Medieval fairy tales often depicted a monster (dragon, giant, troll) that required a sacrifice at prescribed intervals. These monsters usually required daily feedings of domestic animals, children, or young maidens. Most of these stories end with a hero standing up and slaying the monster, thus breaking the cycle of bondage.
A monster can be anything that has power over us, intimidates us, or limits us. Most of us have several such monsters in our life:
-internal gremlins such as fears, insecurities, pride, addictions, codependence, and harmful habits
-individuals who are soul suckers, master manipulators, parasites, hypocrites, deceivers, and sycophants
-social evils of materialism, greed, injustice, inequality, racism, violence, oppression, bigotry, crime, war, and pollution
Feeding and maintaining these dragons take up all our time and energy. We feel trapped, like we have no choice other than to appease these monsters. Standing up against the monster and slaying him requires a monumental amount of energy, and the dragon drains us daily.
Coddling the monster seems easier than confronting it.
Postponing confrontation merely empowers the oppressor. Regular feedings enlarge the monster. We can either stand up to oppression early on or continue to sacrifice ourselves and our loved ones until we are completely overtaken and consumed by the monster.
No comments:
Post a Comment