Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected Freedomanger before we start to suspect that it is there. Or perhapswe experience night after night of violent dreams. If theenergy remains unreceived then the only alternative is adescent, as I mentioned, into distortion or excess. For themore introverted types, in which category most meditatorsfall, self-loathing is often the norm. ‘I’m worthless, I’m ahopeless case, and I’ve failed everything. I just put on a faceand pretend, but basically I’m damaged goods. I hate myselfso much.’ Or paranoia: ‘Everybody hates me, everybody isout to harm me.’The more extroverted character is likely to fall intoexpressions of excess like violence and aggression. We cansee this in the way people go out on drinking binges, orbecome violent in their relationships or families. Is suchugliness a symptom of people’s inherent badness? Not at all;it’s a sign that anger has not been understood. Anger, in notbeing received, is uncontained and dangerous, but the issueis with the relationship we have with the energy, not with theenergy itself. As meditators we really need to understandthis. And I believe such understanding can come if we areinterested in the actuality of what we call emotions, notmerely in conceptualizations of them.If we embark on such an investigation, we will not onlycome to a greater personal sense of contentment, but we mayalso find a clearer appreciation of why our world is such astrange place and what we can do to help it.Thank you for your question.52