Edward’s Diary Entry 17 – Social Interlude: Family for Xmas?

You look at a mother, father, brother or sister and think you know them. It’s not true. There’s more to them than you can know if your awareness is on the “normal waking-consciousness” level of Self-Awareness State 2. What you can contemplate on is that your “family” was given to you as your first exercise in the practise of charity as a virtue. Without any heightened awareness, our personalities, already in conflict with ourselves, look for conflict with others as well. And family is a great excuse. “My parents did this”, “my brother or sister did that”. We get sensitive and silly about what others say, do and supposedly think. Family reunions at Christmas can be disastrous. Do we ever grow up? Or do we just play out old games and dwell on outdated grudges? I recently saw how one single (joking) word in a family WhatsApp chat almost wreaked havoc and might have prevented one part of a family from sitting down with the others. I have heard how demands for attention have ended in anger and the temporary suspension of a relationship. We all know what it’s like. One brother’s attitude towards a mother is not the same as another’s and arguments and conflicts can ensue. This is all on a very low and childish level of human existence and interrelationships. And maybe this is why we are given a family or a surrogate family – so we can begin to practise the virtues. But alas, who will teach us this? And how do we learn if our parents haven’t taught us, because they were lost too? One magical way is to receive inspiration in quiet contemplation. Suddenly one sees that growth and development has to set all family members right in one’s mind. The slate has to be wiped clean, through acceptance, forgiveness, charity… However “badly” one thinks a family member acts, they are there for us in Self-Awareness State 3 to provide challenges for remaining calm inside and fully cognizant of the fact that once, we, too, were like them and we can always find the same thoughts, words and deeds in ourselves as well, although perhaps applied to different situations. So once you’ve embarked on the road to increased consciousness of reality and awareness, there are no more excuses or reasons for disquiet, day or night. Like the Christmas carol, “All is calm, all is bright” and we are reborn into a perfect world.