On Being Offended

I just ran across a quote that I think is absolutely true:

"You cannot be enlightened until you cannot be offended."

I've been reading a book called The Intimate Enemy. I'm simultaneously reading another book by the same author called The Essential Laws of Fearless Living. One of the golden nuggets of wisdom I'm getting from this author is that events in our lives are generally neutral. Any pain caused by those events is in our own minds. We control how we react to situations. The events themselves have no power over us except that which we give to them.

As new situations arise in our lives that are potential causes of stress, we should strive to take the perspective of the enlightened observer. Step back from ourselves and view it neutrally. Reach inside yourself to your true, unblemished and whole self, and see how it would react to that situation. The true you is perfectly strong, whole and healthy. If you allow it to be in control of your life you cannot be offended. You cannot be hurt by the actions or words of others. You realize that the way others think about you or treat you has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on you or your true identity. You can interact with those people neutrally. They lose the ability to "push your buttons" because you'll have no buttons to push.

Once you learn this, and I mean *really* learn it, freedom and enlightenment follow.