We are all called to grow and it is the resistance to this growth that basically is the cause of all our suffering. Typically, we hit a place were we feel overwhelmed, or we face situations which are impossible or we cannot find the answer. It is at times like this that we try to manage the situation, to change the problem that we are confronted with. This is always a poor strategy as mostly we come up with poor answers or we just become busier and busier until we burn out!

A good example of this is unfolding in our courts and that is the enquiry into Child Abuse. It has so many factors of that do not work in our society. First there is the titanic level of disassociation and denial. Some bureaucrats and politicians believe there are a small number of cases and it can be dealt with by an antiquated legal system that deals only with the logical. After 25 years working deep in peoples mind there are very few of us who did not experience some form of sexual trauma. Naturally, most of us have buried these memories but they have not gone away, so we have those in denial trying to do something about what is clearly a massive issue. Working the way we presently do it would take an army of lawyers to deal with the sexual abuse in the average UK boarding school so how they are going to deal with it on a national scale is mind boggling.

So far there have been 3 or 4 heads of the enquiry and now senior lawyers are resigning so things are not going well. There have been calls from the public and others to reduce the scope of the enquiry but that is to miss the opportunity to change, to evolve our structures and find solutions to the problems in their entirety –  that is what we should all be doing. It is a good thing that we look to these issues in our society but people making logical choices about such emotive issues is not going to end well. Our institutions are obviously not fit for purpose.

While it is easy to see this dynamic in such public forums, it is often more difficult to see where we are not fit for purpose, where we are being called to change rather than trying to change our world. There is always the temptation to analyse our problem, to be deductive and break them down to manageable parts so we can find the answers – but this is to misunderstand our journey.

When confronted with issues in our lives that we struggle to deal with or sometimes even comprehend then the question is not “how could I change that which is around me?” but “how do I need to change and grow in order to find the answers to what lies before me?” The answer to this question will lead us step by step to a place were we will start to feel like we are fit for purpose and transcend our limitations. In doing so we win back our generosity, but that is another story………..

With love,