In doing my prep for Sunday morning I found a passage in Eckhart Tolle that caused me pause ... In the Advent season of waiting and anticipating, one can easily get too caught up in the preparation and find one's self in a place of anxiety waiting for the unfolding of Christmas, or one can be so fearful of the season that one can find one's self in a place of anger, resentment and negativity. The challenge for the season, and indeed the calling of faith that resonates as we make our way to Bethlehem is to be present to the moment in which we stand, and to wait actively for the events to unfold ... we can neither hurry, nor tarry, but instead we need to simply make the journey both through Advent, and in our daily lives, step by step:
Negativity is not intelligent. It is always of the ego.
Whenever you are in a negative state, there is soemthing in you that wants the negativity, that perceives it as pleasurable, or that believes it will get you what you want. Otherwise, who would want to hang on to negativity, make themselves and others miserable, and create disease in the body?
So, whenever there is negativity in you, if you can be aware at that moment that there is something in you that takes pleasure in it or believes it has a useful purpose, you are becoming aware of the ego directly. The moment this happens, your identity has shifted from ego to awareness. This means the ego is shrinking and awareness is growing.
(Eckhart Tolle - Oneness With All Life, pg 117)
The Advent Season is a reminder to engage in active waiting by living in full awareness of this moment ... this moment is ALL there really is.
Dayenu !!
2 comments:
Sometimes negativity can be a good thing... and it is not always what it seems. Being protective and fighting for your right to choose for example can come across as negative, but I think it is what helps some people succeed. Or, perhaps when people are negative they are actually frustrated because the situation and other people are not satisfying their emotional or physical needs? I believe it is different for everyone and sometimes when you are negative all the time you are really just in an unhappy situation and need to find a change that makes you happy.
Thank you for this insightful post. I get this about negativity and when I see it in myself, I do understand that I have an attachment to it and it is to have compassion for this aspect of me that feels that need. This helps me to then integrate that need so that it naturally becomes less. Blessings...
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