Author: Susan Hawkins

This is an attitude of withdrawal of emotional entanglement in worldly affairs. It leads to serenity and peace of mind. It is supported by refusing the emotional seduction of other people’s upsets and problems. It also involves a willingness to allow the world and its affairs to work out its own problems and destiny. Reactive involvement and intervention in the world can be better left to people who have a different calling.

A ‘good person’ is one thing; enlightenment is another. One is responsible for the effort and not the result, which is up to God and the universe.

Nonattachment is not the same as indifference, withdrawal, or detachment. Misunderstanding that the development of detachment is required often ends up as flatness or apathy. In contrast, nonattachment allows full participation in life without trying to control outcomes.

From The Eye of the I p.144-145

With a shift of focus from the subjective participant to the observer, one sees the narcissistic emphasis on expectations as an ego positionality that makes the individual a petulant or anger-prone person. The angry person secretly feels entitled to its wants and desires and has impossible expectations of life. Anger can also be an attitude and a vulnerable ego positionality. It leads to aggression rather than the healthier alternative of self-assertion.

The basic antidote to anger is humility, which is the counterbalance to the egotism that feeds it. The infant within the angry person rails against the unfairness of life, which is actually the perception of the petulant, spoiled child. Narcissism engenders the belief that one deserves to get what one wants, for the narcissistic core of the ego is concerned only with an inflated self-importance. When it dawns on the infant that the universe is indifferent to the ego’s wants, it goes into a rage that transposes into patterns of interpersonal conflict. Anger then becomes the futile attempt to control others who become objects to be manipulated or blamed for frustration.

From I: Reality and Subjectivity p. 196-197

Willingness supports intention and facilitates the purification process of spiritual evolution, which often requires the willingness to face inner discomfort for the sake of reaching a higher goal.  Willingness summons forth the extra energy required for the effort of overcoming obstacles and resistances.  It also requires commitment to periods of endurance to reach the higher goal.  It includes a positive attitude toward the process of learning itself and the acquisition of necessary spiritual information and commitment.  Willingness is a positive attitude as contrasted with the attitude of willfulness, which is a form of resistance.  Surrender of positionalities is a consequence of willingness and is therefore an important quality of serious inner spiritual endeavor.

From Transcending the Levels of Consciousness,  Ch. 11, pg. 212  

Harsh viewpoints are not conducive to spiritual growth. Even if they are ‘right’ or ‘justified’, a spiritual seeker cannot afford them. One has to give up the luxury of revenge or enjoying that ‘justice has to be done’ when a supposed murderer is executed. One cannot violate basic spiritual principles without paying a price. The spiritual seeker sees through the illusions and therefore gives up the role of  judge and jury. Nobody goes ‘scot-free’, as people indignantly protest.

From Eye of the I, pg 193

Relationships

Question: I’ve been on a spiritual path for many years and do not understand why I still experience negative emotions.

Answer: There’s a common illusion that spiritually evolved, loving people never have any negativity, as though they are already angelic.  They get annoyed that they still have negative feelings, and then it’s compounded by their guilt and self-frustration.  They have to realize that feelings are transitory, whereas their intention to evolve remains constant.  Let go of feeling guilty that you are still just an ordinary human despite your angelic ambitions! Having compassion towards your innate humanness, its nervous system, and the brain function that goes with it allows for greater equanimity.  Heavenly ambitions do not necessarily make us angels!

From Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, ch. 21, pg. 320