How many times have we known something that we have not said to another because we haven’t known how or we didn’t want to hurt their feelings? How many times do we get caught in self-defeating patterns that attack another out of frustration? Both of these reactions are extremes, and do not serve truth. Within relationships, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of another and consider how we would want to be told something by another. We then consider what needs to be addressed and find the way to bring that truth forward. If we don’t know the right way, we can ask for help through prayer – for the right words, and for the courage to overcome our own hesitance to speak up.
There is an art to truth and there is need to learn how to refine our methods of expression, requiring willingness to be present and conscious at all times. Denying what we know is diminishing truth. It not only diminishes the other and ourselves, it diminishes God, who reflects through us. When we become conscious in the moment of what is around us, we can feel when something is out of step – and if we address the issue or concern right then, it brings clarity to light and opens a way for greater dialogue. However, if in the moment our reaction is anger, we need to pause so that we take time to process and consider why we are angry, and find a way to express without attacking. As each of us moves into this conscious expression, we are able to come closer to one another, and we are able to overcome issues and differences because we don’t let them build through time from molehills into mountains.
Each of us is unique, and yet we are similar. We live with paradox, and part of the process is finding our way through the maze of contradiction to come to the central space where there is no differentiation. When we are able to apprehend the larger design of which we are a part, we can find our unique strand that fulfills the pattern of the tapestry. The purpose in this time is moving away from isolation and separation to find our authenticity and interconnectedness to all of life. From this space we are able to move within a sacred context and it is there that we find and portray the Beloved.
From Seasons of the Soul print edition, Spring 1997