My dearest brothers and sisters,
This is Hakann speaking. I greet you in peace and love.
Suppose some person’s sense of self-value only has one “leg” to stand on. Namely: their sense of self-value is propped up by only the fact that they’re an active political activist, or only the fact that they’re a great athlete, or that they’re a great parent, or that they’re spiritually advanced, et cetera.
In this case, if that one leg gets knocked out from under them, their self value falls painfully to the floor. For example:
- if someone’s self-value rests on the fact that they’re a political activist and “fighting evil” (the other political side), then they may become very unreasonable in political debates, demonizing the enemy side and refusing to acknowledge their side’s flaws. This can contribute to a country’s political polarization or culture war.
- a great athlete may become obsessive about their sport to strengthen that one leg their self-value rests on, becoming truly amazing at the sport in the process. However if that great athlete gets seriously ill, their self-value may fall to the ground unless they can find a new leg to stand on.
- if someone’s self value only rests on “I’m a great parent”, then they may be completely unwilling to listen to genuine criticisms / grievances their child may have for parenting mistakes they made.
- if the spiritual person buys into an unhelpful concept or ideology, and it gets pointed out to them, they may not want to accept that. In fact they may engage in performative spirituality or denial of reality to “strengthen their leg” (get more self-value reinforcement)
However, now suppose that someone has at least two legs to stand on. Now suddenly they can admit that they, or their side made serious mistakes -- because even if one of their legs is temporarily knocked out from under them, their self-value still doesn’t fall to the floor. It’s simply resting on the other leg for a while.
Now yes, ideally, someone’s self-value can actually levitate: it remains high no matter what happens, no matter how they’re treated, no matter what disappointments they face.
A very few people’s self-value can levitate, and for those people that’s absolutely fantastic.
However this is very rare. And most people can’t just choose to have their self-value levitate. [Channeler’s note: my self-value can’t levitate yet.]
What’s far more common is that someone thinks their self-value can levitate, but actually it can’t; and they simply refuse to acknowledge or even see flaws in the leg they actually are standing on, because they depend on that leg. This is the person who denies the very obvious reality that most other people can see. Or this is the person who buys into hyperbolic, good-sounding ideas that fall apart if you think about them critically.
So. Unless you’re one of the few whose self value can levitate, try to have at least two legs that your self value can stand on. In the context of this spiritual community, that means: it’s fine to mostly focus on spirituality if you wish, but I wouldn’t have it as the only leg your self value is standing on. In other words: develop some “non-spiritual” skill, go contribute in some “non-spiritual” way, et cetera.
Yes, this spiritual message is suggesting that you become good at something “non-spiritual” or contribute in some “non-spiritual” way too. Balance is underrated. Also, you can do “non-spiritual” things in a “spiritual” way too, and there are plenty of lessons to be learned in the “normal” outside world.
Just consuming something non-spiritual is fine, but not sufficient: if you’re only standing on your one spirituality leg, then a nice holiday is great but you may still feel threatened in your self-worth if afterwards someone disagrees with a spiritual view you have.
Also, if your two legs are “I am spiritually advanced” and “I have a spiritual business” then you still really only have one leg: spirituality. (Or if you prefer, you can think of those two legs as being tied together.) This still leaves you unstable and open to spiritual ego, to blindness to wrong beliefs you might have, to possible performative spirituality, etc.
This also means that even if someone else is blatantly and very obviously wrong, you’re not going to be able to point that out to them if that’s the only “leg” their self value is standing on. They’re arguing for their “survival”; you can’t talk them out of their “survival instinct.”
Have compassion for this.
And if someone is trying to get you to only stand on one leg -- them -- that’s a red flag. This is how cults (or controlling partners) operate: “cut off contact with your friends, they’re only holding you back; quit your job and come work for us / me.” And then the cult (controlling partner) becomes your only leg and it becomes really hard to even see flaws in that one leg, let alone leave.
Finally, legs do need to be at least somewhat strong to actually support you. If you dabble in twenty things and never really commit to anything or become really good at anything, you’ll have twenty very weak, wobbly legs. That’s not solid footing either. Most people will benefit from having 2-3 legs that are really solid, either with or without a clear primary focus on one leg. (Young adults or people in survival mode might need to focus strongly on one leg for a while.)
Yes, there are stories of the person who focused 100% on spirituality and became enlightened, but for every such person there are five hundred cases where the singularly focused spiritual seeker got lost and was unable to see that. After all, if someone is standing on just one leg, it’s really hard for them to see flaws in that leg. It’s still fine to focus mostly on spirituality, if you wish: I just suggest a bit of balance.
I hope this was helpful.
With all my love,
Your star brother,
Hakann
