A new Facebook friend posted the other day: “Well, it a new day, time to laugh at our individual and collective seriousness. There is nothing here that cannot be beautifully raised into the light of dawn….who’s ready to let go their version of the ancient hatred?“

I commented: “Hatred and grumpiness is too time consuming for me. I have squirrels to watch and birds to feed. I see the humor in their squabbling amongst themselves. Who wants the biggest seed? Who ends up with the most seeds? From here it’s just comical. For them, maybe not so much.” 

I’m not sure how he took that, but he replied: “Andrea, you have to remember that this hatred is not a “human” condition, meaning that the ego is constructed so that you don’t see this… it is a spiritual condition, in that it points to our disconnection with the radical and radiant truth of who we are… as long as you think of yourself as human and love this human world you are lost to paradise… our function is to be the ing between this paradise and earth, what is called the Christ… so you may think that you avoid your self-hatred by turning toward the squirrels, but this is only a delaying tactic. but enjoy yourself!“

WTAF??

This is a new Facebook friend, I’ll call him Grumpy, that I requested to add after seeing a comment of his on a mutual friend’s page.  A mutual Facebook friend whom I do not know and, although he’s a popular writer of current spiritual books, whose work I am not familiar with.  I’ll call him Gary. At conferences I have always somehow not attended Gary’s talks, not by design, always by having another priority scheduled at that time slot.  Yet friends rave to me about his work with A Course in Miracles.  I’ve seen their lives change through the years, so I have no reason to doubt when they say Gary is a profound teacher.

My experience is people who study the The Course – or any intellectual teaching – deeply often find themselves embroiled in the same type of personality conflicts as occurred at the origin of The Course. Vibrational match, no biggie, it passes.  So I was a little confused when Grumpy wrote me that “as long as you think of yourself as human and love this human world you are lost to paradise” and “you may think that you avoid your self-hatred by turning toward the squirrels, but this is only a delaying tactic”.

Self hatred?? Me?

Then I remember, this man does not know me nor anything about me. He can see we have only one mutual FB friend, Gary, so Grumpy likely assumes I am Gary‘s fan or advocate and takes what I say as somehow sarcastic or caustic.  I decide to read more at Grumpy‘s FB page and that seems to be his way, so I didn’t take it personally.  And I see now we have 81 mutual FB friends, so he’s culling my friends list.  And an hour later 104, now 152.  LOL I gotta laugh, you know how that goes.  🙂

I got some good responses to my comment “Hatred and grumpiness is too time consuming for me. I have squirrels to watch and birds to feed. I see the humor in their squabbling amongst themselves. Who wants the biggest seed? Who ends up with the most seeds? From here it’s just comical. For them, maybe not so much.” 

One commented: Maybe Andrea is laughing at the squirrels because she understands that there is no ancient hatred and never was. Nothing to let go of, nothing to do, look at the squirrels and laugh like a child…all is forgiven now – what is there not to smile and laugh about.

Andrea replied: Scott got it right – what’s to hate when I know who I am in the greater scheme of things? It’s all good. I think of my Self as being stuffed into this tiny human body on this tiny planet of humans but I am not fooled thinking that is all I Am – au contraire.

Someone else wrote to Grumpy: “You insist on seeing sarcastic dragons and contemptuous monsters… Well all I can say really is that your cry for help is always heard.”

To whom Grumpy had to say, “enjoy your little fiefdom, where you rule without any interference.“

LOL Does that not sound like the squirrels and the birds, fighting over who wants the biggest seed? Who ends up with the most seeds?   We see stuff like this in the people around us all the time, don’t we?

We’ve heard friends say “he’s not spiritual” because he does this or doesn’t do that.  Everyone has their own definitions.  You can be spiritual and not be consciously aware or enlightened.  Spiritual folks likely spend more than 51% of their time on the path, being kind and helpful without seeking recognition for it, knowing we’re all connected.   They can be compassionate caretakers without being what the labellers would call consciously evolved.  Intellectual or self actualized doesn’t mean you’re spiritual  or not spiritual.

We’ve all got lots of parts to ourselves.  I think self help or seeking enlightenment or wokeness or whatever you call it is all about consciously choosing to make it part of your daily plan to work at reconciling the various aspects of your personality into as cohesive a whole as you are able.  Get some goals in mind, and keep moving in the direction of them.  I’m not conscious all the time, but I stumble less than many and far less than I used to.  I no longer kick myself for my own lapses because I don’t hold anything against anyone else for theirs.

Amazing how that all just works itself out when you stop feeding it and just focus on doing the next right thing.  And that includes treating everyone around you as if you know you are all connected, the Golden Rule and all that.

That includes not getting into pissing matches with anyone for any reason. Let the personality differences slip away. Don’t respond to anyone who goads you. Ignore it. Don’t even know it’s happening. Don’t vibrate there and they will soon slip out of your experience. And when that happens, everyone wins.