More Perils And Pitfalls

Blog #2

More Perils and Pitfalls

Welcome back and thanks for being here! I do appreciate your continued support, time, and energy. We all have a limited amount of our day to devote to uplifting our attitudes and awareness. So much of our time is consumed with our day to day chores and commitments that at the end of the day we are used up and just want to relax. I'll try and keep this short and to the point.

The ancients believed that Pride was the greatest of the 7 Deadly Sins. When I first read this I didn't understand what they meant and pretty much just shrugged it off. As time went on and I thought about it, I would have to agree. One of the greatest pitfalls of learning new personal growth information that enhances your awareness is our egos get in on the action and mess it up for everyone.

I have been guilty as charged here! I remember thinking how I needed to share with others my new found enlightenment whether they were interested or not. I look back and see what a pompous jerk I was being. Thank you to all who put up with me at that moments.

There is such a tremendous potental to think of oneself as a prophet who has knowledge that should attract a crowd, all of them wanting to be freed from their ignorance, begging you to release them from their pain and suffering.

This spiritual superiority can be compared to watching a dog in a pack who has a bone in his mouth, strutting around, looking all proud of his possession because the others don't have what he has. We humans act just like that. Knowledge, enlightenment, spirituality, or awareness can be nothing more than just another possession that allows us to feel superior to those who don't have it.

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course,

and as long as you are looking down, you cannot look at something above you."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Instead of truly becoming a better person as we learn, we may just change into some fancier clothes that may make us look good, but changes little to our real problem, our ego controlling us. Pride is a sure indication that little has really changed.

This ego thing we have going on here is monumental. We have such little help to overcome it. It's insane!

I have to acknowledge someone that I have so much respect for even though I have never met him face to face. Dr Robert Quinn is on the faculty at the University of Michigan. He has written 18 books, innumerable articles, and has been a business consultant to scores of Fortune 500 businesses. His work was instrumental to my connecting many of the dots that I wrote about in Master the Mystery of Human Nature. He also has a blog called The Positive Organization.

His work has brought insight, enhancement, effectiveness, profitabilty and positive change to tens of thousands of managers across the country. Upon my request (even though I was a complete stranger) he was kind enough to read my book and give me his thoughts. He wrote the testimonial that I used on the back cover. His work, in my opinion focuses on the same issues that I have been interested in learning over the years. I read his work and get reinforced with his validation. Our positive change can only occur at the ego level and he has devoted his career to helping people to overcome this.

"One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change. Personal

change is a reflection of our inner growth and empowerment."

-Robert E Quinn

You can read his blog at www.thepositiveorganization.wordpress.com. I get a real sense that he lives what he is trying to teach.

I think that is the real message here. Living what we are learning, not just talking about it and puffing ourselves up. Pride in our enlightenment, our spirituality, our religious devotions, spoil our efforts. Where there is pride... there is ego. Where there is ego... there is no growth. The opposite of pride is humility. That is what we need to learn if we are to succeed in our quest. Good luck and watch out for that dastardly pride! He is a sneaky rat.