The Teaching ...
As
individuals, we undergo the painful experience of being continually confined,
as if we are slaves to the dictates of our body, emotions and mind.
The
human being is a prisoner of an unquestioned way of seeing himself and when he
chances upon his genuine nature, he is seized by fear and returns compulsively
to his prison.
It
is possible to put an end to this confinement if one is resolutely determined
to overcome the barrier of fear and psychological, physical and emotional
symptoms which are present when our genuine nature is revealed.
Such
determination does not require any particular quality other than being
determined to abandon the role of prisoner.
In
order to achieve this, we must be receptive all the time to "what is",
which means spontaneously accepting everything.
We
must be "present" and directly experience "what is", at
any moment, whatever form it takes. Whether what we experience fills us with
unease or satisfaction, we go along with what turns up, without manipulating
it, without fleeing from it and without trying to stretch it out either.
This
attitude is bound to awaken the fear which, to begin with, will certainly lead
us to reproduce our flight patterns. We prefer prison to what is beginning to materialize. But if we remain unswerving in our determination to
cease being a prisoner, this will bear fruit. So we simply welcome the feeling
of fear which arises from the confrontation with "what is". We
welcome it, just as we would welcome anything and, in so doing, it becomes
possible to overcome the barrier of our customary emotional mechanisms.
These
mechanisms cannot be transcended if we find ways to back them up and eternally
yield to them. By submitting to such mechanisms, we trigger suffering. Without
denying their existence, but without trying to get round them either, we begin
to realize that our flight has been almost constant and that we have been
living like a robot.
By
opening up and being ready for what is, confident that we are not going to
lose out but find ourselves once again, we finally discover a new space,
vibrant with energy, beyond the protective barriers that our automatic
reflexes have raised.
This
space is our genuine, boundless, luminous and intelligent nature which can
only be revealed when we relinquish all form of control. Everything stems from
this space. From thought to the structure of the galaxies, all phenomena have
emerged from this infinite consciousness which confines us and which we are
convinced we have to control in order to survive. Such is the ego’s attitude.
This
space is the source of all energy and the barriers we have put up in our
ancestral habit of protecting ourselves, controlling things and opening
ourselves up to life in a highly selective way, considerably reduces the flow
of this divine energy.
This
fresh and natural attitude which consists in opening ourselves up to "what
is" at any given moment is not a new manipulation of the spiritual ego.
It is not another of those actions undertaken in the hope of achieving some
"higher" plane or enhancing "pleasure". If we ask to open out in this way, all we do is to
prolong the spiritual runner’s neurosis. We are not going to achieve something "else", we are once more
going to become the "channels", which by nature we are, of a vibrant
intelligence that, for a long time, we have tried to contain within our narrow
bounds and petty ambitions.
If
we open ourselves up to what is, without formulating any expectations, a new
clarity will soon reveal itself – simple and without razzmatazz, but which
carries within it the answer to our real expectations. We release an energy
and a clarity that had been held back by our protective instincts.
Each
moment, each situation, each encounter, each event is perfect in itself. It
may prove to be uncomfortable and it’s possible that we have to act in
response or, on the contrary, it may seem that there is nothing to be done.
But, whatever the case may be, it is this fearless welcome, this liberated
space to which all manifestations may return after being bred there, which
constitutes our profound nature.
We
are "infinite welcome". And each time that the instinct of fear and
the tensions that such fear engenders make us reject "what is", we
shut ourselves off once more.
This
new outlook on day-to-day life is the profound meaning contained within the
teaching. We
are taught naturally, unceasingly and luminously by everything.
The
only hurdle to this teaching is our desire for things to be different, and
particularly an insistence that the spiritual approach should meet the needs
of confinement rather than aspire to be liberated. The hurdle is a loss of
innocence when confronted with the intelligence of life, a lukewarm welcome of
what life has to offer.
Being
open to the moment, to the next, and the next after that, without weariness or
expectations, this is spiritual awakening. No one is awake, it is just the
space which opens up to itself and in which all personal tension can only
dissolve instantaneously. After which, there is no more obstacle for the being
to express itself freely and any spiritual quest proves to be an aspect of the
obstacle.
These words apply to any situation and any encounter. The least justification we provide to minimize the scope of this new outlook just holds out the promise of a return to suffering.
Thierry