Obstacles Part 2
October 21, 2025
Obstacles Part 2
A life without obstacles is a life without a chance to grow. Whatever our heart’s desire, if an obstacle stands in our way, we have to work harder to overcome it. Therein lies the value of obstacles ... the hard work of overcoming them builds wisdom in our soul.
Butterflies overcome the boundaries of their cocoon, athletes overcome the limitations of their bodies, the unsighted overcome obstacles to moving in the world, and many others in all areas of life, overcome huge obstacles.
What is your heart’s current desire? What is the obstacle that stands in the way of achieving it? Is it fear, anxiety, a sense of inferiority, a person, a financial, or educational obstacle? Are the obstacles helping you in any way? Are they deepening your commitment to your goal? Are they providing more understanding of your overall your aims? Do they illustrate how your passion may be their root obstacle? Maybe you allow the obstacle to stand in the way because of worry about what things would be like without it.
In the study of consciousness and the spiritual tool of the Enneagram, obstacles are the ladder’s rungs lifting us into new spiritual awareness. The progression of the soul is not an easy pilgrimage. In fact, it is like swimming upstream. Effort and courage are needed to climb the ladder of life. Without alertness to our obstacles and to the spirit’s ways of overcoming them, we may settle on taking the path of least resistance. This path seems easy and even natural, but it takes us down the ladder, not up.
On the Enneagram, the path of least resistance is our stress point, or the point of disintegration. It is following the arrows. The Jesuits call this the way of desolation.
The way of the soul is onward and upward, the way of integration. It is to follow the path that goes against our arrows. It is the path the Jesuits call consolation. The soul meets each challenge willingly and, with powers beyond itself, overcomes the seemingly impossible.
Prayer: Dear God, I am humbled that you use my obstacles, failures and defeats for mighty purposes. I pray that the miracle of your wisdom fulfills the seed which you planted in me at my making. Amen.
