Working on Our Weaknesses

Written by Mathew Naismith

My own path is to avoid playing up to the ego, my own or others. I must tell it how it is, not how the ego would prefer it to be told, knowing that the western mind is easily offended and often takes this offence as being abusive. Even what I have written in this paragraph already will no doubt be taken offensively therefore unjustly critically judged as negative by the western mind in all of us. Yes, the spiritual path for the western mind is a very hard path to follow truthfully and honestly, especially of self-honesty as I will explain.   

"Through my own studies and life experiences Shilpa, the western mind in all of us looks upon negatives as a weakness. As it is well known, the western mind will often only work upon its strengths, the positives, while ignoring the weaknesses, the negatives.  The eastern mind works the opposite way around it would seem, working on its weaknesses (negatives) while retaining the strengths (positives), in the process keeping balance of mind and being.

“Eastern cultures and teachings actually help in keeping balance in a western minded controlled world. As it seems a lot of easterners seem to be doing, never forget your eastern teachings Shilpa. It would seem this would never occur in your case.

Now, how many western minded new age spiritually aware people only focus on the strengths (positives), while critically judging the negatives as simply negative or of toxic vibrations? Within this process, the weaknesses are never dealt with, just simply buried/forgotten. Truly, this is the western minds idea of being positive and enlightened!!

The western mind in all of us is also easily offended as well, at the same time the western mind is abusive to others but don’t dare be abusive to the western mind in a simular way!!    

My own western mind predominantly influenced by a western culture has had to be honest with itself. Not easy for the western mind to accomplish within a western minded controlled environment.” 

So is it seen as being wrong (negative) to people like me when other people play up to the western mind?

A lot of the times the only way the western mind will see the truth is through playing up to the ego. If the western ego feels good, it must be good therefore not seen as a weakness, a negative to ignore and shun. You could say it is wiser to change things from within, change the way the western mind thinks to a more balanced way of thinking from within. I basically practice what I preach; playing up to my own ego or anyone else’s ego is not within my own practices, however, if your own practices are to do with playing up to the ego, this is the way it is. There is a lot of wisdom in trying to change something from within, but not all of us are here to change anything, just to be just in case the western mind in all of us decides enough is enough.

I am fortunate through a lot of self-honesty by my western ego that my ego is not conditioned to being played up to. If your ego is used to being played up to, anything and everything outside of this condition can seem negative, this is probably why so much today is critically deemed negative. And this is supposed to be positive and of the new higher consciousness!!

It is funny, when the western mind takes offence to guidance like this, all I am doing is being negative and simply wrong. The reaction from the eastern mind, even when of a westerner, is usually completely different. Don’t’ get me wrong here, people from the east can take offence too, especially when of the western mind, for only the western mind can take offence so easily in all of us. Yes, what I have written here is highly offensive and negative to the western mind and even taken as being abusive, when in all honesty all I am not doing is not playing up to the western ego mind.

Now, the western mind will see that I am representing the eastern mind as the positive, the strength, while the western mind is the negative, the weakness in our minds. You can see how offensive this would seem to the western mind, it is the western mind that is weak, not the eastern mind!! Just suggesting such a thing to the western mind is outrageous and deplorable, as I should know.

As of the eastern or western mind, it is only weak when imbalanced, as of anything that is imbalanced. Yes, the western mind at present is our biggest weakness, at no time is this seen as simply a negative to be shunned and simply called negative by the eastern mind, for the eastern mind doesn’t work like this. Yes, as of any imbalance this is a sign of weakness, so it is for the western mind that is imbalanced, an imbalance, a weakness, that needs to be worked on. Now, imagine if the eastern mind was more like the western mind, this imbalance just wouldn’t be dealt with in anyway, simply ignored and shunned as being simply a negative.  

This gives you a very small idea of what the western mind has to go through to become balanced, for our egos to become conditioned to working on our weaknesses instead of our ego driven strengths. Try to remember, it is the ego that becomes enlightened or aware, nothing else. Yes, the ego is our weakness if imbalanced through the conditioning of materialism and playing up to the ego in any sense. This is the weakness that we should be focusing on, not like we are presently doing on mass, playing up to the ego and only working on our strengths, in my own mind anyway.