Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

You see, on the short term, our egotistical behaviors bleed us of energy with every
“lick”. And we all know that these slight tastings do temporary damage the physical body
& that they do longer-lasting damage to the mental mind, and yet it is their spiritual
consequences that are even more devastating. For every time we engage a self-centered
act – even if our choice is “harmless” or “reasonable”, we lock ourselves in isolation
while we do so – far from others, and therefore far from our True Selves. Our narcissistic
habits keep us focused on our own satisfaction, our own contentment or our own comfort
… walling us off from the Love for others that is our one true source of real Power &
deep-seated Peace.
Even more insidiously, gradually over time these behaviors steadily erode our
ability to experience pleasure at all. Lick a razor and you will bleed a bit; lick a razor
repeatedly and you will no longer be able to taste at all, no matter how much honey you
might ingest.
“Every form of addiction is destructive, no matter whether the narcotic
be alcohol, morphine … or idealism.” ~ Carl Jung
Secondly, it is crucial for us to comprehend the Truth that, in one way or another,
practically every person on Earth is addicted … and this Truth includes you. To be free
of your self-destructive choices, it is crucial that you have enough humility to recognize
that you are an addict as well.
I myself can freely admit the same. I may not struggle with the commonly
recognized addictions of alcohol, drugs or nicotine, and yet unless I am conscious &
Care-full, I have my own set of self-centered habits that regularly resurface in my life.
And as such, I, too, am an addict.
Now please note that this reality doesn’t make us “bad people” – it simply means
that we are hurting on a deep, subconscious level, and responding quite reasonably to that
pain. In the turbulent and confusing (and sometimes even traumatic) experience of
growing from infancy to adulthood, we have all experienced immense torment. Deep
down we are all hurting still, and quite reasonably, we are all looking for ways to relieve
that pain. Doing so does not make us “inferior” or “weak” or “selfish”; it simply makes
us human beings — beings who, at least on our most primal level, are fundamentally selffocused;
beings who have yet to fully remember that we are so much more than merely
intelligent mammals or moderately evolved primates.
Even though we may be acting “primitively”, we are not primitive … Even
though we make hollow excuses and think that we are “only human”, in reality, we are
soooooo much more. Even though we would like to believe that there is no alternative to
selfishness, we have simply yet to fully awaken to the greatest of Truths:
… that we are conscious and can choose how & why we act;
… that we can always set aside our self-preservative instincts in favor of being Kind;
… in essence, that we are – when we want to be – courageously Human(e) Beings!
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