"When afflictive states come up, it can be very difficult to recognize the natural ease of our own being, because everything in us is screaming, "No,no, this feels too awful. It can't possibly be part of clarity!" That's the most important time of all to JUST RELAX.
When we relax more and more, we begin to see that all the points of view that appear within the pure view of awareness are our allies instead of our foes. When these appearances appear, we recognize the inherent clarity of awareness. It could be that al of our lives we have been afraid of the afflictive states, but through the clarity of awareness we are now able to see them as old friends. Affictive states are a great support for relying on clarity; however, if we continue to exclude them as if they didn't belong in clarity, then we will be returning to them again and again.
If, for instance, we have a pain in the body and we're focused only on that pain, then that is all we'll see. But if we relax body and mind completely, then we can see this pain that is appearing is nothing other than an appearance of super-intelligence and flawless knowing. If we absolutely insist that we have a pain and it is our pain, then that's the only information we will have, and we won't be able to see it for what it truly is. But one thing is for sure about experiencing pain: it motivates us to look for relief from the pain. This is why afflictive states are our greatest friends. Without them we might never be moved to discover our ultimate nature.
When we get familiar with our ultimate nature, we just feel better all the time. There is no other way to say it; it's not a mysterious or esoteric matter. Our true nature doesn't belong to any kind of category, institution, philosophy or religion. It has never been owned by any country or by any person. We can either get familiar with it--or not. When we do get familiar with it, then we pass completely beyond cause and effect.
We see that all these appearances really are allies, and we have NEVER been at their whim. It's all in what we take them to be. If we take them to be a monster, they will be. If we think we are ruled by them, then we will be. The more we know ourselves as we truly are, the more we see that we really are not affected by the labels we have used to describe everything.
....When the afflictive states arise with great vehemence, we have the choice to either go into them and be ruled by them or to know ourselves as clarity. It we have difficulty in seeing that the afflictive states are nothing other than pure clarity, then that is a good time to seek support. We should go to people who have integrated their own negative points of view, because these are the only people who can truly help us."
and from p.122...
Let's say that something happens that has caused us to get very angry in the past. The real breakthrough of true clarity comes when we're right in the middle of the anger, and we really get it--firsthand and right away--that everything is included in clarity. When we can face anger or any other afflictive emotion squarely, exactly as it is, allowing naked seeing from within, that releases tremendous energy to be able to really see things for what they are."
No comments:
Post a Comment