We Remain Trapped In The Desire To Improve Ourselves. Our approach to the spiritual path is one of almost desperation. We are too involved with trying to seek out something we feel we do not have, of having to prove something, which is connected with paranoia and the feeling of poverty. When you are trying to get something you are no longer open, instead you are continually checking yourself and analysing everything, to make sure you are doing it correctly. We are always trying to secure ourselves, reassure ourselves that we are alright, that we are progressing. But the spiritual path requires a very different approach on our part though, a giving up is required, a complete realisation that it is our desire to achieve something, which is the main stumbling block to enlightenment itself. We have to give up seeking altogether, for in reality there is nothing to find, nothing to attain at all. Liberation from our sufferings, be they emotional, mental or physical, has always been within us, we simply havent been able to see this, for we have been too preoccupied with the search. Our basic problem is that our whole life is usually conducted in a manner of trying to get somewhere, of wanting something, so we bring these eternal habit with us when we enter the spiritual path. Breaking out of this lifelong habit is extremely hard to do. Coming to the spiritual path we believe that there is a goal, that enlightenment is something to gain. Maybe, we tell ourselves that if we struggle continuously, put in so much effort, spend six, eight hours a day meditating, we will get there. Maybe I need to go off on retreat for years, to show that I am worthy of this great benefaction? I am afraid though that the spiritual path doesnt work like that. If there was something to gain, then enlightenment would be subject to the laws of becoming, for what is born must die. For real progress to take place however, we have to be willing to make a sacrifice, to give up altogether our hopes and dreams, letting go of our neurotic tendencies, of the desire to get somewhere and achieve something. You have to accept yourself as you are right now, not as you wish to be, which means giving up self-deception and wishful thinking. Giving up the whole structure of self- evaluation and self- criticism, which are basically neurotic tendencies, which derive from not having enough trust, not enough confidence in ourselves. You would like to see what you have not yet seen, rather than what you are right now. You will not accept what is right here now. If one searches for any sort of bliss or joy, the realisation of ones imagination and dreams, then equally one is going to suffer failure and depression. The whole point is that struggle is irrelevant to opening. Once you have stepped onto the path, if you give up the struggle itself, that takes care of the whole problem. Everything is right here and always has been so, in our struggle though to get somewhere, we cannot see this.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 07:35:09 +0000
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