Merging with Siva Lesson 66

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Wednesday

 

Lesson 66

 

Emotional Maturity

 

What is emotional maturity? It certainly is not to be equated with

physical age. I know people who are well past middle life and are not

yet emotionally mature. Even if the physical body is totally mature,

the intellect, as well as the emotional unit, can remain childish and

unstable. The mind may have been educated to the nth degree, and yet such

a scholar remains vulnerable to depression and discouragement. The very

first step toward emotional mastery is recognition coupled with admission

that in some areas we are not yet perfect. Only through open admission

can we devote ourselves to the sadhana that will balance and lessen

the forces, allowing us to strive within ourselves to secure ourselves

within ourselves. An emotionally mature man or woman is totally secure

within and prepared to tap the greater realms of spiritual being.

 

 

 

We make very little progress when we strive to conquer these baser

instincts in a good mood. However, vast strides are possible when we

are miserable and work with ourselves to replace our misery with joy and

understanding. Therefore, if you are ever disappointed or discouraged,

count it a blessing, for you then have the opportunity to conquer the

instinctive nature and really stabilize yourself dynamically on the

spiritual path.

 

 

 

Often we are disappointed not only with ourselves and our circumstances

but with other people as well. We can oversee this and other instinctive

responses, such as mental criticism or jealousy, by looking at everyone

and saying to ourselves, "I like you. I send you blessings." We cannot

be discouraged or disappointed or jealous when we look our fellow man

in the eye and say and simultaneously feel and believe through every

atom of our being, "I like you. I send you blessings." Impossible! Love

overcomes all instinctive barriers between people.

 

 

 

There may be certain people or a certain person to whom you can say

"I like you," but for whom it is hard to believe in your heart. If

you look deeper into them, you may find they are emotionally immature,

a 12-year-old emotional body walking around in a 35-year-old physical

body. Are you going to dislike a person for that? No, of course not. You

are going to understand him or her. I've seen people with 22-year-old

bodies with the wisdom of an 80-year old and the emotional stability

of a 40-year old. I've seen people walking around in a 60-year-old

body with a 12-year-old emotional body. By learning to understand,

we cease to be a personality leaning upon our fellow man and falling

into disappointment when he lets us down. No, we must lean on no one

but ourselves, our own spine, and not be the reactionary victims of

the ups and downs of the world around us or the people around us. Then

we will gain our freedom from the instinctive forces we were born into

and attain sufficient emotional maturity to love and bless the world no

matter what our circumstances may be.

 

Bhaktananda

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