Are we never to force our will on life? People think that without force, without “taking initiative”, we would never express ourselves at all. Never do or create anything. We are told any creation is an act of will. Everything is supposedly hard work.
Well, stress happens even if you find the inner way. But you are part of the flow of life, and the feelings you have inside, that make you desire things and want to give things, are a part of that flow.
If you only knew those moments of rest, then you would not truly know rest. The flow of life is a cycle of action and rest, and we can come to know both. To find the moments of both in our lives, it doesn’t take work. In spiritual pursuits there is often talk of work, of practice, and it can be confusing. You don’t have to try to be spiritual. Life is spiritual even if you are caught up in ambition and success as it has been defined by society. But in that case, the feeling of frustration and emptiness arises because that pursuit done solely as all that life is, is a false notion. We instinctively know it’s false and expend a great deal of energy in denial.
If we persue anything thinking it is the answer, it will fall flat. Take life apart and you loose the whole. Life is greater than the sum of its parts. Romantic love is wonderful, but if you pursue it without including it in other considerations, you lessen it. We set one part of life aside and say this is special, and by doing it we actually lessen it. Remove parts of its nature from our experience for the sake of making it seem pure. Sacrosanct. You look for the holy, but you need set nothing aside. The spirit you seek is in everything. Even in the things that displease us.
There are three concepts in theology that are recognized as necessary for the “supreme being.” Really, they apply to any higher power. One is omnipotence. It has to be capable of all things, even things we don’t like. And to be omnipotent it has to be omniscient. Meaning power and knowledge are one as is easy to see in life. And then it has to be omnipresent. It cannot be excluded from anything. In my experience of the inner way, and the greater way that it is a part of, these are all true. All of the potential of life is expressed. It all comes from the same life and the wisdom of its flow, its rhythms, is far greater than our own. To defer to this inner life is not to deny individual self. It’s to maybe for the first time really claim your own inner spark.
How can you get in touch with your inner way? Meditation helps. As a matter of fact, many people who try meditation think they failed because they didn’t find stillness, but in fact you did. The seeming disturbance is the outer manifestation of the inner way. The inner chaos is usually the side effect of all the willful control we have been forcing on ourselves and our world. By repeatedly returning to this meditation that might not seem like meditation, you eventually see more of your inner self.
Some emotions are disturbing and cause unhappiness, and they arise from ideas that differ from inner nature. We suffer not from our nature but from a disconnection from it. But we can’t release these things without first experiencing them. We need to allow ourselves to be what we are rather than what we think we are, and meditation is being the animal at rest. Have you ever watched a cat sleeping? They don’t actually sleep the whole time they are at rest do they? Yet they can and do remain at rest for long periods.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~