Good Morning ! I hope you are ready for a terrific week.
Have you ever tried to do something, even something truly noble, and it was met with ridiculous amounts of opposition? Maybe you tried to:
- Help an addict.
- Be kind to a difficult person.
- Make lasting personal change.
Physics tells us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
An opposing force. It is an unchangeable law. It's a part of the design of our cosmos.
It can be frustrating. It feels like a grinding headwind. Sometimes it feels personal. It is no wonder that ancient stories and religions have personified the opposing forces as the adversary or Satan as the Hebrew term describes it.
Regardless of whether your category for this force is personal or impersonal, it
is nonetheless very real. Some forces work against our physical environments, others work against or political, social, economic, or spiritual environments. The question for each of us is: "Besides headwind, how can I tell if I encounter opposition?"
Here are some things to consider:
- First off, it's not weird. There is no cold, only absence of heat. Yet the effect of varying temperatures create climate change. In the same way, there is
no dark only absence of light. Yet the effect of varying amounts of light create limitations in sight. In the same way badness doesn't exist in isolation, it is spoiled goodness. We don't do bad things, we go after good things badly. Yet the effect is the erosion of our humanity.
- If #1 is true, then most of the drag on human progress is the spoiled goodness within us. If so, then we should expect to see people opposing their own best plans. There
would be minds that yearn for liberation attached to hands that build various personal prisons. Confusion.
Perhaps for some people, there is practical value in personifying the opposing force. Especially if it exposes those aspects of a false (confused) self that sabotage our opportunities to thrive. If a person comes to their end never finding peace or flourishing because at every turn they saw only distortion, then the most fitting name for a cause so horrible would be to label
it the Devil. Labeling it "negative self-talk" or a "defeater belief" hardly represents how bad these oppositions are to becoming our truest, created self.
Once we see the opposing force, we must never forget the central force that it opposes. It resides within us. It is the thing behind the thing behind the thing. It is the uncaused cause, the impetus for hope, change and movement. It too is
personal.
Spend some time each day going after that force, let it gain strength. In time it will displace all opposition.
Have a great week!
"If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"- Matthew 6:23
