This, too

Filed under Notes on 18. March 2007 »

One of the most powerful spiritual practices, taught in many different forms throughout the ages, is surrender to limitations. Jesus on the cross is the archetypal image of this, and the lives of everyone born into this world will be full of limitations in one form or the other. We could even say that limitation is the very purpose of the world of form, and that it is only here to give us challenges so that we can surrender and discover that which is beyond form.
More often than not, spiritual awakening comes about through surrender to these limitations, often severe ones, such as life threatening diseases, paralysis, loss of some kind — you are more likely to become enlightened through losing everything you have than winning millions of dollars in the lottery, for example.

And in this practice of allowing what is, of surrendering to whatever arises in the moment, be it a thought, an emotion, a person, a situation, or whatever, there is an obstacle that can easily go unnoticed and sabotage your practice. This obstacle is in the form of a little voice that comes in and says yes, I will surrender to what is but let’s get out of this situation first. This is the voice that tells you that saying yes to what is sounds good, but only after you get out of this job, lose weight, move someplace quiet, etc. That when you’ve just figured out this one last thing, just a little bit more, then you will finally be able to surrender. The voice is usually subconscious, and if it were conscious and obvious to you then it’d be seen for what it is instantly, namely resistance arising from the ego.

There is a simple pointer I heard of that deals with this little obstacle, a mantra that says ‘this, too’ and applies to whatever arises in the present moment. So when something happens, you can meet it with this mantra and thus prevent the ego from sneaking in its own mantra which is always ‘everything but this.’ It is a way of seeing that everything is part of what you need to surrender to. Every challenge that arises is there for you to go beyond it, and realizing this can accelerate the process of awakening quite a bit.

So whatever happens, see that this, too, is part of your spiritual practice. Include everything.