Losing Friendships and Gaining Freedom

Image: Emotional Freedom by Jennifer Nelson

How I Became a Madman (Prologue) ^[1]The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918)

Kahlil Gibran

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen,—the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives,—I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, “Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves.”

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me.

And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, “He is a madman.” I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, “Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks.”

Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.

 

I came across this poem while trying to process the ending of a friendship. I understood that the relationship served its purpose, the timeline collapsed, and this could be added to the book of bifurcation. But I still needed to process it because it was the culmination of issues from multiple lifetimes.

Kalil Gibran’s poem helped me to accept that sometimes we have to let go of friendships, “friendships”, and other relationships in order to be more aligned to our authentic selves. We are in a time of dropping the masks, seeing things for what they are, and embracing acceptance in order to embody love.

My inner guidance told me that there is no need to be upset when a relationship ends because we can choose how we experience it. It’s so freeing when we choose love and forgiveness as a path to peace. The following is a message to myself which may or may not resonate with you:

Hurt people, hurt people …forgive it, while maintaining firm boundaries and self respect.

Fear leads to anger which leads to some sort of separation… understand that is how it works, choose love, and keep it moving.

When you realize that all is one, there is really no separation. The deeper you go into yourself the more treasures you will discover.

Affirmations

I do not consent to emotional manipulation.

I am thankful for all relationship endings that opened doors for new beginnings.

I accept people for who they are.

I refuse to impose my expectations on others.

I love myself unconditionally.

I know my worth and I deserve to be treated well.

I choose Divine will over my own.

I choose to overcome negative thoughts.

I accept the lessons, and leave the pain.