Everywhere
Ill-will is something of which there is a lot of in the world, even in many communities. It is really a world wide characteristic. We know from the Gnostic teachings that every human being carries it inside.
It is a common experience that a while after joining and getting more involved with a community we inevitably find ill-will. We are disappointed at first but then we think - why should I be disappointed? Ill-will after all is everywhere and myself and this community are also humanity, and so to find ill-will is to be expected. No big deal we have all experience ill-will and to a degree we are use to it.
Even those who are involved in studies of the spirit are humanity just like you and me, and ill-will will also appear at some point. Perhaps to a lesser degree and in more refined or subtler guises. Knowing that humanity has ill-will this discovery will not surprise us. This does surprise some people, mainly because we think that ill-will shouldn't exist in groups of people dedicated to spiritual studies because there is the knowledge and awareness to dissolve it.
The reality is ill-will in people dedicated to the studies of the spirit exists. The lesson that heals the disappointment of this discovery is that the responsibility of there being ill-will falls on our own hands to not express ill-will and to know how to transform the ill-will from others into good-will.
Essentially the ill-will that exists 'out there' in the greater world, for example in the many bitter conflicts within and amongst different nations, is the same ill-will that we face in our lives, just scaled down to be amongst individuals instead of groups, tribes and nations.
Transform Ill-Will
One of our maximum tests, learnings and powers is to be able to transform ill-will into good-will.
To some degree we need the ill-will of others to teach us how to transform ill-will into good-will.
We need to develop this power for our path. I think anyone who walks on the path knows something about this from real lived experience.
I repeat it is one of the maximum powers that a human being can acquire. If we are to look for an instant at the life of Jesus we will see that his crown - which was marked by the way he sacrificed his life on the cross was a tremendous super-human feat of transforming ill-will into good-will. With that action Jesus taught the whole of volumes of wisdom.
We are taught that the motto and greatest power of our Intimate Christ is to be able to take the unpleasant manifestations of our fellow man with pleasure. Which is essentially to transform ill-will into good-will.
For the spiritual path I have heard several teachers express the importance of being able to transform ill-will into good-will. Because it is a law that ill-will will always come to those walking the initiatic path or to those seriously working on themselves.
Ill-will is best met and handled with good-will. Being neutral or being at peace inside of ourselves does not produce enough energy or power to diffuse and transform ill-will.
What is meant by transforming ill-will is to answer ill-will with good-will and transform the impressions of ill-will into good-will inside of ourselves.
Transforming the impressions of ill-will into good-will inside of ourselves is to transcend what is fair. As it only seems fair to answer ill-will with similar ill-will. Transforming ill-will into good-will. Thank goodness the Divine Law does this with that transcendental principle that: "a superior law washes away an inferior one".
Importance of Transforming Ill-Will
Just if humanity knew how to transform ill-will so many conflicts would not have arisen. In fact so many potential conflicts have been avoided due to those involved being able to transform ill-will and not retaliate with ill-will.
The effect of not transforming ill-will is devastating. We end up being filled with ill-will that vomits out onto others, obviously hurting them, or we either feel ill-will towards ourselves which turns into angry self-deprecation and depression.
It is supremely important above all to keep ourselves calm when facing ill-will. Do not react! Do not answer ill-will with ill-will. We need serenity in the face of ill-will.
Serenity helps us to remember that ill-will is not the best way to answer the ill-will we receive. It also allows us time and space to call our good-will and bring that forward into the conversation or event.
Please, it is so important to grab onto this point of remaining calm and alert! We get the best that could come to us by remaining calm in such moments!
If we do answer ill-will with ill-will we will get stuck very soon in a vicious painful cycle.
I say alert because ill-will from others is very contagious and ill-will inside of ourselves is very volatile and reacts very quickly. The general rule is that if we are not alert we return fire with ill-will.
It is a good learning to receive ill-will because we yearn to be radiators of good-will. We yearn to truly possess good-will. When we truly want good-will we work on the details of where we express ill-will.
We yearn to express good-will because deep down we know that we are receiving this ill-will because we have expressed ill-will towards others before and to some degree we are certainly getting it back and we wish to not be caught in a chain of giving and receiving more ill-will.
Good-Will Remedy
Good-will is so rare to find. We come to this conclusion that in all of our present and past conflicts a simple ray of good-will is very hard to find.
Conflicts definitely dissolve when good-will appears on both sides. Often good-will just on one side is enough to make a conflict dissolve.
Flexibility is good-will and rigidity is often where ill-will hides.
An issue that we encounter to do with receiving ill-will is that we find ourselves expecting, wishing and not understanding why there is no good-will towards ourselves. After a while we discover that this is a field we have no effectiveness in and getting into it does not help or serve us. Simply our field is ourselves and it is us that has to be giving good-will.
The silliest form of ill-will is when we develop it from what others say about another person without knowing the person. Knowing means to talk to them and to get to know what and how they feel about the different issues in question.
We reject good-will because we don't stop and think about what is really the best thing to do and because we believe that good-will does not solve things, it only means that we will get walked all over. Which is not true!
A part of dissolving ill-will is to develop great trust and faith in good-will. To be as strong as good armour in our faith in good-will is what we need to effectively combat ill-will. Then we can begin to brush aside our mind that is the instrument of ill-will making us believe that ill-will is the best way to solve our problems, conflicts and confrontations.
To give good-will we have to look past the insults and ill-will and the details of others. We have to be looking past the ill-will being manifested and to the future consequences of allowing ill-will to keep being present.
Ill-will accumulates and quickly becomes a very destructive storm. Things that took years to build with good-will and many values with ill-will are destroyed in minutes.
Types of Ill-Will
Every "I" has a certain amount of ill-will in it, several "I's" specialise in using ill-will. Such "I's" are: anger, laziness, pride, envy and jealousy. It is worth observing to know how ill-will works within this "I's". Each of these "I'" expresses a particular kind of ill-will. There exist several kinds of ill-will.
Here are some kinds of ill-will: 1.) open, visible and expressed directly; 2.) hidden, covered up and expressed indirectly; 3.) internal and not expressed in attitude, ; 4.) towards our fellow man; 5.) towards God or our Inner Being; 6.) towards ourselves;
One thing about ill-will is what it is not. It is not forever silent and hidden. It always seeks an expression. It must manifest. Meaning it will betray us sooner or later if we do not have good-will within us.
Ill-will can be very resourceful and invents numerous ways to express itself.
There is a stage with ill-will in our human machine where anything that is seen or heard, even if it be very positive is taken in a twisted way with typical conclusions being made stating that the good deed was fake or done because of a hidden agenda or it is simply down-played to 'nothing special'.
The worst combination is when all three demons work together. When desire, mind and ill-will work together they are terrible that is when we really lose control of ourselves and we can commit the absurd, the awful and the horrible. Because we actually want to do it, we strangely think its the best thing and we justify it and we plan it.
Interesting, commonly the insult is designed to hurt and does hurt, but there exists as seen below a kind of insult that instead of being designed to hurt, it is designed to shed light on a fault and if one thinks about it one can recognise and realise something about our attitudes and behaviours in a novel way.
End (4680).
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