“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” ~ Carl Jung

True spirituality is the subtlest expression of non-violence.

It is learning to love, which is difficult. We must be willing to move into the darkest areas of our life and love ourselves out of the darkness through mindfulness and patience. We have to see our naked body, with all of its perfections and imperfections, and patiently resist the violent urge to reject it. This takes an immense amount of courage. We are terrified of seeing ourselves without any clothes on. We insist upon avoiding ourselves by thinking about ourselves, rather than being our self. True spirituality is about rediscovering the indestructible dignity of being through the practice of love.

Rather than waging yet another war on our self, in order to whip ourselves into shape, the practice of meditation represents the possibility of moving beyond the struggle against our self. The following talk explores this one possibility.

 

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta

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