Rising Above Nature.
We all come into this world with our own mixture of light and darkness. For some, there is a clear line of demarcation that defines their duality, and for others there is a very large gray area that allows for a certain moral flexibility.
The only thing that’s certain through all of our delineations is the knowledge that we can draw from either side of our personality at any time, and that some people make no distinction either way.
It’s our awareness that creates our morality.
But how well do you exercise your awareness, and just as importantly, when do you use it? I have worked with some people whose awareness of the damage that they caused was incredibly limited, and only took effect long after their actions and words had caused irreparable harm to another.
Others I have known are always aware, constantly watching their actions, checking every word and trying to treat others with as much kindness as possible.
Yet all, and I mean all, of us have our days where instead of rising to the pinnacle of our principles, we fall into the failure of our nature.
Maybe it’s not that big of a fall by the standards of the world, or of those around us, but the strong person is the one who keeps their own judgments as to the necessity of decency, kindness and virtue.
In a world that seems to venerate the material and vilify the spiritual, there is a constant struggle for principle over popularity, decency over denigration, humanity over hedonism and calm over cacophony.
And by our actions every day, we choose our pathway through the principles we follow.
It may be said that the struggle over our innate nature is comprised of our decisions to eschew darkness in our choices, and most importantly in our thoughts that lead to our actions. This is a difficult pathway, requiring a deep self awareness and a willingness to let go of the needs that drive our innermost thoughts and desires, forsaking that which enlivens us for that which ennobles us.
Even then, not out of a wish for a greater appreciation by others, but a greater surrender to the principles that inspire us, believing in our hearts that the choice is right in and of itself, rather than right for us.
For inasmuch as our nature is to be selfish, the pinnacle of our potential is to arrive at selflessness. That is not a refutation of the material, but rather the lack of the need of the consciousness to identify as a self at all.
And just being.
In one of those strange twists of understanding, we realize that in order to rise above our nature, we just need to cease being who we believe we are, and instead experience each moment without reference to our ego, merely choosing what is right, over what is right for us.
And in renouncing the nature of our birth, we arrive at the nature of our soul.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
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