Divine
Indifference --
or the Art of Detached
Observation
by Marie T. Russell
In his
book entitled 'A
Spiritual Philosophy for the New World', John
Price states the basic requirements for attaining the
state of mind of harmlessness. One of these steps is
that of Detached Observation -- observing with
unconditional love the activities of the world around
you "as if you were not a part of that world". You
witness and observe without judging or labeling anything
good or bad.
Now, of
course, since reading that book, I seem to have
manifested instance upon instance in which to practice
this newly-found behavior. Challenging situations came
up and sometimes I was able to remain detached and
simply observe, while other situations seemed to drag me
willy-nilly in their turmoil.
Let me
tell you of one instance which in retrospect seems
rather funny... On second thought, I won't dredge up
all that negative energy again. Let me only say that I
let myself be dragged, no, correction, I jumped in with
both feet in a situation that left me fuming. Then, it
dawned on me! Oops, I had forgotten my decision to
remain divinely indifferent and detached. I then fell
into my previously automatic reaction of, "I'm been
stupid and failed again! Won't I ever learn? I can never
get anything right!" (You know that inner chant that
we get into at times...)
Luckily
for me, my Higher Self has been getting through to me
clearly and she quickly intercepted my self-punishing
thoughts with a higher perspective: "Hey, you goofed
on this one, but that's o.k. See it for what it is,
understand the message, and let it go!" So after a few
deep breaths and a conscious release of the anger and
judgment both towards myself and the other person
involved in the interaction, I continued my day.
Not
surprisingly, I manifested another situation in which to
test my newly-found behavior (or my lesson plan) --
detachment. Later that evening another situation arose
to test my mettle. This time, the scenario was
completely different and did not involve anger,
resentment, and impatience. A friend walked in who was
feeling "down" and rather negative about life. So
what did I do? In my desire to alleviate some of her
discomfort, I latched on to some of her emotions and 'caught'
some of the vibes. I got right into the "oh poor
me" boat with her, and commiserated with her state.
Consequently, even after she left, I spent the evening
feeling "out of it". There again, I did not keep to
my role as an observer and see that her scenario was
only her choice of a movie script. Instead of remaining
a detached observer I became a participant in a joint
venture of "feeling the blahs".
Of
course, I am not suggesting that we need to be
cold-blooded. Of course when a friend needs a helping
hand, or a shoulder to cry on, we need to be there for
them. But what I am saying is that we do not have to let
ourselves get caught up in illusions of negativity. Even
though a friend is going through their drama, we can
assist them and we can love them, without getting caught
in the trap ourselves. It's a little bit like watching a
movie... Some movies you can watch, enjoy, cry, laugh,
and then walk out and go on your merry way. Other movies
tend to grab you, drag you into the mood, and you walk
out carrying the vibe and the energy you engaged in
while watching the movie.
The same
goes for when we "watch" our friends' movies
(lives). We can participate, cry, laugh, but keep our
detached perspective knowing it's "only a
movie". The role your friend has chosen to play is
just that "her choice". Whether she has chosen
to play a martyr, a battered wife, a neglected spouse...
she is the one choosing to stay in that movie... We must
realize that we are not only actors in our melodramas,
but script writer and director as well. You don't like
your movie? Great! Then rewrite the script, change the
directions... If the script originally said: "You
will live with a man that beats you until you learn to
love yourself enough to move on", then shorten the
melodramatic part (the beatings) and move on to the part
where you love yourself enough to leave.
Our
friends' movies are their choices, just as our movies
are ours. If you constantly have friends who
"sap" your energy, then it is not "their
fault", but your responsibility for letting it
happen. Change the script. Make your move. Love yourself
enough to make a change now.
The idea
of divine indifference and loving detachment is to
always stay focused in the Light of Spiritual
understanding -- that whatever the appearance, we remain
steadfast in the knowledge that we are all Divine beings
and that what we envision we attract to ourselves. When
we remain detached, we do not get caught up in the trap
of illusion. We can stay focused on the positive and be
confident that everything always works out for the
highest good for everyone involved... and we take the
necessary steps to move forward on that path.
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