Loyalty to Yourself - Tom Eckert

Trained to please others

We were educated and trained to believe that it is very important to consider what others
think of us. In the name of wanting to fit into society and be accepted and liked, we have
given up something very important: our loyalty to ourselves.

Many of our decisions and actions include in them a big portion of consideration of how
others will accept our moves, changes, decisions etc. This taints every action we take
with hesitation and diminishes the totality and depth of wholeness with ourselves.

Agreeing to not be understood

One of the most difficult things for us is to not be understood by others – perhaps our closest friends, family or colleagues. It may also be a more generalized feeling of being afraid to be rejected by society as a whole and be seen as weird, not ok and even rude.

In simple words: we are afraid of rejection.

Most of the time we will prefer to give up what’s true to us on the deepest levels simply
because we don’t want to take the risk of feeling rejected. The price is of course: living
a fake life and betraying our Soul.

Being willing to pay the price of Self-Loyalty

As we grow along the spiritual path, we find that more and more of what’s happening to us is harder and harder to explain to the vast majority. We also realize that a lot is happening that is beyond our control. Sometimes we even wish we didn’t have to cancel that appointment, take that nap, suddenly stop a conversation, take breaks from meeting certain people, but it’s really not in our hands. Once Truth has started working inside us, it is a journey of surrender.

Very often we fall into the trap of too much explanations or apologies, but as we mature we understand: no matter how much we explain, most people will not understand and that’s OK. This is when we start to accept the price we have to pay for merging with the Truth: being very often misunderstood.

Spiritual Awakening means standing alone

Intrinsically, the spiritual path as it deepens, becomes a path you walk alone. This doesn’t mean there are no wise friends on the same path that can understand you, but it does mean that you are called to deeply listen and trust your inner wisdom above anything else – even if your closest and wisest friends and teachers think otherwise.

Standing alone means leaving behind the whole set of beliefs society holds as true. It is
realizing that who you are is absolutely beyond this world and not bound to its changing set
of belief systems and paradigms. On the surface level you still respect society and act in a
way that is appropriate, but when it comes to more significant callings of your Soul, you
will not obey society’s demand for conforming and you will not make others feel comfortable on behalf of your inner truth.

Staying with your Truth – Giving up explanations

In the end, it is important to learn to stay loyal to the Truth within even if people will never
understand you. Although the feeling of being understood is cozy and reassuring, it is not
a valuable asset. It’s not of any eternal value. Therefore, drop the need to explain everything
to everybody. Respect your subtle spiritual awakening process and don’t enter unecessary
arguments.

That being said, please don’t take my words as a validation of behaving like a rude asshole!
Remember to be kind and compassionate!