As I shared in the last issue of the Bulletin, the eighth step on the Ladder is MEEKNESS/LOSS OF ANGER. We so often judge meekness and patience by externals. Malice often thrives in the deceptively meek and silent. Often people, who appear to remain calm in the face of abusiveness, will confess their internal boiling rage.

When we are angry with others, we should not seek solitude on the grounds that no one can provoke us to anger. Our desire to escape confrontation and seek solitude is because of our pride and because we do not wish to blame ourselves for our anger. As long as we assign the causes of our weaknesses, especially anger, to others, we cannot attain the virtue of long-suffering.

We must remember, no one can make us feel what we feel. Our feelings are always our own and come from how we think and our attitudes. How we react to what others say or do comes from our own unconscious mind. If we wish to spiritually grow, we must own our own reactions and assume a personal responsibility for them.

Self-reform and peace are not achieved through the patience which others show us, but through our own change of heart and mind which is achieved through our long-suffering of the action of others. When we try to escape the struggle for long-suffering by retreating into solitude, we take our unhealed passions with us. They are not hidden or erased. For unless our passions are first purged, solitude and withdrawal from the world not only fosters these passions but also keeps them alive and prohibits us from perceiving what passion it is that enslaves us.

Spiritual growth requires a conscious effort to know ourselves and how we react to what others do or say and to accept responsibility for our reactions.