The Man In The Mirror

All of life should be seen objectively, and with dispassion. That is, little, if anything, should get under our skin and move us from the outside. We are meant to be in sole control of our emotional machinery. We should not be controlled by some stranger on the highway giving us the finger, or some grumpy cashier at the corner convenient store, nor even the naughtiness of our children. No, we should not allow anyone or anything on the outside of us to control our reactions. Otherwise we are simply not our own persons with personal happiness and peace beyond our control. To be moved from the outside is to be at the mercy of the world around us. 

This morning I was cutting it close to being on time for work. As I approached my exit off the highway I had to squeeze between two vehicles in order to make my turn. Although there was plenty of room between the two for some reason the red pickup truck behind me took offense as I moved into the lane in front of him. He laid on the horn and in my rear view mirror we made eye contact. He angrily raised his middle finger at me and sustained it for a long moment. I looked at him, his finger and at the same time scanned myself to see what I may have been feeling...but saw nothing...not a single reaction. I simply watch him as dispassionatley as if I was watching a boring TV show in my living room. After a moment of this "watching" he suddenly withdrew his finger, hit his brakes and put as much distance as possible between me and him. He acted as if he had seen a ghost. But what he "saw" was "no reaction", and it took him by complete surrpise, and more.

The funny thing about ego is that it can not function long without ego food...emotional reaction from another ego. But when you do not respond to provocation the ego doing the provoking is left with the uncomfortable sensation of nakedness...of being exposed, causing it to flee its reflection seen in the mirror of non-reaction. It is perhaps the first opportunity that a person gets to see themselves as they truly are. This seeing/experiencing of oneself...of one's negativity...of one's impatience, unforgiveness, upset and the like...makes change and transformation possible, as no problem can be overcome until one knows there is a problem. Emotional non-reaction to ego allows for the seeing of self in the Light of Reality. For this reason, patient, emotional non-reaction is called Love...the greatest transformational tool in the Universe.