Suffering is the only thing strong enough to destabilize the imperial ego. It has to be led to the edge of its own resources, so it learns to call upon its Deepest Source. Some might call this the God Self, the True Self, the Christ Self, the Buddha Self, or just the soul. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, April 28, 2017
I am in a period of intense anxiety...it is not the anxiety I have known and come to accept...there are no shaking hands, sweaty palms, tears...no self-pity for that matter. Just frissons of fear for no known reason.
Comes the light...this is necessary suffering. Not the reasoning mind suffering we have known and stumble-bumbled through. This is the suffering that is welcomed by a raised consciousness deeper. This is riding our North Star, that which turns us to God no matter what our egoic fear is so loudly whispering.
Our prayers once were to be relieved of our suffering, of our fears, of our pain...real or imagined. It is a dreaded yet great gettin' up morning when we realize spiritual growth is counterintuitive. If it feels good because the suffering, pain, fear have been lifted...oops...we're going down that wrong road again.
As Fr Richard notes, Suffering is the only thing strong enough to destabilize the imperial ego. Our spiritual growth has long depended on ego reduction in depth...today it depends on our knowing that for Truth. It is our spiritual lodestone, and we are grateful.
The way down always teaches us. - Fr Richard Rohr
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment