Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Just rest into your Self. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Inner peace, inner contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment? But what happens when you do that? What happens inside of you?
You see, most of life is lived as a distraction, an escape. By keeping your attention on the surface, the depth is avoided. Now why would someone want to avoid that? Well you see, there are inner issues… stresses and strains, emotional tensions, inner turmoil. If you are left to go inside, then those things come up. They are no longer overshadowed by the distractions people create in their lives.
Yet if you were simply willing to live a life that supports resting within the Self, then those issues naturally bubble out. The physiology purifies. Of course the process does not always feel so simple. As those issues you have been avoiding bubble out, you feel them. You experience them. They seem so real.
The ordinary response is to make it stop. I hear the rationalizations all the time, “Oh, I have done enough long mediation” or “Oh, I am a householder, not a monk” or “Oh, I have responsibilities in the world I need to attend to” or “Oh, I need to stay in the ‘real’ world.”
The truth is that people cannot bear what dwells within them, so they look for distractions. Those distractions usually come in the form of idealized notions (mirages) they long for and relentlessly pursue and fleeting superficial pleasures they consume themselves with. That is called living a lie. What people really long for dwells deep within, beyond the barrier reef of inner issues, stress, and turmoil. But few are willing to do what it takes to free themselves from those things. They prefer to try to bury it all under the rug of distractions. Then they look back at their lives and wonder why they are not happy and fulfilled.
I remember all those years when I was in the ashram. The Master would just have us do our meditations and routine with very little, and for long periods of time no, attention given to us. We felt abandoned or brushed aside. Only after some time did I come to understand what he was doing.
People are like seething, bubbling buckets of emotional issues. They spend their lives trying to avoid those issues. In the ashram, the Master just takes that bucket, sets it in the corner and (with the catalyst of meditation and a supportive daily routine) allows it to calm down naturally. It was only after some time that I realized he was watching very carefully. Allowing the pot to bubble, but giving it a stir at just the right moments and in just the right way. This was all done so seamlessly in accord with nature, our nature, that it was not generally recognized.
Getting overly caught up in the turmoil of inner issues just fans the flame. The balance of personal process and physiological purification is essential. Also, the distractions must not overtake the individual. When they do, the rationalizations emerge and the individual finds the ‘reasons’ to throw in the towel, give up, and return to a life of distractions. Very few are willing to stay the course, the journey of the true hero.
Now do not misunderstand me. Relative life is wonderful and important. But it must be built upon the transcendental fullness of your own being, not an inner landfill of emotional issues caramelized with rationalizations. You must live a life that supports the process of inner awakening to that which dwells deep within. I offer that to you. The degree to which you receive or reject it, is your choice alone.
Wow, Very, very useful Blog.
Beautiful blog. Wonderful picture, too.
I’ve been grappling much this year with idealized notions and distractions. It’s so crazy to want to white knuckle hang on to things that bring no ultimate fulfillment, and yet that inner battle is there. I realized in reading this blog I even have a lot of idealized notions about what meditation should look like. It’s assuring to understand that progress can feel extremely uncomfortable.
Over the years I have come to appreciate ever more how you are there with us, deeply a part of us, although sometimes so deep it was only dimly recognized if at all. Yes, and stirring the pot from time to time. In the midst of my own attraction to the distractions and stimulations of the frenzy, I still hear the depths calling. For some reason, however, even the frenzy has more order encoded in what it brings up, something I am now more inclined to attribute to your influence. So it seems even the frenzy is programmed to move toward wholeness. Very sweet. Thank you.
In the past, I had heard of “The Hero’s Journey”. It was described as persistence and integrity. Now I see a deeper meaning with the slight rewording… “The Journey of the True Hero”. How inspiring! This blog describes a life worth living.
This longing is really at the heart of things isn’t it…who am I…why am I here…am I loved…what exactly am I…what is existence…there are some I love deeply and others not even on the radar…and on and on. Mostly I have become aware that like the Late Show Host David Letterman “how does this affect me” is the most relevant question when encountering the superficial. Not altruistic…but true…then, how does it affect my loved ones…
As you say deep within is that mystery to which you allude…and there lies the ultimate nugget…the acceptance of the truth of our being…my being…my loved ones being…everyone who has lived, is living and will live as a human spirit being…being…being…it is nice to be…it is nice to be a being, being.
It is the only thing I know and even then I often wonder if it is truly real and if it is, then what exactly is it…oh yes, it is being…the ultimate nugget…gently…resting into the Ocean of Bliss…when around me there is so much suffering, including my own…but I am not the suffering nor am I the bliss…I think I’m just resting in the Ocean…and it can feel like bliss…
You as always, pique my curiosity, and the process expands my mind as always…thank you for being…and thanks to the Gods that I am being at this time with you and my other loved ones…it is often overwhelming, as you may know, just how impactful such knowledge is for me…
This existence is sooo amazing! To feel is a blessing…to feel what I feel is a blessing multiplied…
Jai guru dev
A timely and great fully received gift. Thank you so!
I love this blog.
What we all need to hear, if it can actually be heard. 🙂
I really appreciate this blog. I agree with Lisa also. (that seems to be my constant path of struggle)..The pendulum swinging..