Allowing The Heart to Lead the Way
While I’m sure I’m not the first one to figure this out. But perhaps, I can convey the message in a unique way that resonates with some. Keeping the heart open requires a complete dissolution of the sense of personal control. This is tricky to achieve for many and may require several rounds of falling down and getting back up.
It doesn’t mean that you’ll never catch yourself having a negative emotion like grief, anger or fear. But, you can catch yourself and ask “Is there anything I can do about this right now?”. If the answer is yes, mindfully implement those steps and let go of the outcome. If the answer is no, then just let it be ok that you are feeling that way. It is important to accept that not everything has a solution – some things are so deeply entrenched in the human collective and others are inevitable processes of life. It is really about developing the spiritual capacity to be able to handle that truth.
Furthermore, there are a lot of instances where you are confused whether you can/should do anything about a situation. Here, it becomes important to tap into your “dharma”, the path that is meant for you. It may take a few moments or days or weeks of silence and uncertainty before you are able to know if anything needs to be done. Part of this is accepting that there will perhaps always be a voice in the head – the ego. Look at it with love, like a little child trying to protect you and let it be. Having the capacity to sit with and be present with the interim physical and mental discomfort is important. Meditation is a great tool that helps with this – notice the thoughts, emotions and corresponding sensations in the body and just let it be. Living this way might make it feel like life has slowed down a lot – gratification comes much slower, there are ebbs and flows… and that is something that we have to make peace with.
An example of a dilemma that used to trip me up quite a bit may be useful to further understand this. I’ve heard of several examples of cases in which people have cured all sorts of physical ailments through meditation. A part of me truly believes that this is possible. It made me question why anyone would ever go to a doctor or die of something like cancer if they had this knowledge. A sense of control was starting to creep in – that I can control everything about my health if I just meditate. I was very aware of this and it seemed extremely unbalanced and didn’t quite sit right with me. I suppose the answer to this is considering all options and tapping into dharma. Sometimes, going to a doctor seems like the right thing to do and therefore it should be done. For example, it would be silly to try to heal from an accident and broken bones without visiting the hospital – since the healing process can very easily be accelerated due to modern medicine. In some cases, where medicine may not have an optimal solution and the soul feels like it still has life left to live – it can heal the physical body, which then becomes part of the individual’s spiritual journey. Sometimes, the soul knows that it is time to just surrender to the disease (perhaps karmic proclivities) so that is done, and death may be embraced. This is an integrated approach that is giving justice to the various modalities available in the modern world – without escapism or control.
