The Grip of Grievances

What is it about grievances that makes them so alluring? Though we valiantly strive to rid ourselves of unfortunate unpleasantness, their appeal nonetheless holds sway.

But I’m not attracted to grievances. So you say. So we all say. But let’s peer beneath the iron curtain of repressed renunciation and see what lurks in the seemingly forbidden realm of mind.

Completely outside the bounds of form-based consciousness, a choice is made in this ethereal abode. Either for the belief that a dualistic-selfhood has been wrested apart from infinite oneness, or against such an absurd impossibility.

One leads to an experience of a sensating name and body self, subjected to the capricious waves of fate. The other a sublime embodiment of perfect peace, reflecting the formless presence of unconditional love.

The former fostering the cruel cradle of intentioned grievances, each offering proof of perfection’s absence. That’s their hidden purpose, to reinforce the belief in a body-based me whose suffering is conspicuously laid upon separation’s altar.

Further, grievances persuasively present an image of expiative innocence. My distress both atonement and condemnation; your guilt augmenting my exoneration. And therein lies their appealing grip. Grievances offer us the gift of distinction without reproach.

And that is why our days are tirelessly spent in the service of grievances. The attempted diminishment merely a farcical cloak of convenience. And thus we proceed from one grievance to another, and back yet again. Until we finally arrive at the critical juncture of inquiry, "Mustn’t there be another way?"

This the opening to homeward-bound’s return movement. Where each grievance is repurposed into a gateway for gratitude with the certain realization there is nothing to grieve. Consider these lovely lines from A Course in Miracles:

Oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate. It once was one, and still is what it was … endless, timeless, and within your grasp. Not one note in Heaven’s song was missed.

We need but return awareness to the mind where we can make a different choice. Freedom from all sorrow the experienced effect.

Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore the seemingly intractable grip of grievances, and practices for experiencing the other way. I look forward to seeing you then.