--- In [email protected], "tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > TorquoiseB writes snipped: > > Everyone I've ever met who seemed to be enlightened or > > seemed close to it was, > > above all, comfortable being themselves. Some people > > think that this is an attribute of enlightenment, > > something that happens *after* realization, one of the > > "perks" of enlightenment. These days, I tend to believe > > instead that being comfortable with one's self is one > > of the prerequisites of enlightenment. > > TomT: > After 15 years on the spiritual path I ended up in an > Alanon group and consider myself to be still a part of > that group also, 18 years later. What was not apparent > at the beginning of working the 12 steps is that you > do end up just learning to be OK with the hand that was > dealt. It seems like the initial focus is to nip and > tuck but it does come down to moving on from denial to > acceptance and finally awareness of how much that has > been denied can only finally be healed by looking at it > and loving it all. It is your hand, play it. The steps > can be broken into three groups first four are awareness > and movement from denial. second four are action to own > what your are, last four are total acceptance of who you > are while you figure out how you might love all > those unloved pieces of your life. Tom
Thanks for your comments, Tom. One of the reasons I wrote this particular rap was that I was seeing a certain tendency in this other group, one that I wanted to stir up some discussion about. The spiritual group in question has a very *strong* "Nip/Tuck" approach to spirituality. People are constantly getting down on themselves and berating themselves for not being egoless enough, not being compassionate enough...just not being *enough*. What I noticed, however, was that every time there was an upsurge of these folks feeling like they had to "fix" themselves, it was accompanied by a similar upsurge in trying to "fix" others. In other words, the worse they felt about and treated themselves, the worse they treated others within the group. The less comfortable they were with the aspects of themselves they considered 'imperfect,' the less comfortable they were with those same things in the other students around them. It seems to me that being uncomfortable with oneself spiritually seems to go hand-in-hand with the tendency to become a spiritual fascist. The more "rules" one imposes on onesself, the more you feel comfortable imposing on others. The less tolerant you are of your own faults, the less tolerant you are with others. And vice-versa, of course, which is why I brought up the subject...
