What Needs to Be Transcended
Lo que necesita ser trascendido
A question about whether personal identity, cultural background, and heritage are things we are meant to transcend through spiritual practice.
What Needs to Be Transcended
A question about whether personal identity, cultural background, and heritage are things we are meant to transcend through spiritual practice.
What do you think is the role or the relevance of our personal identities? Do you think we are meant to transcend them in some way?
It depends on what you mean by personal identity.
For example, my cultural background and heritage.
The scope of transcendence
No, you are not meant to. It's not as though one rule fits all: that we are all meant to transcend our background, our heritage, our genetics, our body-mind experience. No. A lot of that can be celebrated. In fact, it should be celebrated.
What needs to be transcended is what is problematic. And what is problematic is that which creates movements out of freedom and into contraction, or that which creates movements into unnecessarily hurting others or ourselves. All of that is highly called upon to be transcended. But cultural differences can be celebrated and enjoyed. The first time I left the Americas to go to Asia, I was completely mystified and amazed. It was so much more different than I had imagined, and it was wonderful. Thank God we are not all the same.
I suppose that would be what you have mentioned before about transcending but including.
Transcending what creates suffering
That is a different thing. Transcending, at this level, refers to the conditionings and beliefs that are not useful, and by "not useful" I mean they create more suffering. Cultural differences don't essentially create more suffering. It is not the nature of cultural difference to create suffering. It is not a direct consequence.
Thank you.