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I've been reflecting on the usefulness of opposition in spiritual growth (and development in general). Some situations, and people, are like weights you can heft to become stronger. I think this is more-or-less what Dion Fortune was talking about when she wrote about "thrust blocks" and using them to launch yourself with greater power in the direction you are trying to move.
I have two examples of people who have spurred me to greater success in wildly different areas. The first was a case manager named Julie. I had been promoted into a new position managing sites that provided low level supports for people with medical needs and she represented some of the clients who lived on those sites. I discovered when I got the job that the manager I was replacing had radically out-of-date information, piles of undone work spanning months if not years, and had left a dysfunctional mess behind her. (I've been assured this is actually normal in the field, and since I left the same mess for my successor when I crashed and burned about a year later, I assume it is true).
Julie was a strict, hardassed individual who had no interest in the difficulties I inherited or my newness to the job. I would now classify her as someone very imbued with the spirit of Geburah, but I wasn't into the qabalah at the time and I just hated her. Of course, what I really hated was my own embarrassment, lack of proper training and poor preparation for the meetings she held where she regularly ground me and my staff into the dirt.
Oh sure, we were underpaid and overworked and faced ridiculous expectations that were probably unobtainable even by people who weren't drawn from the margins of society to perform difficult and thankless tasks, but Julie gave not a single crap for any of that. She expected results. And, after dozens of painful and embarrassing meetings, she started to get them.
I used my hatred of Julie to improve myself. I worked harder, took the feedback she was providing me, and dug deeper. She even softened a bit by the end of our association, although I'm still not sure if that was because I was improving or she just got tired of bashing me for fun and profit. In hindsight, she was a powerful spur to my development as a professional and taught me a lot, although I'm still not her biggest fan and I'm glad we no longer associate.
A different situation arose recently with my dental hygienist. My dentist retired right after the pandemic and I went about a year without one. I found a new provider, finally, but my mouth had suffered a year of neglect. The dentist is a pretty cool dude, but the hygienist I was assigned could probably have gotten a job as a torturer in a medieval court. This lady goes hard.
After a few torture sessions, I had the painful realization that I was ultimately suffering because of my own neglect. Since then, I really started going ham with the flossing and whatnot, and last time I went in she actually complimented me, and her work didn't hurt like the blazing of a thousand suns. Well, it did, but in fewer areas.
I don't think either of these ladies regarded me in even remotely the same way I regard them... Or do they? Maybe I was a foil for them too, a soft and doughy lump of incompetence and laziness that it was their unfortunate responsibility to whip into shape. If so, I hope they hated it as much as I did.
I have two examples of people who have spurred me to greater success in wildly different areas. The first was a case manager named Julie. I had been promoted into a new position managing sites that provided low level supports for people with medical needs and she represented some of the clients who lived on those sites. I discovered when I got the job that the manager I was replacing had radically out-of-date information, piles of undone work spanning months if not years, and had left a dysfunctional mess behind her. (I've been assured this is actually normal in the field, and since I left the same mess for my successor when I crashed and burned about a year later, I assume it is true).
Julie was a strict, hardassed individual who had no interest in the difficulties I inherited or my newness to the job. I would now classify her as someone very imbued with the spirit of Geburah, but I wasn't into the qabalah at the time and I just hated her. Of course, what I really hated was my own embarrassment, lack of proper training and poor preparation for the meetings she held where she regularly ground me and my staff into the dirt.
Oh sure, we were underpaid and overworked and faced ridiculous expectations that were probably unobtainable even by people who weren't drawn from the margins of society to perform difficult and thankless tasks, but Julie gave not a single crap for any of that. She expected results. And, after dozens of painful and embarrassing meetings, she started to get them.
I used my hatred of Julie to improve myself. I worked harder, took the feedback she was providing me, and dug deeper. She even softened a bit by the end of our association, although I'm still not sure if that was because I was improving or she just got tired of bashing me for fun and profit. In hindsight, she was a powerful spur to my development as a professional and taught me a lot, although I'm still not her biggest fan and I'm glad we no longer associate.
A different situation arose recently with my dental hygienist. My dentist retired right after the pandemic and I went about a year without one. I found a new provider, finally, but my mouth had suffered a year of neglect. The dentist is a pretty cool dude, but the hygienist I was assigned could probably have gotten a job as a torturer in a medieval court. This lady goes hard.
After a few torture sessions, I had the painful realization that I was ultimately suffering because of my own neglect. Since then, I really started going ham with the flossing and whatnot, and last time I went in she actually complimented me, and her work didn't hurt like the blazing of a thousand suns. Well, it did, but in fewer areas.
I don't think either of these ladies regarded me in even remotely the same way I regard them... Or do they? Maybe I was a foil for them too, a soft and doughy lump of incompetence and laziness that it was their unfortunate responsibility to whip into shape. If so, I hope they hated it as much as I did.