Love
is the Lesson
“...care
of the soul is quite different in scope from most modern notions of
psychology and psychotherapy. It isn't about curing, fixing,
changing, adjusting or making healthy, and it isn't about some idea
of perfection or even improvement. It doesn't look to the future for
an ideal, trouble-free existence. Rather, it remains patiently in the
present, close to life as it presents itself day-by-day...”
Thomas
Moore (Care of the Soul)
The
last two weeks of discomfort and difficulty have reminded me that the
soul is not much interested in my comfort, or my untroubled existence.
It doesn't care whether my sewer is overflowing, or that I have to
tote my laundry to the coin-operated machines to wash. It isn't
concerned with age or inconvenience. These things are common in life.
We are inconvenienced in large ways and small; we are taxed and
discomforted and troubled and vexed regularly. This is the nature of
life. My soul is only interested in how I meet these ordinary
challenges.
My
soul cares whether I respond to these challenges by lashing out and
decrying the unfairness of life, or by accepting that life lived in
the moment will have some difficulties and some rewards. Psychology
would have me cope in healthy ways with hardship and enjoy the
rewards. Soul would have me meet them as equals and learn from them.
Modern psychology is fabulous for providing us with tools for dealing
with life in a manner that benefits us and does not harm others. It
is great at problem solving; at helping us to come up with pragmatic
ways to deal with whatever life throws at us. Soul is more interested
in generating questions and finding meaning. How can I meet this new
reality with love and acceptance? Why is it coming at this time in my
life?
Psychology,
as it is practiced today, is cognitive in nature. It helps us to
reinterpret life events in ways that lessen the stress we experience
in the face of them. There is great merit in that. We all need to
learn how to take things in stride rather than react negatively to
them. The soul is all about heart. Was there heart involved in the
wretched plumbing incident? Of course. The men who came and tried to
fix it were incredibly kind, even when sewage blasted out of the pipe
and covered them. They came, they worked, and even called two days
later to see how we were doing. My friend opened his home and allowed
my son and me to camp out there for several days. Other friends
offered to take us in, to give us access to their bathrooms and
washing machines. With soul, even when the problem is sewage, love is the lesson.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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