As I’ve written about before, relationship has been one of the weak muscles of the spiritual practitioner. During these intense times, relationship is a core component of spiritual work.
As has been pointed out before by many people including Ken Wilber, you can have a lot of spiritual maturity in one area, but be very underdeveloped in another. More and more spiritual teachers are getting this, especially the next up and coming crew of teachers.
Elders like Gabor Mate also demonstrate through the linked video (as well as his books and other research), how relationship trauma is at the core of human pathology and that if we don’t attend to our relational wounds, we’ll continue to unconsciously repeat old patterns that keep the hurt going. This video is a must watch for parents, doctors, healers, and people onthe awakening path.
You won’t be able to see this video here, but click this vimeo link to watch it.
Why not include relationship into our spiritual practices?
For example, I was having breakfast with my super sharp psychiatrist friend Dr, Will Vanderveer, who has worked with Gabor Mate, and we were breaking down the psychospiritual journey, mental illness, and relationship as one path through human suffering. I wish I had recorded it.
Will said, “The way we now see the root of dis-ease is relationship rupture. Rupture with self, with others, with the earth. Repair of connection is the new healing.” I would add that during that initial relationship rupture, there was also no clean up, no repair.
So, those of us doing the deep relationship work right now, are blazing trails for our children and future generations. We are learning how to really be with each other in a sacred way. And when we hurt each other, because we will, we learn tools about how to clean it up. It’s such a brilliant undertaking.
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Another way to plug into the relationship as path conversation is to join my monthly series at the Integral Center. The next talk is January 13, 2014. RSVP here.
1 Comment
Dolby
January 5, 2014Love your interview-makes sense to me. when we are very small children we are held captive by our caregivers. Some of us are fortunate to have decent caregivers, and some of us NOT. Life is such an illusion on so many levels, that I don’t understand, that I seek to know, and will probably not know. I was listening to Gregg Bradden a man I so admire for his wisdom and knowledge. He invited us to know ourselves in the presence of others, through our relationships. As these relationships are reconciled we become the benefit of that healing. It is that benefit that we carry with us thought the waking dream of life, as we walk between the worlds of heaven and earth. What a gift to be able to leave the nest, and have that innate knowing that you are NOT your parents, or your care giver, that you are free to unto yourself. For me personally, I have done my best growing through the actions and inaction’s of those around me, I am a seeker, I have been since I was a little girl, NOT all of us choose that awareness in our lives, we do what we do today, because we did it yesterday. We live by the download. Born a tower with a blank slate so we think, but who knows, maybe we already come with some ‘karmic software’. The care givers add more software to our human experience, as we grow, we have to use the delete button, have a fire wall installed, and use the pre-fetch button to rid the hitch hikers. I personally, find life fascinating, a challenge, and blessed to be here. I am a mother of 2 grown boys, through my children I have had my most profound growth spurts, they have shown me myself on so many levels, my shadow and my light, which are really one of the same, liken to crayons, the same-but different in colors when applied. We NEVER stop the emotional evolution. New people come into our lives and trigger us on so many levels, that we may or may not be aware of.
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