“Once a living being has heard and understood that
deliverance is within his reach, he will never forget, for it is the first
message from within.
It will take root and grow in due course take the
blessed shape of the Guru”.
Nisargadatta Maharaj.
The last few weeks have been
very full for our Mighty Companions at Light Tree. We have had many
opportunities to practice patience and trust. One thing is certain; by choosing
to see the unfolding of our lives with new eyes we have been able to traverse
very challenging terrain with greater ease.
It is a relief to stop
whenever we find ourselves getting too involved in the dream we are creating
and sit in pure awareness. After a while, love appears with greater frequency
and the peace that arises calls us to awaken and stay longer.
We noticed that the belief
that we must keep ‘working at it’, or that we will awaken at some future date
is pure mythology. We are already dwelling in pure peace and happiness, but we
keep papering it over with drama and stories. Eventually the tale is just too
boring and we decide to make getting to the truth of our True Nature our main
priority.
Yes, there is always
something appearing on the screen of our awareness that is juicy and distracts
us for a while. However, if we just stay awake long enough our willingness to
see it differently carries us through and we can find a way to choose
forgiveness. After all, it’s only our thoughts that cause us to suffer. Once we
drop those and stay open to a new way of seeing it’s amazing what will unfold.
Our True Nature calls us to
‘undo’ rather than ‘do more’. For westerners like us this is a key realization.
We are so busy that we don’t even notice when we are on auto pilot and our ego
is running the show. If we are serious about letting greater awareness take
root, we must make time to sit back and listen.
With practice we discover
that suffering is optional after all.