new friend to the other! It is a wonderful thing. We rest.

Then still more spiritual growth smiles upon us, and we are face-to-face with yet another intolerable! Even more intolerable than the other one(s). Reason resists, mouth flaps, want-to is riding herd...and hard.  

As Rohr says, "As soon as people are comfortably enjoying the fruits of the established system, they don’t normally want any truth beyond their comfort zone." 

There it is...again. Our comfort zone is our ego's hang-out...which reminds me of my friend James who says, "Our ego is not our amigo."

The uncomfortable fact is that all our slide-backs are our ego on parade, and there it is, our U-bie: ego's failures are God's gifts for what else so clearly brings us to Him? 

Here's a hard truth: We don't enjoy the grace of gratitude until gratitude exchanges itself within us from "oh, crap!" to "thank you." 

Don’t come this way unless you’re willing to stretch, bend, and transform for the sake of love.-- Mirabai Starr

Thank you.