being good

[Guest guest]

I was re-reading an old issue of What Is Enlightenment? magazine about

pitfalls in the spiritual path that seem to especially trap women. Being

good is one of them. The obvious level is doing good, being nice, serving,

and so forth, that is in service to the ego and to cultural conventions of

women being compassionate and nurturing. The deeper layer of this level

seems to be the need to be good in order to be safe -- avoidance of harm,

humiliation, abuse, shunning, or even burning at the stake! In myself, at

any rate, I have also felt something like a need to be good for God or a

pressure to remain cheerful for the Path, both as a fear of expulsion from

harmony and, more importantly, as an avoidance of seeing how out of control,

non-existant, and nobodyish "I" am. This is a wicked little trap because

feeling that crabbiness is a failure of some kind is its own exile. I think

conditioning has made some of us women excruciatingly attentive to mood and

I, for one, need to drop the whole issue.

Thanks for the forum, I feel much better now! Holly

[Guest guest]

It is true Holly, women do have a "service mentality" that is related to

our upbringing and culture. We feel we have to pick up the pieces, look

after things etc, but at the same time are often resentful of having to

do that. It has become bound into our identity - we often feel

validated when we are seen as helpful, caring, compassionate, nurturing

etc. The way out is to consider our motives whenever we have the urge

to serve someone or something. Are we doing it from the heart with no

desire or concern about the outcome, or are we looking at some outcome

for ourselves (being loved, being seen as "good" etc). If that is the

case our actions are bound to ego and are ultimately creating karma

which we will have to work through at a later time.

OM Shanti

Michele

 

Hbarrett47 wrote:

>

> Hbarrett47

>

> I was re-reading an old issue of What Is Enlightenment? magazine about

> pitfalls in the spiritual path that seem to especially trap women. Being

> good is one of them. The obvious level is doing good, being nice, serving,

> and so forth, that is in service to the ego and to cultural conventions of

> women being compassionate and nurturing. The deeper layer of this level

> seems to be the need to be good in order to be safe -- avoidance of harm,

> humiliation, abuse, shunning, or even burning at the stake! In myself, at

> any rate, I have also felt something like a need to be good for God or a

> pressure to remain cheerful for the Path, both as a fear of expulsion from

> harmony and, more importantly, as an avoidance of seeing how out of control,

> non-existant, and nobodyish "I" am. This is a wicked little trap because

> feeling that crabbiness is a failure of some kind is its own exile. I think

> conditioning has made some of us women excruciatingly attentive to mood and

> I, for one, need to drop the whole issue.

> Thanks for the forum, I feel much better now! Holly

>

> > All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back

into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean,

all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does

not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is.

Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee

relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into

It Self. Welcome all to a.