Have you ever noticed that the closer you get to someone the more that you see how fragmented they really are inside? Ya know, like you meet someone and from a distance you think to yourself, “Damn, he has his shit together.” Or, “Wow, she’s really kind.” And then the more time you spend with them you see how he is falling apart by the seams and can barely keep his head afloat. And that “kind” new friend you made, well her inner world is chaotic.
This is fragmentation. When people act, say, believe and preach a certain way but fall short of it being truly authentic. Authentic meaning there is “unity,” there is connection between the words, the thoughts, the actions --- ESPECIALLY when no one is looking.
Hey, there’s absolutely no judgment here. As I sat in front of my students this week to teach, I completely admitted that to them, that if they got close enough to me they would probably catch me behaving or speaking in a way that went completely against what I teach (preach) to them.
We all have this fragmentation and struggle with it being in our “blind spot.”
This fragmentation I speak of is true for every single human, unless they are a true master – fully enlightened. A true master, the exact opposite is true. The closer and closer you get to them, the more and more time you spend gazing into their interior world, you will find that everything about them is connected.
There is absolute unity.
So the question isn’t whether or not you or I struggle with this fragmentation – it exists, the struggle is REAL – but rather are we actively choosing to commit to the Great Work of enlightenment so we can do something about it!
Think of your fragmentation as the qualities outside your periphery – your blind spots. They are the qualities that maybe someone has pointed out to you along the way, but you’ve said to yourself, “Oh yeah, I might be a little selfish, monopolize the conversation, run late, etc. but it’s all good, it’s just who I am.” While people around you want to pull their freaking hair out because of how unbelievably annoyed they are at your selfishness, your obsessive chatter about yourself or you lack of respect for other people’s time.
If only we knew how others viewed our fragmentation.
If only we could see into our blindspots.
The Yogic path is about unity. It is about recovering a connection to all the fragmented aspects of ourselves so that ultimately – in this life or another – we exist in unity. We become the master, the inner guru.
A true master learns to master 1 thing – him or herself. Period.
How do we bring our fragmentation to unity? Easy. Bring light to it. Bring light by actually acknowledging, accepting and working on disengaging the samskaras – the patterns – of this fragmented behavior. You actually have to do the work, yes! With breath, patience, and a commitment to the Great Work, you will start to illuminate darkened aspects of your fragmentation and be able to bring them into the light of unity.
You can do it! I know you can.