End Suffering on Resentment

by Dr. Lynne Wooldridge

     We as spiritual students need a bridge to cross over from an existence captured by negativity to one of a complete and full understanding of life. This bridge won’t be built without consistent self-study, and voluntarily putting our attention and focus on just one harmful human trait operating inside of us can be an integral part of building a section of the bridge. What is required is a receptivity and willingness to hear the true facts about the false nature and a desire to go beyond that nature.
     This article is about resentment, its many causes, and the forms it takes. This is one state that truly does spread out to all areas of life. Here’s a partial list of the mental and emotional causes of resentment: feeling put upon, thinking our self-importance has been challenged, following instructions (even useful ones), feeling unappreciated, believing we should have what another person has, having to take care of “mundane” tasks and many more.
     One interesting thing about resentment is that a lot of it is secret, isn’t it? It hides out and thrives under the surface of outer appearances and then the pressure is finally released in the form of a sour state or nasty demeanor. Following the trail of how it operates to put us in a self-enclosed box can be very enlightening and helpful in our efforts to break out.
     We recently held New Life’s summer banquet and I noticed there was resentment inside about everything that had to be remembered and taken care of. Vernon said, “Realization is a dynamic force for self-transformation” and becoming aware of the painful state I was in led to taking challenges as they came and genuinely enjoying the entire experience. Without the drag of resentment, I could appreciate the opportunity I’d been given to go beyond myself to learn something new. And this effort made one thing perfectly clear. Feeling inspired is much more pleasant than feeling resentful!
     We’ve likely all experienced the resentment of having to do some piece of work we don’t want to do. We put it off, push it back into the corner of the mind but in the end, it must be done. We can either perform the task with dread or with practical understanding. Vernon urged us to not put things off. He instructed, “Get it done! Do it now! Bang! Bang! Bang!” And if done consciously, there are no painful thoughts or feelings connected with having to take care of it at all.
     Another cause of resentment mentioned in Chapter 2 of The Power of Your Supermind (page 31) is “thinking that someone or something is chaining you down, restricting your opportunities for advancement or enjoyment. Such faulty thinking is always accompanied by painful resentment toward those felt to be responsible for the chains. And that leads to useless rebellion, much like smashing a violin because our playing of it produces disharmony.”
     This attitude creates a big roadblock in the psychology of many people. Always looking around for someone to blame, trying to get back at a person who we believe is “holding us down”, etc., leads nowhere. God did not put us in a helpless position, dependent on the whims and manipulations of others. We must become sick and tired of being tyrannized by the bully inside, the thing that’s always agitating and eagerly straining to experience more and more negative vibrations. We were not created to be imprisoned by the faulty operation of the mind and to realize this fully brings authentic freedom and contentment.
     It’s one thing to follow practical instructions from the boss at work, but on an entirely different level, we must learn to recognize and follow spiritual instructions. Vernon once told his longtime secretary to convey a message to another woman who attended New Life classes. Believing the instruction came from the one who had delivered the message, the student came out into the hallway and angrily muttered, “I’m not doing what she says.” There was no discernment there whatever that the source of the direction didn’t come from a human mind but from something much higher. Being able to recognize a higher instruction when we’re given one is an ability we can learn to develop. One of the most encouraging principles in this Work is the assurance that pure essence resides inside and can be brought to light more and more as we let go of the familiar but phony. Although not fully understood or accepted now, it’s impossible for Truth to tell us to do anything that would harm us.
     So, Truth urges us to create a separation between the negative state and the false “I” by studying what living in the dark does to us. Basically, living in the dark creates bad thoughts and bad feelings on every level of life. Start to view all types of resentment as “useless rebellions” and rebel consciously and with awareness against the combative force that doesn’t want us to make the “Great Escape.”