Looking at Despair

[anagogy]

I think that with emotions, such as despair and anger, we have to come to an understanding of why they are arising in the first place.  Certainly, we should not ignore our emotions anymore than we should ignore a gas gauge on a car when it reads empty.  Ignoring such an indicator would be counter productive.  But, in my humble opinion, just observing them fully is also not enough either.  There is salient spiritual work to be done in this situation.

From my perspective, an emotion, whether it be positive or negative, arises in response to something we are focusing on, or even *how* we are focusing on it.  It may be a negative experience, it may be an interpretation or judgment we had about how we acted in a particular situation, or it could just be the primal grief at the perception that a friend/family member/lover passing away and we have fallen prey to the illusion that they are gone forever.  Basically, a thought has caught the focal point of our consciousness and is distorting that pure light into what we translate as spiritual or emotional pain.

We have to find these thoughts, become aware of these negative interpretations of the universe at large, and *challenge* them, and exalt them to a more positive place of interpretation.  Once the new perspective as been properly established, the old negative emotional reaction will not arise, and we will experience a more balanced emotional state.

Emotions are the compass by which we chart our spiritual path to the One.  Truly they are one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal for balancing our consciousness.  I have been in the pits of despair, and I have found my way out of it. I know how the universe looks from that place of observation, and it is not an easy path to walk.