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One scenario that is often repeated in the reading I do as a part of my study of buddhism is that of a spiritual master embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There is even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students.

There’s no question that for the vast majority of us this goes against what we call our human nature — it’s very hard to understand why anyone would seek out irritating people to associate with. Most of the time we do whatever we can to avoid people and things that we find annoying so they don’t bother us.

There is another way of looking at this. From a deeper spiritual perspective, irritation can be an important teacher as well as a valid indicator of how much progress we’re making on our path to a better understanding of our inner selves. If we can learn to remain centered and aware even when we’re not comfortable, that is much more impressive than doing so in an environment where everything is to our liking.

Even for those of us who are proficient at controlling our circumstances, there are always going to be situations and people that make us uncomfortable. The goal of our spiritual development isn’t about learning to control our environment — that’s more of an ego-driven desire. It’s not a bad thing to have some measure of control over our external reality — in fact that’s important. But, when we are confronted with a person or situation that irritates us and we can choose not to react negatively, then we have a major clue that we are making progress spiritually. When we have mastered the reality of our inner selves, we will have gained the mastery of our lives.

I’ve always been one to avoid negativity and stayed away from situations and people who exuded this characteristic. But I’m coming to realize that I will grow much stronger if I can learn to handle these circumstance gracefully rather than merely avoiding them. It’s one of the only ways that we can learn the spiritual qualities of patience, tolerance, and acceptance. Fortunately for most of us, our lives offer an abundance of opportunities to practice and cultivate these traits.

To follow something that was in one of the quotes I used in a recent article… “Live in Your Heart!”

Shanti ….
~~~ DBL-R

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