Recognizing the Grievance
There has been an interesting classroom fomenting today. And even though some hurtful words have been exchanged the circumstances here are very fruitful examples to aid in the understanding of the current lesson.
Some have wondered. Has the exchanges of strong emotion been in category one or two? Hasn’t there been a grievance here somewhere?
Let us take Member One’s remark toward Member Two.
“It just so happens that I’ve heard stories about you abusing your child,
Ooops….I’m late….no time ….gotta go……”
I believe that in his mind he used this strong wording to make a point rather than to make a real accusation toward Member Two. Nevertheless, it was about as an inflammatory choice of words as one could conjure up and most group members see it as a below-the-belt slam.
Let us put ourselves in Member Two’s shoes. All evidence suggests that she is a loving mother who is doing her best to care for her child and is willing to sacrifice whatever necessary for his benefit. There is probably nothing more insulting for a good mother than to be accused of being a bad mother.
Therefore, unless Member Two is a superhuman being from the 15th dimension she was bound to feel some strong emotion, possibly even rage from that remark.
So does this move it into a category two emotion where grievances dwell?
Normally this would not be the case – not unless she has given away her power to casual friends such as Member One and others. With a category one emotion you can feel great anger, outrage and indignation, but you will not suffer a grievance unless power is misplaced.
One can rant and rave and make lots of tempestuous noise with a class one emotion, yet harbor no grievance. On the other hand, one can suffer a class two emotion that begins with such subtlety over something that seems like nothing, and you do not even realize that anything negative is happening until the seed is planted and suppressed begins to grow into grievance and hurt.
Casual acquaintances can dish out any insult they wish to me and it does not bother me at all, but there are times that my wife can make a very innocent remark that seems harmless that can effect me more than the angry insults of a thousand that do not have my personal trust.
Therefore Member Two is justified in feeling some outrage here, but she should not feel a grievance.
Is there anything that could have transpired here today to make her feel a grievance – that could move the emotion over into class two?
I believe so.
If, after Member One made that remark, that all members of the group said nothing in her defense or seemed to acquiesce into the thought that Member One could be correct or worse still that the only comments that were to come forward would be in support of Member One’s statement… In this case Member Two would be likely to develop a hurt and grievance that would need to surface.
Why would this situation cause a grievance?
Because Member Two and others have developed a trust in the group members as a whole and look upon them as family and family are close enough to stimulate grievance.
Fortunately, there are those who did stand up for Member Two and gave her emotional support and thus I would guess that the potential grievance was diverted.
Suppose the offense is confined to class one category? Should we always control ourselves and return good for evil?
Answer: This is a judgment call and judgment must indeed be used if one is to maintain the optimum in mental and physical health.
If one does not check anger and outrage with some self control then he will create too much outgoing energy which will interfere with health as well as soul contact. On the other hand, if he does not communicate or get in touch with his emotional feelings in a class one incident then he will be likely to suppress when a class two incident comes into play. The main thing to do is to follow the urgings of your own soul to the best of your ability. Your inner self will tell you when you have gone too far in expression and it will also tell you when you have not gone far enough. As a reader said, this is not a black and white thing for discernment must always be used. Another consideration is that people on different points on the Path have differing needs for emotional expression.
On the other hand a grievance is black and white. It does not come by degrees. It is either there or is not there and whether it is caused by an unkind word or a major betrayal the disturbance is the same. Anger and other emotions may vary in intensity with the degree of offense, but the actual grievance is quite uniform.
The Course in Miracles teaches this principle. Let me quote:
“There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.”
I am glad to see that Susan is using this advice to her advantage. She tells us that she has given away too much of her power in the past and is seeking to disperse it with greater discernment in order to avoid grievances in the future.
I hope I do not embarrass her, but I thought I would make a comment about her that may be helpful to many including herself. She sent me some of her handwriting a while back and I took a look at it. In her writing is another characteristic that can increase the number of grievances.
Many downstrokes in her writing comes down with a bow or bend in them. This indicates a bending of the will. Now a slight bending of the will is a good thing because it provides for reasonable compromise in a relationship and some compromise is always necessary. But a pronounced bending of the will indicates a person who goes out of their way to accommodate the desires of others at their own expense. This can lead to not standing up for your own interests leading to grievances because your own needs are not met.
This is another area affecting the emotions that requires judgment. A certain amount of compromise is healthy for all involved, but if you are always the one giving in then one will be tempted to suppress sooner or later and pretend that all is well when all is not well.
Susan and the rest of us must always remember that we are just as important as the other person in relationship and must give ourselves equal opportunity for fulfillment.
May 5th and Comments
I was just watching the news and they announced the most recent theory about the shape of the universe due to recent Hubble studies. Scientists have concluded that the universe is somewhat flat and disc shaped.
On January 16th of this year we reported here in this group without the aid of the Hubble telescope the shape of the universe a using the Law of Correspondences. Let me quote:
“None of the living bodies are circular. The human for instance is egg shaped. Keep in mind that you have to consider the shape of our aura and outer film to see our true shape. The earth is flattened at the poles. Then the solar system is more flattened still and a galaxy even more so. This would suggest that the universe is not circular, but disked shaped. But since the universe is young compared to a galaxy we would have to look at a young galaxy to get an idea as to the current shape of the universe. Thus it would look a little like a cloud coming into the shape of a disc.”
Stay tuned. We will always try and stay ahead of the scientists and the news here.
We have also heard a lot of end of the world type of predictions from the planetary line up on May 5th, 2000. I took a look at the lineup on that date and see nothing to be alarmed about nor any evidence that we will be translated into a new dimension.
For one thing the line up is far from perfect. The alignment from earth perspective (geocentric) spans 27 degrees and from a view from the sun (heliocentric) spans 53 degrees. This would make the magnetic pull of the alignment of no great significance. I will admit that on the 9th we have a pretty tight alignment (from the geocentric view) of the Earth, the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. There are also four tight squares between Uranus (the ruler of new age of Aquarius) and Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun. The most significant is the tight square with Saturn.
What I see from this configuration is a strong harmony through conflict situation in relation to coming changes of the new age..
Those working on the side of light will become more united, empowered and committed than ever before, but those on the side of darkness and the status quo will heighten their resistance to the coming changes that herald the new age. This energy should stimulate the surfacing of conflicts on some level that will bring old and new age ideas into high visibility. If those working in the light play their part the resistance will be futile and the new ideas will prevail.
Although there may be a few strange weather conditions in various parts of the globe I do not see any major disasters facing us in the next few weeks.
A reader asked if his experiences were related to soul contact
Rather than judging an experience let me speak of general principles. Soul energy has an influence on all of mankind and lower soul energy even builds and sustains the bodies in which we live but conscious contact with higher soul energies is another matter.
Before conscious soul contact is achieved a person may go through a number of supernatural experiences over a period of several lifetimes. Even without conscious soul contact, of which we have been speaking, a person may receive interesting knowledge filtered through dreams and visions of various thought forms. It is also true that one with soul contact may receive through dreams and higher visions. This creates a difficulty in figuring out who has the contact and who does not.
True soul contact begins with the still small voice and the connection grows from there. This contact is made and sustained in full waking consciousness and as the seeker develops his ability to perceive that which is true he becomes more and more accurate. In the end of the process he becomes a seer as described in ancient scriptures. The seer reaches a point when he can see truth with a certainty of knowing.
All of us are linked together with certain individuals because of past relationships and similarity of vibration so it is entirely understandable that one could feel very close to someone in dreams that he is not close to on the physical plane. The Higher Self remembers relationships that we have forgotten and may bring these together in the dream state.
May 1, 2000
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