Adaptation Part 1
May 30, 2025
Adaptation Part 1
Join us for this week's Reflections on "Adaptation."
From time to time, we find ourselves in changing circumstances that can completely throw us off. But in the spiritual life, we make changes so that we learn and even benefit from these situations. The changes we make are forms of adaptation to the emotional and/or physical environment. And as we know, adaptation is a vital tool for survival.
The ego has a myriad of ways to adapt. For example, the nine ego types' avoidances are various adaptations. When we avoid something, we develop the ability to exclude it from our lives. This can serve us in healthy or unhealthy ways. Ones avoid wrongness and anger, Twos avoid their own needs, Threes avoid failure, and Fours avoid being typical. Fives avoid the feeling of inner emptiness, Sixes avoid deviance, Sevens avoid pain, Eights avoid weakness, and Nines avoid conflict. Over time, our avoidances develop our capacity to exclude or go around things, but it shrinks the capacity to take on unpleasant situations.
But the ego's forms of adaptation through avoidance end up being counterproductive. Why is this so? Avoidance of reality compromises the soul. For example, when Type Ones avoid wrongness and anger, they deny vital truths in their depths. Reality dictates that every human being has been wrong and will always be susceptible to wrongness. And in reality, everyone has felt angry because it is a natural human experience. The way of integration is to face our avoidances of wrongness and anger, but the next step is to learn what makes us feel wrong or angry.
When we accommodate to our environment by denying even a few of our soul's truths, vital portions of our life force shut down. Then the ego and the soul operate in two parallel universes.
To illustrate this point, I'd like to tell you about a lovely lady, an active church member, who said she voted for a particular candidate for local office. "Some people criticize me for backing such an aggressive person who’s caused fights in the city council meetings. But I don’t care about the behavior of this candidate— she will use any means at her disposal to do what needs to be accomplished." When asked how she could allow herself to be for someone so demeaning and aggressive, her reply was, "I didn't vote for them to be my minister; I voted for them to be my representative on the council."
Her response results from a radical split between her ego and her higher self. Such divisions come from one of the greatest avoidances to which all our egos are vulnerable— avoidance of integrating our ego with our soul's higher sense of love.
Our soul always whispers to us, “Love without fail.” This doesn’t mean avoiding taking hard stands. Avoiding the whispers of our still, small voice may serve us in the short run, but in the long run, it doesn't help us adapt to reality. Instead, the ego’s avoidance forms a false reality that is in opposition to the way we would treat ourselves or loved ones. Fortunately, by facing the two realities, we can integrate them and then our souls may progress.
Self-inquiry: When might I not consciously strive to make my behaviors consistent with my deepest beliefs?
Dear God
I am still working on making my life consistent with my higher power. I pray for the capacity to do this, for it is my soul's work. Amen
