|
There will always be factors and people that we cannot control; how we
respond can determine the quality of our lives. There are many stories of spiritual
masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There
is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to
live among his students. From an everyday perspective, this is difficult to
comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find
annoying so they don’t bother us. From a deeper spiritual perspective,
however, irritation can be an important teacher and indicator that we are
making progress on our path. Being able to remain centered and awake even
when we feel uncomfortable is much more impressive than doing so in an
environment where everything is to our liking. No matter how good we are at
controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that
we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree
determines the quality of our lives. The goal of spiritual development is not
to learn to control our environment—which is more of an ego-driven desire.
And while having some measure of control over our external reality is
important, it is when we are confronted with a person or situation that
irritates us and we can choose not to react that we know have made progress
spiritually. It is when we have mastered our internal reality that we will
have become the masters of our lives. The more we try to eliminate annoyances,
instead of learning to handle them gracefully, the further we get from
developing the qualities that come with spiritual growth, such as patience,
tolerance, and acceptance. It is often in the presence of people and
experiences we find annoying that we have an opportunity to develop these
qualities. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of
opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits. |
No comments:
Post a Comment