From my most recent book, Nothing to Grasp, published by Non-Duality Press: “Nondual exploration and meditative inquiry is a hands-on kind of approach. Its not mental or abstract. Its direct and experiential. Rather than trying to paper over our suffering with comforting beliefs, this approach is about actually exploring directly what seems to be in the way of freedom, peace and happiness, what seems scary, dreadful and unbearable. Its one thing to believe that the tiger chasing you is only a mirage, and its another thing entirely to actually turn around and embrace the tiger and find out for sure. “This embracing is not something you do once and then its done. Its something that can happen whenever a tiger shows up. Some people have more tigers showing up than others. Comparing yourself to others or wondering when youll finally be done with your last tiger is delusion. And you can only do what you can do. Sometimes you dont turn and embrace the tiger – sometimes fear overwhelms you, old habits take over, and you run away instead. You flee into whatever it is that offers comfort and escape. And thats okay. Perfectionism is just another imaginary tiger. So if running away happens, if you wake up with a hangover, full of despair, then you start here, where you are, right now. You turn to meet the hangover and the despair. Thats your new tiger… “Here / Now isnt always blissful. It can be anything but blissful. But paradoxically, it is through allowing it all to be as it is in this moment and not moving away that we begin to discover where bliss (or joy, or peace, or love, or freedom) truly resides, and what gets in the way. We begin to realize that the only bliss is right here in the heart of this moment. And that suffering is running away or seeking it elsewhere – “out there” somewhere – in the future, someplace else.” —from Nothing to Grasp, pp 156-157: joantollifson/books-joan-tollifson.html
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:19:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015