In a recent conversation with a friend, I stated that finding my life becoming increasingly normal was both scary and exciting. I had for years led a turbulent existence. Moving from place to place and seeking out teachers and teachings hoping enlightenment would spell an end to my troubles.
It was after seeking ended that I noticed the troubles were still there. Old issues started appearing and slowly but surely, I started to deal with them. Life started to improve. I also noticed my communication of this reality became simpler and more focused on the ordinary and everyday existence of our lives. Something about an ordinary existence was so much clearer and simpler than the expansive and ecstatic utterances of my past. As life became even more ordinary the subtleties of existence started to make themselves apparent to me. Going further into this ordinariness, the need to speak a certain way was seen as redundant and almost an impediment to effectively communicating this reality of who we are.
Seemingly ordinary experiences such as going shopping or mowing the lawn felt so much more alive and I started looking at my life and realising that had I just dealt with my problems than maybe this whole journey may not have been needed. The term spiritual bypassing came into my life and I realised how incomplete our understanding of spirituality was and how we in the West are chasing the big enlightenment experiences, and yet sometimes it can be as simple as tidying your room.
That a complete teaching is practical and focuses on the ordinary and the extraordinary and then collapses the apparent separation to reveal it is all one reality. That whether we are on the mountaintop or whether at home washing the dishes that it is the one reality and that there is a myriad of ways to realise this. This seeing everything as it is allows us to fully engage in living instead of waiting. That what we spiritually bypass offers us the greatest opportunity to realise ourselves. That when we chase the big ecstatic experiences the answer may well lie in the pile of dirty washing and if we were to accept that our search could be over.
Life is infinitely simpler now.
I have travelled and loved and lost.
I have had my heart broken and screamed at my very maker.
I have been high, and I have been as Oscar Wilde stated, “in the gutter looking at the stars” and yet as beautiful as this adventure was, I have now found something so much more.
Life in all its form is beautiful and yet terrifying. For those of you who have dedicated your lives to truth. I say look around you. That which you are fleeing from may in fact be the answer. That broken relationship, that reminder from the debt collectors, that impossible situation may provide more of an understanding into your true nature than any holy man or holy book.
If you would but stop and see.
It was after seeking ended that I noticed the troubles were still there. Old issues started appearing and slowly but surely, I started to deal with them. Life started to improve. I also noticed my communication of this reality became simpler and more focused on the ordinary and everyday existence of our lives. Something about an ordinary existence was so much clearer and simpler than the expansive and ecstatic utterances of my past. As life became even more ordinary the subtleties of existence started to make themselves apparent to me. Going further into this ordinariness, the need to speak a certain way was seen as redundant and almost an impediment to effectively communicating this reality of who we are.
Seemingly ordinary experiences such as going shopping or mowing the lawn felt so much more alive and I started looking at my life and realising that had I just dealt with my problems than maybe this whole journey may not have been needed. The term spiritual bypassing came into my life and I realised how incomplete our understanding of spirituality was and how we in the West are chasing the big enlightenment experiences, and yet sometimes it can be as simple as tidying your room.
That a complete teaching is practical and focuses on the ordinary and the extraordinary and then collapses the apparent separation to reveal it is all one reality. That whether we are on the mountaintop or whether at home washing the dishes that it is the one reality and that there is a myriad of ways to realise this. This seeing everything as it is allows us to fully engage in living instead of waiting. That what we spiritually bypass offers us the greatest opportunity to realise ourselves. That when we chase the big ecstatic experiences the answer may well lie in the pile of dirty washing and if we were to accept that our search could be over.
Life is infinitely simpler now.
I have travelled and loved and lost.
I have had my heart broken and screamed at my very maker.
I have been high, and I have been as Oscar Wilde stated, “in the gutter looking at the stars” and yet as beautiful as this adventure was, I have now found something so much more.
Life in all its form is beautiful and yet terrifying. For those of you who have dedicated your lives to truth. I say look around you. That which you are fleeing from may in fact be the answer. That broken relationship, that reminder from the debt collectors, that impossible situation may provide more of an understanding into your true nature than any holy man or holy book.
If you would but stop and see.
Nice! I relate... ;)
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