Trust: Strife

Strife

Arrogance always leads to the dissolution of trust because in arrogance, we always demand rather than request and in so doing, lose something precious even in gaining the result we hoped for. In arrogance we make many assumptions, not the least of which is that we are so different from all else that we are able to do what no other can. In this state, we will find ourselves thinking and feeling we are above all others, forgetting that with greater height, any fall brings greater injury to our being. Although being an “only” is always true since each of us is one of a kind, we forget that this – our lives – is a gift and the fulfillment of that gift can only come through humility: Humility lowers the height at which we stand and thus we protect what is important.

Through arrogance, we learn to strive. To strive is to struggle, which in turn means we will stumble. In life, to stumble is necessary, for it is through stumbling that we see what we might not have otherwise. Stumbling is necessary so that we become able to do what we seek and what we are made to do. It is in truth through stumbling that we make our greatest progress forward, making it necessary in our progress of motion through life. With each stumble we learn two things: 1) We are not without mistakes and are continually in need of learning, and 2) each stumble teaches us something new about how we walk in our lives.

To strive is also to quarrel against what is. This is a fight. When we fight in life there are always two kinds of fighting: The fight to oppose what is witnessed as against the will of others in an effort to bring all into harmony, or to fight to win. When we fight to win, we only seek to conquer. In conquering, the only result sought is to aquire. This only brings more disharmony because others are displaced from their place, which in turn only leads to more quarreling and from that, more striving against what is. We see so many others appear to get what they want by these means. What we do not see are their private moments of realization of what they do not have. Nor do we see their need to aquire what is missing.

We learn to think striving is the means to achievement; we fight to make room for ourselves in this world. In doing so, we upset what is into what will be. This is a necessary experience for all in life, since all those who are moved are being thrust into motion and life is motion. But it is the way in which this motion is started that determines the course it will follow.

In truth, we must make room for ourselves within this world. This IS something we must do, but it is all about HOW we choose to go about that that determines our true success. We must fight to create our place, but the answer lies in what way we fight, for if we do not pay attention to what lies behind our actions, we risk losing our most important gifts: We lose our place in the world by losing the trust of others and in seeing the reflection of that distrust in the eyes of others, we lose our trust in ourselves, making the whole point of our struggle, our fight, meaningless; the means to achievement must matter as much as the ends.