Dear People Whom God Loves,
Let us begin the journey of recognizing the beast within us. It is helpful to me to realize that every part of the beast is in me. It is a part of being a human being. Recognizing and acknowledging its presence in me (though I am blind a lot of the time) helps me see that I am fooling myself.
Pride I think that pride comes out when we don’t see the beast or some part of the beast within us. When we see ourselves as we really are, it becomes more difficult to be proud and think that we are superior to others. Pride is very tricky. I can be proud that I am not proud. I think that pride is extremely elusive and subtle. Though it is a terrible contradiction, we can be proud of being holy or religious. Pride has many, many disguises. When we get a glimpse of pride, it is important not to run away but to notice it, let it enter our awareness, and invite love in to heal us.
Anger Anger is present in all of us. Our anger can take the form of boldness and aggression. It is terribly obvious to others and to ourselves. When we allow ourselves to not just be angry but to be aware that we are angry, we can ask ourselves whether we ordinarily use our anger to do some good, protect someone or something valuable, or do we want revenge or just to get our way or control someone. We just need to be aware of what is really going on inside of us.
Our anger can be more subtle and not as obvious. We don’t explode but rather are passive aggressive. This is sneaky anger. We find little ways of getting even that are not obvious. We may even tell ourselves that we are not angry. We very nicely make our foe miserable. When we are blessed to notice this kind of anger in us, just be aware of it and invite Love to enter in to us and heal us.
Anger is a good part of being human but it is so easy for us to use it badly. Anger needs understanding and direction. I suggest that when we are calmly angry we are being human. We are integrating angel and human in that area.
More next time.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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