Saturday 20 August 2016

The Function of Vulnerability

Vulnerability. A place where most of us do not want to be at. Where we can feel uncertain and threatened. For people in the caring professions, this is a key domain to identify in their clients, where attention is devoted to acknowledging and soothing the parts of the psyche that are vulnerable. And yet, ask those same able professionals if they would be comfortable being vulnerable themselves, and nearly all would say no. This is one of the instances where the professional training being directed to resolving the vulnerabilities of clients, often does not translate into the professional being comfortable with facing their own vulnerabilities internally. Perhaps no human being is ever at home with being vulnerable. Strength is often perceived as the ability to paper over and buttress the defense against vulnerability, which can provide decades of symptomatic relief and coping abilities, but does not get to the root cause of the vulnerability.




I would argue that being vulnerable is an essential part of the human experience that brings great gifts, in the following ways: 

1. Vulnerability is a stepping stone to empathy and compassion, due to the shared experience of pain with others. A higher purpose to pain, may be to connect humans to their vulnerability, so that compassion can arise. That is more helpful than attributing only negative origins to pain, such as bad karma, or God's punishment.

2. Being in touch with one's vulnerability also lends a flexibility to one's personality, so that one does not crack under extreme pressure. Bending like a bamboo to the wind, yet not snapping easily. That is real strength. The false "strength" that comes from avoiding vulnerability through various coping mechanisms, creates a certain brittleness in the individual that makes it more likely that they will snap under unfamiliar situations or extreme pressure.




3. A leader in touch with her own vulnerability, is able to relate to the vulnerability of the people she leads, and more likely to be able to support them through difficult challenges as a team, thus achieving more together. In short, that makes a better leader. 

4. Being in touch with vulnerability, lends an innocence and openness to one's personality, due to being non-judgmental and being flexible in attitude. This makes one more receptive to change, to new ideas and situations, fostering lateral thinking and creativity by not getting stuck in rigid habits of thoughts or beliefs. This also helps to deconstruct unhelpful rigid patterns, so that new impulses have a chance to come through. 

5. Vulnerability cultivates the openness required to receive the Divine. The ability to bear pain and uncertainty with an open heart, cultivates the receptacle necessary to bear the Divine Fire. It is profound to reflect that angelic beings are able to radiate love of a Divine magnitude, because they are also able to feel pain of an equally Divine magnitude. If the path of human beings is to move towards our angelic half (human beings are often described as halfway between angels and animals), it necessitates the ability to bear increasing levels of pain with an open heart, so that we can bear increasing amounts of Divine Love and radiate that on Earth. This path is of course, not compulsory for all human beings. It is to be chosen out of the free will of the individual. Otherwise it will not be a spiritual path, but a police state of the most twisted conception of Heaven, and that is certainly not what the Divine hopes for mankind.




I am of course not suggesting that in all threatening situations, especially those that present immediate physical danger, that you stop and get all soppy about the vulnerability within. To all things there is a time (and place). If there is an immediate problem to be resolved, solve it first. There are also a number of professional or social situations where it may be harmful to express vulnerability. But by and large, the problem with modern man is their habituated inertness to experiencing and expressing their vulnerability in daily life. As to the time and place to do so, we have to leave it to the discretion of the free individual. Be strategic.

So next time, when faced with situations that trigger vulnerability, before reflexively brushing it aside, a more enlightened response may be to say "I don't know for sure, but I am willing to see what happens", and smile. 



4 comments:

  1. Thanks Resh, I need to be reminded often of this quest to be an angel on earth. It can be so difficult, yet so necessary to stay open.

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  2. Yes Julie, I believe all of us, myself included, need that reminder. And the fellowship we share with everyone else, through that vulnerability. I believe that fellowship makes us stronger as individuals.

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  3. It is all about the tension of opposites. Knowing when to be strong, when to be vulnerable. I am grateful for Clairvision that it provides a safe space to be vulnerable. Priceless.

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  4. A wonderful reminder of how going within and showing wekness when needed allows for faster healing to occur in ourselves and others.

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