How can having a stroke be a spiritual opportunity?

Question: 'In January, I had a major stroke that left me with significant brain damage and the loss of the use of my left side. With intensive physiotherapy, I am beginning to regain some use of my left leg. However, with all the time I have on my hands, I've been doing a lot of self reflection and can't help feeling something is missing. But I can't articulate what. Given that a lot of focus has been on my physical recovery, I suspect what is missing is a spiritual recovery.

But how? I don't even know what it means to be spiritual. How do you know when you have achieved a good spiritual state? Paul

Serge: Thank you, Paul, for your profound question. The first thing I want to say is that I believe all crises have a spiritual meaning or are initiations of one kind or another for us, wherebye something seems to be removed from us at one level , or we lose something - in your case, the feeling in your left side - in order to make  space for something new, at another level, to emerge in its place. And certainly,  this seems to be happening for you.

You say that  you feel something is missing from your life and that you sense it is spirituality. Well, I see this as  a sign that that your spirituality is  actually starting to emerge or grow inside you. For how do we know that something is absent if we have no sense of  what that thing is? Reply: we don't! If there was no spirituality in your life, you would not have any sense that this ingredient was missing. What the message seems to saying is that  now is the time for you to focus on  developing this aspect of your life, as you  now have the space to do so.

A teacher of mine, Ram Dass,  experienced a similar initiation. It is beautifully documented in a DVD entitled Fierce Grace, which I suggest you buy as I think it will be very insightful for you. Basically, Ram Dass' life was going well. He was successful and popular and making a lot of money. And then  he had a stroke, which incapacitated him. Initially, he saw it as an enemy. Why has this happened to me, he moaned, my life was going so well? It took him some months to accept that at a deeper level, what had occurred was a gift from God to help quieten him. (It is only when we are truly peaceful that the divine can really 'enter us'!)

As this realisation  began to dawn , he started talking in terms of being 'Stroked by the divine'  and   came to see that he was being taken to a whole new level in his life, and that his so-called curse was really  a blessing, albeit a fierce one! It also gave those who loved him the chance to support him ( a spiritual act) and for him, who had always been rigorously self sufficient, to accept help ( another spiritual act!)

You ask, Paul, what it means to be spiritual and how we know when we have achieved a good spiritual state? I will  answer the second question first. My reply is  that we don't always know. Many spiritual teachers talk about how, when we feel most lost and destitute, we may in fact be closer to God than when everything is humming in our lives.

How is this?  It is because when we are in that state, our ego or personality self may be less prominent, and so we are more humble. In other words, it is when we are less ego bound-  or when our egos are not running our lives so prominently -  that we are much more of a space to  be open to God. And how open we are at any time, determines our spiritual state.

I am not here implying that the only way to be spiritual is to go through a crisis and experience loss, as this is certainly not the case. But it is  certainly one way.  And at this moment, it seems to be the particular  spiritual journey that your soul is taking you on. Certainly, many people in dire stress have spoken of how, when they were at their wits end, and nothing was working for them,  they would find themselves crying out  for help to God, or to that divine part of themselves,  and would  experience receiving some kind of reply .

For me, being spiritual and being truly human are the same thing.  Not all religious scholars and priests are necessarily  always spiritual  people, and  similarily, many people who do not think much about spirituality, may be full of sweetness and light and so be very spiritual! Sometimes, as in Ram Dass' case and now, it seems, in yours, grace, or the connection with the divine, can be fierce.

I have just gone through a 'baptism by fire' period myself, so I understand this only too well. I guess one definition of spirituality is the willingness to accept  ( that is, not resist) and to work with, whatever way the divine chooses to throw in our path at any time. So Paul, use this time as an opportunity to come to know yourself better.

What did Jesus say: 'Be still, and know that I am God.' Here is your opportunity to come into this same realisation yourself.

Does Evil Exist and if so What Should We Do About It?

Question: 'Serge, do you believe in the reality of evil? Do you think it exists? if so, what should we do about it?

Serge: I do believe in evil, yes, and certainly feel that if we are to have a better world  that we should  understand  it and, if we feel strong enough,  confront it and not bury our heads, ostrich-like, and pretend it is not there. You know that old saying about evil being allowed when good people do nothing.  Well, it's true! However, if we are to 'do anything' about evil, we need to recognise its many different faces. The way I see it is that there are two kinds of evil: obvious evil and non-obvious evil. Obvious evil is, well, obvious.  It is about Hitler, Robert Mugabe, Darfur, Stalin, Genocide, Auschwitz, murder, torture, Saddam Hussein, Stalin, Etc.

What is far more important, I think, is  the non-obvious evil which sits under our noses and which W.H. Auden described as being present at our breakfast table. Krishnamurti saw 'The evil of our time' as being about 'The loss of consciousness of evil.' I define this evil as the evil of our living a wholly self-centred, unconscious life, where we take no responsibility for our actions, where  we make money out of exploitating the weak and vulnerable, where  the Have's  of the world don't try to help those who have nothing. For me, war is evil and it emerges when we make enemies out of somone or some race or tribe or nation upon whom we project our disowned hostility and aggression.

I think this evil comes out of a numb heart, where we either cannot or do not  feel the consequences of our actions. Scott Peck in his book 'People of the Lie',  suggested that many evil people are so-called 'Solid citizens, who may be rich or poor,  and have normal jobs (i.e., they can be  school teachers or bankers , etc) .  Their evil is that 'They commit crimes against life and aliveness, yet  these crimes are so covert and  subtle that they cannot be designated as crimes. ' What is most evil is the absurd notion that if we wage war against it, that we will kill it off, or, as many terrrorists believe, that good will come about if those who see the world differently to oneself, are eliminated. As recent world events have shown, this only increases it. Indeed,  our desire to be heroic  and 'good', lies behind a lot of surplus evil.

So what do we do? Several things. Firstly, we recognise this as well as recognise   the darkness inside our own hearts - our own violence and unconsciousness - and work with that as opposed to projecting it outside of ourselves all the time. In other words, we open our eyes to where we like to scapegoat or make others wrong for those 'motes in our own eyes' that we refuse to see, and we take back our projections and in doing so, unhook ourselves from any thoughts or activities that help keep evil alive in the world. Then, we seek to fill the 'vacated space' with unitive qualities that emerge as we open our hearts - that is, we  try to flood our awareness with thoughts of peace and love and compassion.

Then we follow this up with activities that benefit life. For example, we give up our jobs selling AK47 rifles and instead we create a project for peace or we start a business  selling organic vegetables - engaging in activities that don't damage our planet. Moving away from evil is all about a shift in consciousness, where we intentionally cease being part of the problems of the world to being part of their solution. In this context, it is  important to remember Mother Theresa's wise words , to the effect that 'We don't curse the darkness, instead we light a light!'

i.e. We don't hate evil; we understand its place in the order of things, but we seek to understand it and deal with it intelligently. The more we dedicate  our lives to thinking lovingly and positively,  to acting out of the truth of our hearts, the more light we generate, and  the less space this allows for evil to exist. Working with world evil is everybody's responsibility.