Messages from Twelve Wise Ones

Peace: Giving Up Rivalry November 11, 2009

Rivalry in the workplace, families and the world feeds on fear and insecurity and is accelerated by the desire to be recognized or appreciated.  Few can withstand the discomfort and pain of being criticized, attacked and blamed.  The feeling is literally that of being stabbed and deeply wounded.

Fear, when it comes up, wastes the energy of every man, woman and child.  It becomes you.  If allowed, it can overtake your perception of the world.  Fear flows through us like a mighty river.  When blocked, it begins building up and getting stuck within the body, hardening like frozen ice or concrete, and, finally, stopping all the healthy, normal emotions and actions from flowing.

The pain is then absorbed into negative emotions creating physical illness, addiction or deep morose.  Attempts are made to expel the pain by blaming, attacking or lashing out at another, which only leads to greater rivalry, competition and jealousy.

Fear, blaming, attacking and holding a ‘gun” at someone else gives the one doing it a false sense of superiority, a feeling that they are above the source of the threat of destruction.  The pain they cause in others is not felt when they are in the attack mode.  But this sense of triumph is short-lived because another enemy will show up.

This rivalry we are seeing in dramatic proportions today, actually stems from childhood pain that gets hooked in the relationships with others.   The pain needs to be released by facing and experiencing it—the very thing that most people avoid.  This resistance of understanding the self at a deep level occurs because people are afraid of opening up a dirty secret—that they are not worthy.   However, what they do not understand is that it takes so much energy maintaining this wall of protection and image of strength;  it is a false image.  Keeping up the defense is quite literally exhausting.

Emotional assaults are occurring every day at every level in the workplace and the world.  The prognosis for this ongoing dysfunction is not good.  It is an unending process leading to the deep lack of self esteem.   Self worth will never be found in perpetuating drama.  

What can you do to help heal relationships?  The only remedy is to stop reacting, attacking, defending, blaming and fearing to look at your own wound.  Who is the source of pain? Why do you allow the attack and, most of all, why do you believe them?

Staying with the pain, not running away, and allowing it to arise so that it can be released, is the only way you will discover liberation.  As you allow the pain to be felt, you will gradually recall and have memories in your psyche of other painful experiences.  This is your opportunity to witness to yourself how you received these ideas and descriptions of yourself and how these fears have become you!

Discovering your true self, your beautiful self, is difficult to do when you have incorrect beliefs about yourself that block your experience of joy.  Clearing out the fictitious thoughts requires the willingness to stay with your emotional pain, long enough to release it.  This courageous act will strengthen your inner core of authentic power, for you will be facing your greatest fear.   It only takes going to that place of pain, briefly.  You do not have to replay this scene of emotional suffering in your physical world again.  Allow the pain that is hurting you now to be the door to your release.  And that can only be done by you, on your own journey, to the source of lies about yourself.

The truth is that we are glorious beyond our own belief– all these little beliefs that we have created are nothing but this— shadowy veils.  These veils of protection keep us from being fully alive and joyous by filtering the light and shrouding us from seeing our true selves.