In today’s social and political climate, it seems quite easy to talk about what we are against. When we clearly see wrongs in the world, we point them out and (hopefully) hold accountable those who perpetuate harmful paradigms.
So too in our personal lives it is good and right to know and articulate what we will not allow in our lives – that from the outside that seeks to diminish our sacred worth or that from our internal dialogue that undermines our work to realize our ideal self.
But if we get stuck in only creating boundaries against what we are against, then it becomes harder to flourish in what we are for.
Fr. Richard Rohr in a reflection for the Center for Action and Contemplations, says:
“Everyone gets tired of critique after a while. We cannot build on exclusively negative or critical energy. We can only build on life and what we are for, not what we are against. Negativity keeps us in a state of victimhood and/or a state of anger. Mere critique and analysis are not salvation; they are not liberation, nor are they spacious. They are not wonderful at all. We only become enlightened as the ego dies to its pretenses, and we begin to be led by soul and Spirit.” – Richard Rohr
What do you think about this quote?
It can be harder to talk about what we are for because that asks us to be active participants in change for the better. Once we can clearly identify state what we want for ourselves, our family, our community and our world, we are called to be the very change agents we need.
How are you making manifest what you are for? How might you be the change you are seeking?
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi
