Compare
com- = with + -pare = equality
Comparison is one of the most dangerous traps in the spiritual life, and unfortunately, it is an intrinsic part of what we learn in school as children. By way of example, we are taught both to measure and compare ourselves to others based on our grades. Comparison leads to competition, and this NEVER WORKS in the spiritual life. There is no competition in spiritual realization; your path is uniquely your own.
Ironically, the word itself is from Latin and it means with equality, or on a par with. However, this is not, for the most part, how we use comparison in our world. A judgment of equality is the exception rather than the rule. Instead, we misuse it as a weapon to deem ourselves lacking in relation to others, and what a silly habit! It was that obscure philosopher, Fortescue, who wrote, “Comparisons are odious.”
I spend an hour in meditation nearly every day. I’ve been meditating for more than twenty years! When someone comes to me wanting to learn to meditate, I suggest they sit for five minutes. Why should someone even be able to start at an hour? This is what we do to ourselves when we compare, on the one hand, or, if we suffer low self-esteem, we do the reverse and puff ourselves up at the expense of others. Neither is necessary or attractive. Ask: How can I see everyone on an equal par with me today?
Infinition:
I gladly give up comparing for equal status in every area of my life. My path is my own and I walk it in exactly the right way all the time.
reprinted from God’s Dictionary (Tarcher/Putnam 2002)
Visit Dr. Susan Corso’s blog God’s Dictionary, inspired by the book
About peacecorso
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Dr. Susan Corso is a spiritual author, speaker, and counselor. An omnifaith minister and the author of God’s Dictionary (Tarcher/Putnam 2002) and The Peace Diet, she has had a spiritual counseling practice for more than 25 years. She has been an intuitive since childhood.
Susan’s blogosphere writing may be found at Seeds for Sanctuary, Ode Magazine and The Huffington Post, and Beliefnet. Her website is SusanCorso.com
One of her favorite occupations is writing spiritual fiction. She is the author of The Healing Mysteries of Mex Stone under the pseudonym Shulamith Burton. The audiobook of the first in the series, Oklahoma! Hex, came out in September 2008.
Susan is the founder of Sanctuary and ten-year author/publisher of a free e-newsletter, Seeds. As a professor at the accredited College of Divine Metaphysics, she teaches and ordains ministers.
Susan has been published in magazines, online magazines and newsletters including Business Ethics, Beliefnet.com, Ode Magazine, Science of Mind, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, New York House, Q-Spirit, Self, and Winning Ways. She is the author of several tape series. Susan also writes for the theatre: The God Show, I Would Never, Fight or Flight, and PeaceWomen.
For many years, Susan was an organizational consultant and motivational speaker guiding nuclear scientists as well as entrepreneurs into their life purposes. Some of her former clients include Westinghouse Hanford Company, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Gila River Casinos, and the American Nuclear Society, among many others.
Today she functions as Chief Spiritual Officer for corporations. She lives in one-sixth of a Victorian house outside of Boston, with her beloved spouse, director/actress/teacher Sheriden Thomas, and the spirit of her familiar cat, Charles of the Ritz.
Her mission in life is peace.
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