The Courage To Not Be Offended, Powerful Magic

Recently I found myself sitting in a Christian service that was intended as an organizing event in opposition to my spiritual community.  My intent was to bring education, love and compassion based communication to the table of discourse.  During this event many hateful statements were made about my community, Labels such as “devil worshipers” “evil” and “abusers of children” were being thrown around: I squirmed in my seat.

There was indignation boiling in my blood, anger at the ignorance I was surrounded by and the activist within me called me to immediate and forceful action. I sat, listened and found my connection to Divinity and sought to view those in attendance as also containing the spark of the divine.

In choosing to focus on compassion and heartfelt action that reflected my beliefs in compassion, understanding and honest non confrontational communication I was soothed, my inner need to be offended was washed away by my connection to Divinity.

When I was allowed to speak, I was awash in compassion for these individuals who were speaking from a place of baseless fear. My words were chosen to be of service and honor the divine flame that burns within us all.  Gone was the need to oppose, convince, be right, overpower.

In this experience there is a powerful magic lesson.  When offended the connection with divinity is strained, personal ego and self-interest take a front seat and sabotage any expectation of honest and compassion based communication.

I have been doing much pondering on this subject since. There are so many examples in our community of individuals and groups being offended and shutting down the ability for divinity to be a guiding force in our communications.  Individuals see their relationships as in service to self rather than as in service to others.  Over time I have witnessed multiple examples of people expressing that it is a positive thing to let go of relationships that no longer “serve them”.

What my recent experience has reinforced in my life is that taking offence in conversations is an expression of personable ego. Those with whom I disagree are valued partners in my journey; that my relationships and friendships are about my service to my friends, associates and community, not their service to me.

In choosing to not be offended we can engage in compassion-based communication that has the potential to change the world. I have also become acutely aware of how destructive to divine energy the temptation to be offended can be.

If we disagree, the two worst options are to escalate or to take our ball and bat and go home. We can choose to surround ourselves with the divine power of compassion-based communication.