Why do we need guides and allies?

Depending on your cultural and religious upbringing or background, it may seem strange to you that I talk about meditating to connect us to our guides and allies. When we talk about this, we often oscillate between distrust and rejection on the one hand and naivety and gullibility on the other.



And yet we need these aids, but not necessarily for the reasons we think!



There is more in us than we believe. More resources. More wisdom. More light. A part of us knows, holds on to, and is connected to the universe. It is our Inner Self, our Self, the Spirit, the Divine Spark, the Kingdom of God: religious and spiritual traditions have given it all sorts of names. It doesn't matter which one you remember or if you don't. The important thing is that it is there, and it is your most fantastic resource for dealing with the ups and downs of life. From there, we grow, mature, heal, and learn.

But this part of us escapes us most of the time.



It isn't straightforward for us to connect to this dimension, to experience that it is there, to receive from it its impulses, its inspirations, and its energy. We live as if we were cut off from this part of ourselves by our traumas, shame, guilt, and all the messages we have received and internalized, which tell us that we are not enough, not worthy, not lovable.



We do not know ourselves, so we have lost access to our most profound light, strength, and healing resources.



At this point, I have to talk about spirituality: there are a thousand forms of spiritualities and religions, but they come down to two main categories. Instead, there are two fundamental ways of living spirituality, whatever religion or spirituality you adopt. Some are toxic and alienating, and others support life and growth. Some ways of living spirituality convey and sustain our sense of separation, unworthiness, and loss. They tell us that we are flawed, impure, and helpless and that the solution must come from outside us. And some guide us on this mysterious path towards reconciliation with ourselves, the rediscovery of our divine part, and the reunion with our light and inner wisdom.



Taking the path of reconciliation, integration, and individuation is a magnificent, liberating path, an initiation, an adventure, but it is a long and challenging path. We have to face and get rid of many illusions, lies, and ways of thinking, of seeing reality, of seeing ourselves. On this path, we will face profound traumas and fears, resistances of all kinds, and ways of seeing the world and ourselves rooted in us for generations. This whole difficulty is why we need help, guides, and allies.



All religious traditions have created representations of the divine and spiritual forces in various forms: angels, saints, deities, allied spirits, and totemic animals. We can see them as forces outside of us that will come to save us from ourselves if we deserve it or have the chance, eventually shaming or punishing us on the way. It's a toxic way of looking at them, reinforcing our separation. But if we consider them from the perspective of a path of reconciliation with ourselves, they can become our guides and allies on this path. We can learn to see in them the echo, reflection, or manifestation of the forces that act at the heart of our being. We can thus become familiar with them and gradually reconnect, with their help, with who we are.

By meditating and practicing active imagination, you will be able to encounter the forms that the help of the universe, the support, and the divine love take for you to accompany you in your process of healing and individuation. We can go through these representations to discover little by little that they point to our resources, dignity, power, and purity. We need it because life is sometimes difficult, and the voices of illusion and nihilism are strong because of our traumas and upbringing. We need to resort to something greater than ourselves.