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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Resistance to Grace

“Just as grace is the ultimate source of the force that pushes us to ascend the ladder of human evolution, so it is entropy that causes us to resist that force, to stay at the comfortable, easy rung where we now are or even to descend to less and less demanding forms of existence. (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled)

My family and I went to visit the Rocky Mountains recently. A few of us experienced symptoms of altitude sickness for the first few days--headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, weakness, etc. It took us a few days of acclimatization before we were able to function normally in the higher elevations.
Growing up is a form of personal evolution. It requires us to climb to higher levels of awareness. There is a natural reluctance to leave the familiar zones in which we think we are competent and delve into areas where we feel amateurish and inadequate. Devolving, however, is much easier. Sliding downhill to lower forms of existence demands very little effort.

Grace is the force that helps us up the hill of spiritual growth. However, we are often resistant to grace, because it pushes us into uncomfortable elevations. The ascension in altitude makes us feel weak and dizzy. However, if we accept grace, we eventually acclimatize ourselves to these higher levels of awareness.

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