The Bullying Syndrome

You don't have to go far to run into yet another situation where bullying is happening. One of my friends on Facebook shared a video of a young man dealing with bullying. Talking to a friend a month or two ago I found out they had taken their child out of school because of bullying. We chatted about that a bit and I was reminded that bullying is not just a problem in schools, it is cultural.

I remember hearing about a company in the US several years ago who went into the workplace with workshops to help people deal with bullying at work. You only have to watch some of the 'news' networks to get a load of bull(ying) right there for all to see. I also see a subtle kind of bullying going on in many work settings where management ends up putting all kinds of pressure on employees to work more and more and more for less and less and less. The implication seems to be that if you don't you either won't work here for long or you won't advance. Stress levels on all sides rise and everyone is trapped under the wheel of survival.

When I watched the video from a young man being bullied today my heart just ached as it always does when I hear about or witness bullying of any kind. My sense is that everyone is unhappy in these situations, not just the person being bullied. There is so much fear and pain from unmet needs at play that people just stop seeing each other as people. They become objects of projected pain. This often happens in unhappy relationships as well. When we don't know what to do with our own pain we either throw it around and let it hit whatever is in our field or we turn it inward and become the targets of said pain in others (or both).

Nothing makes any sense in this place. There is no one to blame; you could point your finger at pretty much any point or person in the cycles of bullying and find a victim. From my perspective whether you are aware of the bully or the bullied in any given moment, the situation does not need more criticism or condemnation, it needs compassion. This is particularly true if you find that it is you on either end of   that spectrum.

If you feel any discomfort around this topic, do an internal check wherever you are be it witness, bully or bullied; what is it you really want? Is it really more punishment or criticism or revenge or is there something else waiting to be released in the background of awareness that is more in alignment with what you really are beyond the veil of pain? Is it possible that what is needed is essentially what you are?

I wonder what might be possible if we allowed more of that Essential Being to enfold the pain... Hmm...

This nativity scene reminds me of the the sanctuary in our own hearts where we can allow Presence to not only be born into the world but to be fully received and celebrated.

Namaste