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Beyond Good And Evil – The Center Of Perfect Peace
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Why do we consistently fail to do the good we know we should? All
too often, why do we do the evil we hate instead? Is there really
an external force that acts upon us and tempts us into evil as
many religions seem to believe? Or does our own inner
fragmentation lead us ever into frustration; willing one thing
but doing another?
It is simply not enough to say that we are the product of our
environment, or of negative conditioning by our parents.
Sometimes, it seems almost like there is another person within
us, willing us to do what we would rather not.
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Meet The Enemy Within
Who is this enemy within? Jung called it the Shadow – the part of
our inner psyche that we suppress and allow to stagnate.
A whole range of things, both positive and negative, can be
suppressed within us. However, no part of us ever dies away
completely. In a primarily good person, this Shadow embodies the
negative psychological parts that have been suppressed; evil,
anger, hatred, jealousy and so on. In dreams, the Shadow can
appear as a nightmare figure; frightening, horrible and evil. In
the psyche of a profoundly evil person, the Shadow takes the part
of all the good that is NOT being expressed! Even Hitler, Stalin
and Saddam Hussein possess(ed) potentially good sides to them,
except that they nèver expressed very much of it. These
suppressed urges then form the Shadow figure within.
If you have not truly integrated the Shadow side of your nature,
then it will act against your best intentions whenèver it can.
Like it or not, it is still a part of yourself and cannot be
denied. People may seek relief for their problems in all sorts of
places. Doctors, psychiatrists, alcohol, or work. They do this
because they are uncertain of the cause of their misery. They see
themselves as defective, and in need of being "fixed". Religious
traditions, teaching polarized notions such as the war between
Good and Evil, add to this system of guilt and perceived
imperfection. In addition, other people will often happily
corroborate our problems for us, and thereby add to our certainty
regarding the matter.
Darkness & Light Are Inseparable By Nàtural Law
Yet, the truth is that we do not need "fixing"; at least, not in
the traditional way we perceive it. We are fine and perfect as we
are. It is our perception of reality that needs altering. Instead
of seeing ourselves as wicked or defective, and the world as
wrong and evil, we need to radically alter our focus. Seeing the
traditional polarity between Good and Evil, with ourselves caught
helplessly in between, simply does not serve us. Rather, we need
to learn to perceive a seamless continuum within ourselves, just
as we are. All parts of us, even those we judge as wrong and
evil, are a necessary part of our being at this present time.
It does seem at times as if what we consider evil in life is
almost a necessary background against which good can shine forth.
>From an earthly perspective, many acts appear clearly wrong.
Yet,
we later find that much good emerges despite, and sometimes even
as a result of, this apparent evil. Eastern traditions like
Taoism capture the concept very well by describing the universe
as being composed of both Yin AND Yang. The darkness and the
light are woven inextricably and necessarily together. This is a
very different and hard teaching to our Western minds. However,
it may be a far more healthy and realistic one.
Integration Of Dark & Light Is The Key To Growth
By acknowledging all parts of your being, you are in a better
position to perceive the situation more clearly. Correct
perception of yourself means you are less likely to engage in
guilt trips regarding what you "should" be doing or how you
"ought" to behave. If you acknowledge the mixture of dark and
light within, and see yourself as normal and okay just as you
are, you create a healthy mental framework. From this framework,
true integration of your disparate inner selves into one healthy
personality can then occur.
None of this implies that you should simply accept your
fragmented inner nature and NOT strive for betterment in every
sense. It simply means that you do so without self-condemnation
and duality; rather, you gradually integrate the disparate parts
of your nature harmoniously so that internal conflicts are
progressively èliminated. Rather than attempt purity by
suppressing your undesirable nature, you meet it face on and
integrate it too into your being. Then, your actions are
performed with your whole psyche working in perfect synchrony,
and not with some inner parts pulling you down instead.
It requires a higher perspective to correctly perceive the
harmony in the universe and the correct relationship between Good
and Evil. This is well exemplified by the three-headed statue of
the Hindu god Shiva. The left- and right-hand heads, facing in
their respective directions, appear active and in motion. Only
the center head is perfectly still and at peace. This symbolizes
the difference between Duality – seeing polarities such as
Good/Evil and Right/Wrong – versus Unity or Divine Consciousness.
>From the higher perspective of Unity Consciousness, which
resolves Duality, all is in perfect harmony just as it is.
This is the consciousness we should seek. If you can strive to
understand this idea and integrate it into your daily life, you
will be closer to the mindset of that centered place of perfect
peace. Then, your interactions with the world will occur from a
point of true self-acceptance, integration and self-love. It is
only when you love and understand yourself perfectly that you are
in a place to do the same for others. This is your gift and your
legacy; for yourself and for others. So do your best to give that
gift to both.
Copyright 2000, Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.
_______________________________________________________________
Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self". His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul's purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook "Inner Light Outer Wealth" at:
http://www.aksworld.com/AspireToWisdom.htm?imk=Blog _______________________________________________________________
You have permission to reproduce this article in your ezine, website or offline publication as long as you do so in its entirety, and include both the copyright notice and the resource box at the bottom.
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I'm not sure where I heard this, but it just came to mind today, as I was working on a long-winded project. The saying is brief and pithy, and it goes like this:
"It ain't done until it's done!"
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How true. Are you often starting up a new project, doing a bit of it, and then starting up a new project, whilst promising to come back to the first? I know I am guilty of this kind of thing all the time.
But like the saying goes, "It ain't done until it's done". In other words, "nearly done" is not the same as "done". A space shuttle that is "nearly" finished isn't of much practical use to anyone, and certainly cannot be trusted for a space flight. You can't "nearly" win a race either. You either do or you don't!
Likewise, in your professional life, you need to emphasize actually finishing a project off, i.e. getting it DONE, before starting up with something else. Otherwise, you really are biting off more than you can chew.
I'm trying to make sure I start less, but get what I have started done at last. I think this is a very important skill to master in this age of attention deficit. Indeed, one of the traits of highly successful people seems to be their ability to focus upon doing one thing at a time, and getting each of those things DONE!
Worth thinking about?
Copyright Asoka Selvarajah 2005. All Rights Reserved.
_______________________________________________________________
Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self". His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul's purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook "Inner Light Outer Wealth" at:
http://www.aksworld.com/AspireToWisdom.htm?imk=Blog _______________________________________________________________
You have permission to reproduce this article in your ezine, website or offline publication as long as you do so in its entirety, and include both the copyright notice and the resource box at the bottom.
Filed under General, News, Personal Growth by
There is something we came here to do, and we feel incomplete
until we have done it. This is what Joseph Campbell so aptly
called “following your bliss”.
Following your bliss simply means living without compromise with
regards to all the “Thou shalts” in life. There is a force in
your ego consciousness that creates rules of conformity. Like a
thermostat keeping the temperature of a room constant, most
people have a thermostat keeping them beautifully in tune with
the expectations and demands of society. In doing so, they give
up their soul, and the very purpose for why they manifested in
the first place.
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Rather than live from a position of fear – concerned exclusively
with money, survival or social responsibilities – you instead
make your peace of mind and your own integrity your guiding
light. Don’t become like the man who said “I never did a thing I
wanted to in my entire life!” Does this sound bizarre? You would
be surprised how many people get to the end of their life and
concur with this sentiment!
When you follow your bliss, everything is different. Rather than
relying on only the visible means of support – money, career,
physical health, business contacts – you put yourself in the
place where divine forces can assist you in doing what you were
meant to do. However, it is only when you can step out in faith,
take the risks and chances, totally free of fear, that Providence
reaches out to support you.
This is really what being fully human is all about. It is in
opposition to opting out of our heritage, in favor of opting into
the machine-like conformist society. Living in full contact with
the Higher Self IS being fully human, instead of the hugely
diminished version we all settle for today. Solitude can do this
for us. It can begin to peel away the layers of who we think we
are, in order to get to the essence of who we really are.
Why is solitude so vital to the process? The reason is because we
live in such an unnatural society. Our ancestors lived in the
open, in constant communion with Nature, and in spiritual
communion with both the visible and invisible world. By contrast,
we do the exact opposite. Western society, for all its many
benefits, shields us from the direct experience of dynamic
vital life that our ancestors once knew. Muscles that were once
tight and strong from the rigors of daily existence must now be
toned through regular aerobics or multi-gym workouts instead. The
fight-or-flight response, instead of firing up your adrenal
system in preparation for seeking escape from a tiger, is now
used to become fired up with rage about your boss or noisy
neighbors instead.
In the past, we had no need to make special visits to places of
natural beauty, or “get in tune with Nature”. We were already an
open-circuit to the reality that surrounded us. Each of us was an
inseparable interactive part with Nature and the spiritual realm
simultaneously.
Solitude allows us to escape from this highly synthetic society;
so out of sorts with our basic life cycles and inner needs. By
regularly putting it to rest for a little while each day, you
create a sacred space. It is vital for each person who really
desires progress to create this sacred space into which only they
can enter. It is not done to strengthen your individuality, since
this is itself illusory. The reason you need regular solitude is
to allow a place for the incubation of the new birth upon which
you are laboring. It is a fundamental principle of the universe
that time and solitude are essential to incubate a new creation.
In the darkness of the womb, each of us was formed quietly. The
universe itself burst into being from the infinitely fertile void
of silent emptiness. A caterpillar retreats into the solitude of
a chrysalis, and then literally dissolves into a liquid mess
before slowly reforming over time into a beautiful new creation.
The caterpillar/butterfly analogy is an excellent one for our
contemplation. Just like that caterpillar, we too seek to be
transformed into something that bears no resemblance whatsoever
to what we were before. Nothing from the past has any
contribution to make to the new. A mystery must occur, and one
that defies explanation. Our part is not to rationalize, explain,
or study in order to achieve. We must simply let ourselves be
transformed from above.
This is also the mystical meaning of virgin birth, as mentioned
in the New Testament with reference to Jesus. Virgin birth also
existed in preexisting mythology throughout the pagan world. The
motif is common and refers in each case to the same thing. What
we give birth to, through submitting ourselves to the process of
transformation, has no father. In other words, it is totally new.
There is no seed of preexisting human experience. The new
creation requires nothing more from us than that we simply make
the space and time for it. It is virgin-born; born from above,
from the wholly other, through divine intervention.
When we are quiet and let the impressions of the day fade away,
we create that incubation space for spiritual reality to emerge
within us. There is no set time in which the change will occur.
This is obvious. What is required is a sincere commitment to the
process.
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Above Article Excerpted From My Course, "The Seven Golden Secrets
To Knowing Your Higher Self". Discover The Secrets To Inner
Peace, Abundance, Life Purpose, & Joy.
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