Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

of associated feelings and stories wash through her
over a few hours. Just relax, lie on your back and feel
everything, for feeling the entirety of neediness will
allow for a permanence of humility, an understanding
you were never in control, that each moment is
instantaneous and then lost, and each moment then
becomes a movement of grace.
Of course there is an obvious corollary to this
insight.
What happens when an idealized other, a guru, an
omnipotent mother or father figure, a husband or wife
who always has supported us, suddenly “falters,” and
says, “Honey, I need you! I feel so small and
vulnerable and I need you.”
What happens then? The father figure, the God
figure, the omnipotent mother says to you, “I need
you!”
You see; that idealization, that idea you had of the
all supplying, omnipotent protector is shattered, he or
she is seen to be just like you, small, vulnerable, and
needy.
“Whoa is me, my father has betrayed me. What am
I to do? I cannot take care of both my father and me.”
What happens? Either you withdraw from that
disappointing object, or you go into the feelings of