Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Are We Afraid to Awaken?
Imagine a camera, the old fashioned kind with two images you have to bring into alignment in order to get a proper focus. These two images, seeking to unite, represent the being you think you are and the Being which is your true self. Only when the two are one, will you transcend tne polarities and awaken to the knowledge of your own essential nature. This state is called Enlightenment.
We have heard these words many times from various teachers. They tell us to let go, release all petty concerns of the personal level, the irrelevant issues and hang ups which prevent us from proper realization.
Yet we cling. We hold on desperately to what we think of as our "identity"--that persona which society and our own choices have created as our "being vehicle."
What holds us back from the leap of faith demanded to enter the longed for state? Why do we not release our ties to samsara, the "unreal" world of material existence, and enter the transcendent realm of the realized ones?
It is above all fear which holds us back. Fear of losing those things which most define us in the everyday world--our professional identities, our family and social roles, friendships, our entanglements on all levels. Even our failures and unresolved conflicts help to tell us who we are. And, in our innermost being, we hold them tightly, for without them, we lack definition and thus may become nothing.
To make the transit to the next level, where the small and higher are fused, we must release our tight grip on the false image, letting it flow into the ether, and in the state of perfect openness, accept the infusion of something unknown, yet uncannily familiar. We must be willing to remove the barriers, if necessary tear down the doors,and let in the god waiting outside. Only then will our fears fall away, our obsessive cravings shrink, and our true nature be revealed as beings of limitless wisdom, compassion, and love.
At this point, we do not leave the world, but become more fully in it, able to walk freely offering gifts of service and beauty,secure in our newfound knowledge--that to become no one is to become all things and everyone.
We have heard these words many times from various teachers. They tell us to let go, release all petty concerns of the personal level, the irrelevant issues and hang ups which prevent us from proper realization.
Yet we cling. We hold on desperately to what we think of as our "identity"--that persona which society and our own choices have created as our "being vehicle."
What holds us back from the leap of faith demanded to enter the longed for state? Why do we not release our ties to samsara, the "unreal" world of material existence, and enter the transcendent realm of the realized ones?
It is above all fear which holds us back. Fear of losing those things which most define us in the everyday world--our professional identities, our family and social roles, friendships, our entanglements on all levels. Even our failures and unresolved conflicts help to tell us who we are. And, in our innermost being, we hold them tightly, for without them, we lack definition and thus may become nothing.
To make the transit to the next level, where the small and higher are fused, we must release our tight grip on the false image, letting it flow into the ether, and in the state of perfect openness, accept the infusion of something unknown, yet uncannily familiar. We must be willing to remove the barriers, if necessary tear down the doors,and let in the god waiting outside. Only then will our fears fall away, our obsessive cravings shrink, and our true nature be revealed as beings of limitless wisdom, compassion, and love.
At this point, we do not leave the world, but become more fully in it, able to walk freely offering gifts of service and beauty,secure in our newfound knowledge--that to become no one is to become all things and everyone.
