Wrestling with the Angel: The Path to Personal Growth and Achievement

In our quest for personal growth and achievement, we often encounter challenges that test our resolve. This concept, known as "wrestling with the angel," is a powerful metaphor for the struggles we face in pursuit of our goals. Let's explore this idea in depth and understand why it's crucial for our personal development.

The Necessity of Struggle

It's a common misconception that valuable things in life should come easily. However, the reality is quite different. Consider how much effort it takes to earn money, which is one of the most common and fungible goods on the planet. If acquiring something as basic as money requires significant work, focus, and dedication, why would we expect that progress in more abstract areas of our lives would be any easier?

In fact, abstract intangibles such as peace, contentment, self-actualization, and love often require even more effort to attain than their concrete counterparts. This is the essence of "wrestling with the angel" - the understanding that real goodness and value in life come through significant effort and struggle.

The Biblical Allegory

The concept of wrestling with the angel comes from a biblical story about Jacob. In this tale, Jacob encounters an angel who attempts to ascend to heaven. Before the angel can leave, Jacob grabs hold of him and refuses to let go unless he receives a blessing.

Interestingly, the angel doesn't immediately bless Jacob. This illustrates an important point: the divine, or any source of true value, isn't a vending machine that dispenses blessings on demand. That's a childish fantasy that doesn't align with how reality works.

Instead, Jacob and the angel engage in a fierce struggle. They wrestle in midair, with Jacob risking his life as they climb higher and higher. It's this willingness to go "all in," to risk everything for what he desires, that ultimately leads to Jacob receiving the angel's blessing.

The Price of Success

Jacob's story teaches us a crucial lesson: we don't receive blessings merely because we want them or ask for them. We receive them because we survive the struggle to achieve them. This is the secret to obtaining anything of true value in life.

In the process of this metaphorical wrestling, we shed aspects of ourselves that hinder our progress. Just as physical wrestling causes us to lose excess weight and gain muscle, strength, and stamina, our struggles with abstract concepts lead us to discard traits that are antithetical to our goals.

Wrestling for Love

When we wrestle with the angel of love, we shed resentment, hatred, bitterness, and selfishness. These negative emotions are incompatible with love - you cannot truly love while harboring these feelings. The more we struggle to attain love, the more we naturally lose these opposing traits.

Wrestling for Peace

Similarly, in our pursuit of peace, we must let go of envy, jealousy, impatience, and anger. These emotions are the antithesis of peace, and we cannot achieve true tranquility while holding onto them.

Wrestling for Other Virtues

This principle applies to various other virtues:

• To overcome anxiety, we must wrestle with the angel of courage.
• To conquer addiction, we grapple with the angel of temperance.
• To combat depression, we struggle with the Angel of Hope.

In each case, we must be willing to let go of the traits and behaviors that stand in opposition to our goals.

The Cost of Growth

It's crucial to understand that this process of growth and change doesn't happen overnight. Our negative traits and behaviors are often deeply ingrained, subtly woven into the fabric of our personalities. Removing them is like untangling a stubborn knot - it takes time, effort, care, and discernment.

Moreover, we must be willing to make a sacrifice of our egoic self. Like Jacob, we have to be willing to "die to self" in order to enter into the highest echelons of love, peace, or whatever virtue we're pursuing. This is the ultimate cost of personal growth and transformation.

The Value of Persistence

The key to success in this struggle lies in persistence. We must be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals, to not let go no matter what. Those who make real progress in life are those who are willing to endure discomfort, difficulty, and inconvenience.

If we only pursue our goals until things become uncomfortable or challenging, we're better off not starting at all. Quitting not only wastes time and energy but also damages our self-esteem and belief in our ability to persevere.

As Charles Bukowski eloquently put it in his poem "If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start." This sentiment perfectly encapsulates the mindset needed for wrestling with the angel.

The Rewards of the Struggle

While the process of wrestling with the angel is challenging, the rewards are immeasurable. Things like peace of mind, a contented heart, and true love are infinitely more valuable than material wealth. Consider that all the money in the world cannot buy these intangible treasures.

Moreover, a life without these qualities can be likened to a kind of hell. The way out of this hell is to shed the unnecessary weight that keeps us from ascending to greater heights of personal growth and fulfillment.

Practical Applications

So how can we apply this concept of wrestling with the angel in our daily lives? Here are some practical steps:

1. Identify Your Angel: What virtue or quality are you striving for? Is it love, peace, courage, hope? Clearly define your goal.

2. Recognize the Opposition: What traits or behaviors within yourself are standing in the way of your goal? These are what you'll need to wrestle with and eventually let go of.

3. Commit Fully: Remember Jacob's example. Be willing to go "all in" in pursuit of your goal. Half-hearted efforts rarely yield significant results.

4. Embrace the Struggle: Don't shy away from discomfort or difficulty. Understand that these challenges are part of the process of growth.

5. Practice Patience: Remember that meaningful change takes time. Be patient with yourself as you work through this process.

6. Reflect and Adjust: Regularly take time to reflect on your progress. Are you seeing changes in yourself? Are you gradually letting go of the traits that oppose your goal?

7. Seek Support: While the wrestling is ultimately a personal journey, don't hesitate to seek support from friends, family, or professionals when needed.

Conclusion

The concept of wrestling with the angel offers a powerful framework for understanding personal growth and achievement. It reminds us that anything of true value in life requires effort, struggle, and sacrifice to attain.

By embracing this struggle, by being willing to wrestle with our own angels, we open ourselves up to profound transformation and the attainment of real, lasting value in our lives. Whether we're seeking love, peace, courage, or any other virtue, the path to achievement lies in our willingness to engage fully in the wrestle, to let go of what holds us back, and to persist no matter the challenges we face.

Remember, the blessings we seek - be they personal growth, fulfillment, or success - are not handed out freely. They are earned through our willingness to struggle, to change, and to persevere. So grab hold of your angel, and don't let go until you've received your blessing. The journey may be challenging, but the rewards are immeasurable.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi3pQ5LFaVc