Let´s continue with our series of featured meditations by Anthony de Mello, from his book The way to Love: today I´m sharing with you meditation number twenty-six (you can read the previous ones here, here and here).
By the way, I´d like to clarify that even though these reflections start from a seemingly Christian context (always beginning with a quote from the Bible), in reality, their content is much more spiritual than religious, so regardless of what your beliefs are, I encourage you to keep reading and then draw your own conclusions.
Here we go:
"Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" - Luke 24:26
Think of some of the painful events in your life. For how many of them are you grateful today, because thanks to them you changed and grew? Here is a simple truth of life that most people never discover. Happy events make life delightful but they do not lead to self-discovery and growth and freedom. That privilege is reserved to the things and persons and situations that cause us pain.
Every painful event contains in itself a seed of growth and liberation. In the light of this truth return to your life now and take a look at one or another of the events that you are not grateful for, and see if you can discover the potential for growth that they contain which you were unaware of and therefore failed to benefit from. Now think of some recent event that caused you pain, that produced negative feelings in you. Whoever or whatever caused those feelings was your teacher, because they revealed so much to you about yourself that you probably did not know. And they offered you an invitation and a challenge to self-understanding, self-discovery, and therefore to growth and life and freedom.
Intenta ahora identificar el sentimiento negativo que ese acontecimiento ha despertado en ti. Puede haber sido un sentimiento de inquietud, de inseguridad, de envidia, de ira, de culpa… ¿Qué te dice esa emoción acerca de ti mismo, de tus valores, de tu manera de percibir el mundo y la vida y, sobre todo, de tu «programación» y tus condicionamientos? Si consigues descubrirlo, te librarás de alguna ilusión o espejismo al que hasta ahora te habías aferrado, o dejarás de percibir alguna cosa de manera deformada, o corregirás alguna falsa creencia, o aprenderás a distanciarte de tu sufrimiento… Con tal de que comprendas que todo ello ha sido causado por tu «programación», no por la propia realidad; e inesperadamente comprobarás que te sientes plenamente agradecido por esos sentimientos negativos y por la persona o el acontecimiento que los ha originado.
Intenta ahora dar un paso más. Considera todo cuanto piensas, sientes, dices y haces… Y no te agrada: tus emociones negativas, tus defectos, tus «handicaps», tus errores, tus apegos, tus neurosis, tus dependencias… Y tus pecados, naturalmente. Puedes considerarlo todo ello como una parte necesaria de tu desarrollo; como algo que te ofrece una promesa de crecimiento y de gracia para ti y para otros y que no se daría sin esa cosa concreta que tanto te desagrada. Y si tú mismo has ocasionado dolor y sentimientos negativos a otros, piensa que en ese momento has ejercido con ellos la función de «maestro» y les has dado ocasión de autoconocerse y de crecer. Puedes seguir considerándolo hasta que lo veas todo ello como una «feliz culpa», como un pecado necesario que es ocasión de un inmenso bien para ti y para el mundo.
If you can, your heart will be flooded with peace and gratitude and love and acceptance of every single thing. And you will have discovered what people everywhere are searching for and never find. Namely, the fountainhead of serenity and joy that hides in every human heart.
What do you think of this topic? Does it resonate with you? If so, remember that pain is mandatory sometimes, but suffering is optional…