Freedom From Self-created Entanglement
- smcculley
- Aug 4, 2023
- 2 min read
“All life is an effort to attain freedom from self-created entanglement … Only in complete internal silence is Truth found. When the surface of the lake is still, it reflects the stars. When the mind is tranquil, it reflects the nature of the soul as it is.” — Meher Baba
The expression of negative emotions is a volatile emotional energy leak that wastes some of our finest psychic energy that could be used like a propellant toward a higher state of consciousness. This release of negativity supports the illusion that the strong “I” expressing it is real and unified, when in reality it is delusional and unrestrained, often triggered by an external stimulus that reveals and partners with our inner weaknesses. We have gradually learned about negative emotions as children from the adults around us and grew up thinking they were a necessary part of interactions and needed to be expressed. Eventually we became accustomed to them and to secretly enjoy them. This training is expressed in a phrase that Meher Baba uses in his writings, “deposits of the past.”
“To attain freedom from self-created entanglements,” such as the negative emotion of anger, we can choose to resist the habit of outwardly expressing it and then inwardly observing what is evoked in us and how expressing it takes us away from presence. There is no moral judgment against negative emotions and without an aim toward self-observation and consciousness, it does not matter if they are expressed, although the non-expression may make our lives more pleasant. But that is not the point when our aim is to objectively observe, know ourselves and awaken to higher states of consciousness. The clashing experience of witnessing the lower self triggered to express negative emotions and being rescued by the observer resisting their expression, creates contrast to see the truth of our sleep. The resistance not only illuminates and magnifies our inner world, but the friction it creates – like regenerative breaking in an electric vehicle – harvests the energy for fueling higher states.
When working on the non-expression of negative emotions, we must be patient with ourselves and consoled and encouraged by the next moment of opportunity. “When the mind is tranquil, it reflects the nature of the soul as it is.” Please enjoy and bring presence to this short 1½ minutes of tranquil music.
Consolation No. 1 in E Major composed by Franz Liszt and performed by Daniel Barenboim
Soul Washer's Badge, Ghana, (18-19th century)
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