The Great Fear of Misinterpretation

There have been innumerable Gandhis, Dalai Lamas, Martin Luther Kings, Ammas, Buddhas, Jesuses, prophets, saints–wise men and women extraordinaires to have walked the Earth, living and spreading that universal message of truth, harmony, love, justice, and compassion. ?Each spoke it in a different language; each lived it in a different way.

And still, there are just as many saints as beggars in the world–hungry, homeless, suffering. ?There are just as many saints as Hitlers, blind with ignorance and hungry with abused power, waging wars against Egypt, Iraq, the Earth, each other, and within. ?In each religion, there are just as many practitioners who justify their actions and beliefs in order to harm another as those who do to help another.

If even one person has realized how to live and be enlightened in this lifetime, devoted to truth and to love, why haven’t we all? ?If the message is out there (and?in here), why are there still bombs? ?Why are we still suffering?

As human beings, we inherently each have the seed of the universe within, complete with the ability to experience desire, anger, lust, jealousy, love, attachment, pleasure, pain, sorrow, compassion, ill-will, and ignorance.

Let’s examine that last one.

Ignorance. ?The lack of knowledge, education, or awareness.

With ignorance comes the great fear of misinterpretation. ?With lack of awareness comes the risk of misunderstanding.

The truth can be stated in a thousand tongues a thousand times and never heard.

How many times in our lives have we said something to a loved one and had it heard as “I don’t love you?”

“I need alone time” is so often received as “you repulse me.”

And how often do we say exactly what we mean and mean what we say?

We hear things as we either want to hear them or as we are afraid to hear them, but seldom truly as they are. ?For we hear everything through a massive filter built of our limited senses, projections, expectations, desires and fears, past experiences and traumas. ?Imagine, through all that, what is left behind! ?Imagine how many times the brilliant truth has been spoken and never heard!

It is as if we are playing a global game of Telephone and have lost touch completely with the first word spoken: the Truth.

With greatness comes the fear of misinterpretation, for things will always be understood as they are received and not as they are said.

 

Let this be clear: Self-Marriage is a practice dedicated to minimizing the collective suffering of the world and to benefit all beings, beginning within.

The word “self” in Self-Marriage has the great potential to be misinterpreted to further validate selfishness, narcissism, injustice, greed and ignorance. ?This is NOT what Self-Marriage is.

The word “self” in Self-Marriage does not point to something solid, stagnant, separate, or small. ?It does not merely refer to the collection of surface thoughts, patterns, beliefs and preferences we associate with our identity.

The self in Self-Marriage is vast and deep. ?It is our unique incarnation as a drop of water within an ocean. ?It is the quality we all share. ?It defies duality, yet lives within it.

The self is Self-Marriage is the opposite of ignorance; it is the universe within:

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour." ~William Blake

 

When you choose to marry yourself, you are acknowledging that you are precious, special, and worthy of love–just like everybody else. ?You are committing to be and share the unique embodiment of life as it expresses itself through you. ?You are vowing to be your most authentic self00and to continue learning what that means every day.

The self in Self-Marriage is connected to a purpose that has something to do with helping others, because it sees that, truly, there is no other. ?At the essence, there is only self.

May this be clear.