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Choosing to Stay in the Dark
Ignoring the truths in our hearts
If we tell a rich man living in luxury that it is God’s will that he be careful and use moderation at the table so that others might at least have bread to eat, for they are dying of hunger, he will bring up a thousand reasons for not understanding this save in accordance with his own selfish purposes. If we tell backbiters that it is God’s will that they love their neighbor as themselves, they will become impatient and no reason will suffice to make them understand. (St. Teresa of Avila, The way of perfection, p.370)
Introduction
One of the jobs of a counsellor is to gently bring to awareness the blind spots in a client’s life. This is done to help the client gain a fresh and possibly less distorted perception of his/her life story.
Some people have blind spots simply because they are unaware of what is really happening. Most of us however, develop and sustain blind spots because we are afraid of acknowledging the truth.
Let us consider the fairly common example of drug addiction. It is a known phenomenon that family members of drug addicts are often aware of their drug habit long before any major event occurs. Most of them begin to notice odd behaviors from their children/spouses etc. However, due to fear and possibly shame…
