“There are many ways we can stray from what is true and lifegiving. We can be forced into a painful isolation by the pressures of a dispassionate society, or by a domineering family or partner, or by sinking into the depths of our own confusion which, unfaced, can become our personal demons. In fact, the original meaning of the Muslim word jihad is ‘to face one’s own demons.’ Without facing what is ours to face, we can protect the need to face ourselves until it becomes a crusade against others…
“To be led by our demons, to collapse into ourselves, to be led around by others or our patterns, and to feel divided and cut apart — these are all symptoms of being entangled.
“This brings us to the Japanese word for emancipation, todatsu, which means ‘a fish slipping out of the net.’ It implies that we must face and disentangle from everything that gets in the way if we are to transform…
“Humbly, we’re never done with this process, as no one can avoid being entangled. It’s part of being alive. Yet whenever we slip out of the net we find ourselves in, we come alive like someone waking from amnesia.”
