Publishers Weekly – August 05, 2019

(Barré) #1
punishment. There is something to be learned in each of our
emotions.

You also explore spiritual maturity, a topic that is very
present today. How do we know if we have obtained
spiritual maturity?
I would consider that spiritual maturity to be what Buddhists
call the “middle path,” which is to be able to understand that
each opinion is a positioning—that something can be true and
that its most absolute opposite can also be true; that everything
you live has to do with you, and you take responsibility for how
you feel. It is to allow yourself to travel between the opposites,
to be the observer of your thoughts.
The spiritual ego, believing oneself more mature or elevated
than another person, always reflects what we still have to work
on in ourselves.

Given your experience as a speaker, what have you seen
that people want most or lack?
I have observed that the great mastery that people seek is to find
the balance between polarities. People are usually totally discon-
nected from themselves and continually seek answers that free
them from the guilt they feel. ■

unpleasant, leads to learning and a positive intention for the
system.
There is a phrase that sums up this question for me: “You
cannot change the world, but if you change your way of per-
ceiving it, it will change your entire universe.” For this reason,
we work on perception; it is the true creator of our reality.


In the book, you discuss the strength of emotions and
how oftentimes emotions take us from a positive point
to a negative one and vice versa. Is there something to
be learned from our negative emotions?
Emotion is always adaptive: it is about understanding our expe-
riences rather than judging them as positive or negative. I would
instead say pleasant or unpleasant. Something can be unpleasant
but also necessary—it gives us information that we need to
adapt to the environment. An emotion always guides us toward
information from our subconscious. They are like milestones
that mark the way to our inner selves. Instead of controlling
emotions, we should observe them with innocence, curiosity,
and affection—above all, not blaming any of them.
It is natural that sometimes we need physical relief. For that,
we can exercise or go for a hike or shout or do whatever helps us
release energy, without justifying the emotion or living it as a


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