A Lesson from the Spirit

Healing of Vices

They show a river, wild like the Amazon, yet transparent, crystal clear. On both sides of this river pockets of swamp have formed. There, besides stagnant water, there are some objects.
“What does this mean?”
“It is about your path.”
“As you move forward in this clear water, you notice nothing around you; you don’t see, you simply float ahead, nothing obstructs you.
But these stagnant pools, overflowing with mud and trash, they exist—whether you notice them or not, they are part of your path and were created by you.”
“What are these pools?”
“Your vices. As soon as one of them overflows with negativity, it pours into this water.
Because of this you feel discomfort, you feel your life poisoned and your path immobilized.
The more of these pollutants flow into your crystal-clear river, the harder it will be to swim.”

In the end, you will grow weary from this road and long to turn away, not understanding that by changing the river’s course you do not change its essence. The river remains the same.

“What then should be done?”
“Allow those pools overflowing with negativity to be cleansed, allow them to be purified. Let it hurt and be uncomfortable for you, but this is only a small part of the vast journey.”
“How to be cleansed?”
“Each vice is only a step; by accepting and transforming it you can move on.
What are these filthy pools? They are your vices that poison your life, making it at times unbearable, unacceptable, repulsive to your soul.
“What can be done?”
“You can keep lamenting life, or you can turn the current back, transforming each pool of vices, healing and cleansing it with your intention—through repentance, through awareness, through acceptance and gratitude toward yourself and toward the Spirit who guides you, through restraint of thoughts and openness of your soul.
For in each of these corners, in each of these pools, hides that blessed and eternal thing, praised by your lips, that which is the truth of the Creator’s unconditional love for each of you.
Just watch how, by your efforts, by your intention, all the filth leaves, is cleansed and the water in those pools is transformed.
Watch the happy you, floating along the serene river—your road back to yourself, where you are the one born of God, the one in whom the true spark of God’s light dwells.
Watch in trust, watch in awareness and acceptance, watch in full gratitude to your Creator.
So be it!”

They show a clear river with crystalline pools. They have not gone anywhere; they remain there, but they have been transformed into something incomprehensibly beautiful and harmonious, something that heals by its touch.