“Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, “Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody.” … [My dark side says,] I am no good… I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved.” Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen
Necromantics
Seven the things that tempt us,
Nine the time of day,
Two the distance between us
And there is one way.
Green the thought love rests in,
White the thought that parts,
Black the shadow tests us
With our destroying arts.
A sign is enough to live by,
A shape we make in air;
A long line of time we follow.
Does it lead us anywhere?
ERN O’MALLEY
http://www.ernmalley.com/harris_poetry.html
THE OLD PROVERBIAL RECOVERY 