…To the extent we build up expectations, it’s inevitable we will be disappointed. Then we may fall into a negative state. In our negativity, we may look for something or someone to blame. We can only blame if we justify our negativity. Then we may slip into justifications involving some variation of the script of being unrecognized, unappreciated, misunderstood, not receiving our due. Or perhaps we tell ourselves that we would never do the same, we would not react in the same way, Or we take it personally, imagining that someone has intentionally hurt us. The unconscious process of justifying our negativity may be overt and dramatic, or perhaps just a subtle resentment. But the truth is: negativity can never be justified. It is one of the frivolous machinations of the nafs to justify, or rationalize our negative states. If we truly observe, we will see that there is no real justification for negativity. Negativity and the blaming that justifies it —whether we blame others or ourselves— always rebounds upon our own bodies, hearts, minds, and souls. Our spirituality will develop to the extent that we are continually thankful, take every situation of life as a teaching, and maintain contact with the Divine energy.

(TS - April 2006)