Several religions have a figure who represents the essence of evil (Satan in Christianity for example) and whether or not you believe such a force exists, it is very important to understand how darkness encroaches upon the human psyche, and how it operates through human beings who allow themselves to be motivated by its force. New Age spirituality often calls this force ‘the ego’, and it can really be explained with one word: Fear.
When fear is motivating a person, it is darkness that is motivating them (usually unconsciously). Fear is the birth of darkness, isolation, division, anger, hatred, greed, selfishness, judgment, cruelty and so on, because fear is the absence of Love. Therefore at the very root, fear is the one obstruction to the awareness of Love.
Fear is essentially resistance to love and resistance to life, which in truth are one and the same thing. The force of Love which flows through the universe and through the natural world should also be flowing through us, and for it to do so, we simply need to be open to it. But where there is fear, there is tension, contraction and constriction, and thus no openness.
And this is particularly the case in our heart, which also tightens up in self-protection when fear enters our body. When we are afraid of love, afraid of what it will do to us and the pain it will bring, our heart closes to such a degree that we can perceive very little light in our world.
Because our heart is the part of our being that enables spiritual light to enter into our reality, and when our heart is open, the world appears to be a beautiful, luminous and magical place. When it is closed, the world appears devoid of meaning and devoid of beauty. Life seems pointless, and in its extreme we can feel that living is a prison, devoid of any purpose other than to make us suffer.
Fear talks to us primarily through our thoughts. All negative thoughts are fear based, and when we listen to them we immediately feel defensive, anxious, hostile, scared, and even aggressive. We don’t trust, we don’t have faith, we lose the positive attitude that makes anything possible. Negative thoughts tell us that we are not truly secure in life, that there is threat everywhere, that bad things are going to happen, that other people are problematic and untrustworthy, that we are not a good person, that we deserve to be unhappy and so on.
If you were a Christian, you might say this is the voice of Satan, trying to weaken you, undermine your faith and your trust, trying to divide you from others, trying to isolate you, make you angry or miserable. All of this takes you in the opposite direction of Love, away from inner peace, away from the light in your heart, from the deep beauty that we can perceive in the universe. You cannot experience any of this while in fear, and you could say that this is the intention of the devil, the intention of the ego: to keep you enslaved to fear and far away from Love, which is where you find your liberation.
In love, the selfish ego vanishes and selflessness and compassion arise. In love, fear vanishes, and deep trust arises. In love, nothing has power over you. You become an embodiment of that love, and it motivates you, strengthens you, and heals you. So essentially, our primary task is to let go of the fear we carry, and to stop listening to its divisive and weakening voice in our thoughts. Then it cannot influence us.
On a practical level, letting go of fear occurs when we relax our body, because fear always manifests as physical tension. You cannot be afraid and be relaxed at the same time. It is impossible. As soon as you believe a fearful thought, tension immediately appears in your body. Observe yourself and you will see this very clearly.
So if you become aware that fearful thoughts want to get a grip on you, simply relax your body and breathe gently, but deeply. Bring your attention to your body, and enter the realm of feeling, always allowing relaxation to replace tension. When you let go of tension you let go of fear, especially as the heart begins to relax. This is where the deepest tension exists, and thus the deepest fear. It usually has its roots in past pain, experienced early on in our life, and it keeps arising, it keeps controlling us and preventing us from being courageous, from moving forward into joy and embracing life whole-heartedly.
Now of course, the negative, anxious and judgemental thoughts are occurring in our mind, not in our body, so we also need to know what to do when they present themselves there. Again, the solution is practical. Rather than trying to ‘out-think’ the negative thoughts or replace them with positive thoughts (which will just get you tangled up in your mind) we need to move our attention out of the realm of thought completely.
Again, we first become aware of our body, as this grounds us, and we relax. We also become aware of our breathing, and make sure it is flowing, rather than pausing as we fixate our attention on particular thoughts.
This is what our breathing does when we get involved in thoughts; we hold it to some degree, and it does not flow. But to make the thoughts pass on by, just like the wind moves the clouds in the sky, we must allow our breath to flow evenly and deeply. This also makes it easier to become aware of our body, as our breath fills our lungs and belly, and as we breathe out we release any tension we may feel. Breathing and relaxing go hand-in-hand, and this simple yet very practical combination will enable us to remain free of the influence of fearful thoughts, and fearful tensions. We just have to remember to be practical, rather than getting caught up in thinking about our thoughts! We have to come out of the mind and back to our body, and allow it to relax. Relaxation is the key to experiencing deep inner harmony. In fact, it is the only way.
One final thing to consider… You do not have to believe your thoughts. They offer us a certain picture of reality, and we often agree with it (by believing it) but we need not do this. In fact, you can objectively notice whether a thought is fear-based, and decide to reject it if you choose. For you are the one who has the power to choose whether to believe certain thoughts or not. It is a free choice which you make.
If you see that a thought wants to make you feel afraid, anxious, judgmental, angry and so on, you can simply say “no thank you”, and bring your attention back to something which is truly worth giving your attention to. Like your breath, your body, your heart, your loved ones, the beauty of nature, your creative inspiration, or something else which inspires you… The list is truly endless, because there is so much that is beautiful in this world, including that which has been created by humankind. And the one thing that they all have in common is that they enrich your heart when you give your attention to them, like beautiful music does for example.
Your heart needs enriching, and it is vital that you do so in every way possible. For then you will know the deeper beauty of this life; then you will have the light shining from within, keeping the shadows of negativity and fear far, far away from your soul. Then your light is a blessing to those around you. Your happiness, your joy and your compassion are powerful, and tangible to all whom you encounter. This is your purpose in Life, to be a blessing to this world by allowing Love to fully possess you and motivate you. This is how you find your deepest fulfilment, and the best news of all is that you were designed for this. It is your destiny. You just have to say yes to it.
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“We are all children, longing to find our way back to
the world of innocence, joy and freedom we once knew”
The brightest light conquers the deepest darkness 