My 13-year-old nephew is what Carlos Castaneda calls my petty tyrant. In his book, The Fire From Within he defines a petty tyrant as “a tormentor, someone who either holds the power of life and death over warriors, or simply annoys them to distraction.
My nephew is water and I’m the jug. When a jug is filled with water it’s water’s nature to find the cracks in the jug.
The petty tyrant shows me what I still have many cracks (weaknesses) to work on to turn me into the warrior I want to become.
By the way, my nephew isn’t the first petty tyrant to enter my life and probably won’t be the last. I’ve had bosses, teachers, friends and family that have popped up at inappropriate times (to me) of my life to teach me the lessons I need to learn and the weaknesses I need to confront. Is there ever an appropriate time for harsh lessons to be meted out?
I get that my petty tyrants are not there to fracture and break me. I was fractured and broken long before they came along. When you and I were kicked out of the garden, we were left fractured and broken. We were lost. My petty tyrants are there to help me overcome my weaknesses and heal me so that one day when I find myself called back to the garden and I’m enfolded in death’s comforting arms, I’ll be whole and happy again.
I’m starting to realise that the good and the bad that happens in my life is there for one thing only – to shape me into the human being I’m supposed to become. Every event, in every moment is there to polish my intent. And, what’s my intent? For me it is to get to my death as elegantly and eloquently as I can so that when I meet the grim reaper I can let go of this existence with grace.
Every petty tyrant I meet, every obstacle I face, every lesson I learn and every blessing I receive is there to mould me and prepare me for the most cataclysmic event of my life … my death. And for that I can only be grateful.