The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
Earnest Hemmingway
Everyone has a story to tell about his or her life. While the events of those lives may be similar to one another, the combination of events and characters makes each story unique. The way something happened, how it was perceived and other variables make every life different. Different events have helped to form the course of each life path. While these details may differ, the shared possibility of the transformative power of each person's struggles make each life a story worth telling.
In my own journey and from the stories that I have been told, there were events or insights that brought us to our knees in both surrender and supplication. I call such a humbling event a spiritual challenge. This challenge offers the opportunity to do the most difficult thing that can be asked of us: step outside the bounds of the primal brain and the ego and cross over to another side where there is a different view of events and of self, one based on openness rather than reflexive, primitive defense. These events trigger the search for answers to questions such as: Why am I here? Who am I? Why did this happen to me? Is there something greater than myself? What do I believe about life and my faith? Is there a God, and if so who or what is it? If there is no God of creation, then what do I put my faith in: money, self, government, or possibly science?
The questions themselves produce a kind of a crisis. Some people are born asking them. However and whenever you arrive at the point in life when your search begins, there is the opportunity to discover wholeness and a higher calling for your existence. It calls for literally transcending the brain's dictates and evolving into a spiritual self.
Coming face to face with oneself can be earth-shattering. Sometimes, it's easier to avoid the mirrors. Searching one’s soul to find true identity and to accept the answers to the questions takes courage. When understanding is found, it takes courage to stay in the search that might take a lifetime. The search doesn't just take place in the mind but also in the body, the emotions and in the faith. It never ceases.
At times, it may seem like giving up is the only way to stop the pain. Our default setting is to be guided by the primal brain with its focus on survival and safety. The brain can be considered of having distinct areas, all having evolved at different times. At the lowest levels are the control of fundamental functions like breathing and primitive responses to threat designed to ensure survival. At the more evolved levels are the abilities for more sophisticated thinking and behavioral control. But the primitive brain dominates, especially during the tough times, which pose a threat to our survival. The challenge is to somehow override those primal responses even when every cell in our body is demanding we defend ourselves, especially when we are vulnerable.
Feeling exposed can often cause a profound need to cover up again. The excuses to stop are endless. Change in and of itself causes a crisis and the brain wants to avoid a crisis at all costs. Those significant people in your life are also influenced by your change. Because of their own uncomfortable feelings about the changes they see in you, they may attempt to create an environment so that you can return to the old familiarity with them. Are the pain and the confusion that are experienced in discovery and growth worth it? Yes.
|
This excerpt focuses on the response to unwanted demands like places on us. While I experienced periods of depression after life through me a left curve, I didn't dwell on it for very long and got back to the business of living. I'm not sure this excerpt would lead me to want to read the book.
Ron