Watching out for hidden hooks

[Sacred Fool]

Question: What are some ways to increase our wisdom and insight so we don't fall for this type of negative hook? What helps keep us "tuned up" so to speak?

Excellent query, Q.

Here's a thought: A skillful thief who chooses you for a mark will study your habits, deduce your weaknesses and then play upon them. Therefore, one protective measure is to be aware of your own capacity to be seduced.

Years ago I used to attend a local satsang of a narcissistic guru. While driving there I would have foreboding, but when I meditated there I would have feelings of such deep satisfaction. I asked a psychic (whom I saw now and then in those days) about the contradiction and she told me that when I would meditate there I would be taken to a place in the inner planes where I would feel very powerful. This explanation fit hand-in-glove. It was their way of sucking me in and feeding off me because, at that time, power was a feeling I enjoyed. That was why it smelled bad beforehand, but then I liked it when it occurred.

Beware the wolves in sheep's dress indeed, but beware your own motivations as well. If you find yourself motivated to follow something because it draws from you a deeper experience of Divine Love, that's one thing. If you follow it because it feeds you tasty goodies, that's another. Sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference. When I need to trap mice in my home, I use real--and very satisfying--bait...and then they are destroyed.

It's reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretel story. Whereas one was taken in by the sweet words and bad diet (as a substitute for genuine parental love and affection), the other was more aware of her own capacity to be fooled.


On the other hand, there are no mistakes. Each one learns over a long period of time. I would just say that careful study of yourself is an excellent way to maintain a semblance of balance when it comes to sniffing out seductive invitations to destruction.


This would have been such a good thread around Hallowe'en, Q.! But now as the days grow shorter and the nights longer, this is also a good time to ponder such things while sitting in the cave before the restless flames.

Rather primal stuff, eh?