I would like to share with you a personal view of my evolution as a woman and my relationship with the initiatory process.
Having reached a stage of life where I can allow myself to take time for reflection, where I have time, it seems important to me to compare the unfolding of the profane life with the model that the Masonic ritual gives us in its first three degrees.
Throughout our lives, we are led to questioning :
Who am I?
What is the meaning of my life?
Are my commitments induced or voluntary?
Am I object or subject?
What is my place in society?
What am I afraid of? Do I need protection?
Is suffering an inevitability or a way to enjoy happiness?
What am I going to become?
Broadly speaking, existence can be divided into seven stages :
The birth
Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Maturity
Old age
The end of life
But three major functions dominate our existence :
Learning corresponds to the acquisition of practical, operational or intellectual knowledge;
Commitment, a process in relation to others, whether professional, loving, religious, associative or social;
And finally, acceptance, a particular process that allows one to acquire a certain distance in the face of life's difficulties.
These three main functions do not necessarily form a chronological sequence; they may be intertwined.
Even if the time for learning is specific to the beginning of life and cognitive function tends to become blunted with age, there is always a possibility of learning!
Engagement, on the other hand, presupposes a certain degree of autonomy and maturity, but we can see children capable of engaging and also adults unable to do so.
Acceptance is not always present at the age where it is expected.
Let's expand on these three points :
Learning :
It occupies the first period of life. The first apprenticeship is that of symbolic thought in its relationship with maternal and paternal images.
Whether cultural and/or religious, we are imbued with the myths of our environment which concern :
The place of the father or mother
Social success
Family succession
The competition
Impotence and rejection
Submission to authority
Rebellion or social marginalization.
These myths will condition the child to acquire the knowledge, whether practical, intellectual or psychological, that is presented to him or her or that he or she is seeking.
But some psychological studies have shown that the child's learning can only be progressive and linked to cognitive abilities.
Learning can take several forms :
from master to pupil
By observing in particular the nature, the behaviours,
And also by the feeling of the experience
Learning is a time of enrichment and freedom even if sometimes the difficulties linked to inadequate learning can lead to real suffering.
The importance of knowledge, our more or less conscious choices, opportunities, a knowledge always limited, influence the conditions of our existence to communicate, to realize ourselves, to love, to be distracted.
The commitment:
It is by making a commitment that adults put into practice their capacities acquired through their genetic capital and learning, by assuming parental relationships, by fulfilling themselves at work in social relationships, by taking responsibility, by expressing their personality through life choices.
Commitment also entails obligations. If the time of learning is relatively exciting, the commitment is rarely perfect; because it often causes doubts, frustrations, disappointments and we pass from a dream life to a real life not always in adequacy.
Acceptance
Acceptance is emphasized in Buddhism as one of the conditions for reaching a supernatural level of consciousness. The Buddha said that the way to stop suffering is to let go, to stop clinging, to stop being attached. Attachment being a strong conditioning.
In psychology, we know that acceptance is the condition for a peaceful end of life.
In 1989, my father, a loving father to whom I was very attached, was struck down by a Cerebral Vascular Accident that left him aphasic and paralyzed until his death in 1975. As an only daughter, this period of my life was a very moving time from a moral and material point of view; faced with a move and a change of situation, I had to take up a job in a nursing home near my home.
In 2005, during my professional experience, I had the opportunity during a training course to read a book written by Marie Claude Haumont, Practitioner in Help Relationships, "Le chemin de l'acceptation" (The path of acceptance); I quote a passage :
"The key to all healing is acceptance, whether from a physical, psychic or spiritual point of view. "
Acceptance means first of all acknowledging one's difficulties;
Acceptance is then not to deny them and not to go against them;
To accept is to acknowledge one's responsibility;
Acceptance means becoming aware that what happens to us is part of our history and is therefore necessary to our history;
Acceptance also means taking responsibility away from others for the wrongs they do to us. It is not a question of excusing them, it is a question of considering them only as actors in our own scenario.
Acceptance must be deeply rooted deep within and pervade the whole space. As a result, there is no more room for frustration, anger, remorse, regret and anything that brings pain. »
It is with emotion that I evoke this part of my life; but today, I am among you and I am fortunate to be able to continue my development in this transformation.
I said...
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