Being good is overrated. So is holding light, being polite, having good manners, and oh yeah, being nice. Now don’t get me wrong, well mannered nice people holding light and doing good deeds in the world are liked and do make a difference for others. There are organizations, spiritual healing centers, and charities that are designed to make change through goodness and light. Religions and spiritual communities encourage good deeds as a means of creating peace and harmony. What’s overrated is the power of light and goodness as a means of transformation.
I watched a video on Ted recently of a famous Buddhist nun who spoke about being a troublemaker. She said that the greatest spiritual teachers are troublemakers. They are impolite, radical, rule breakers, rude, intolerant of games, and a royal pain the butt. They will drive you crazy. They are real people who aren’t afraid to not be liked. If you have kids, especially teenagers, you know what I mean. I loved the perspective that causing trouble is a divine act that confronts the unnatural behaviors and beliefs of others and ourselves. That being impolite and rude are, at the core, loving acts. How many leaders in power thought Jesus, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, or Mother Theresa were a pain in the butt? They were all troublemakers who moved with the instinctual desire to be present to change in all forms and be in it.
Troublemaking can also be silent. Someone who chooses to ignore an emotional throw up session is loving. Turning your back and walking away from someone stuck in drama is loving. Meditation, silent prayer, and being present in the moment breaks the rule of engagement as a means of change. Silence allows the unnaturalness of noise to become quiet. Stillness is a radical space from which to ruffle feathers and awaken the world.
Think about the possibility of creating time to cause trouble each day. How often to we wake up and say to ourselves, “Today I want to cause trouble.” Why not? Rather than focusing on sending light into the world and making a difference by good deeds, make a difference by being naturally you. Speak up, be still, act out, say what you mean, tell the truth, and be willing to piss someone off. Relax into the feeling of being able to be you and let go of the need to be anything less. The world needs troublemakers, now more than ever before. I invite you to cause trouble today because it makes a difference.
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