Irrevocably inwards
The awakening essay
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| Written by Dana Cole | |
| Thursday, 08 July 2010 | |
Irrevocably inwardsDana ColeThe only place we can feel real peace is within us. We cannot feel it somewhere else, outside us. When we have at last fully understood this, our attention naturally turns inwards, where it can – and will – act to heal our minds. At that time we stop focusing outwards, on the past, where the focus of our attention cannot help us, no matter what we do. Once our attention turns fully and irrevocably inwards, all our grievances and our judgments fall away. Yet they do not fall away because someone else removes them. They fall away because we no longer want them. And the reason we no longer want them is that when we are at last willing to take the time to sit quietly and look deep inside ourselves, we see that our judgments and our grievances are serving no other purpose than to hurt us and distract us from our peace. Our grievances and our judgments are structures of thought by which we try to hide the darkness in our minds from the light of who we really are. They are like internal coverings or casings, meant to preserve the darkness and “protect” it from the light. They affirm the seeming reality and solidity of the body and thus confirm the darkness seen within. To “open our minds to receive” means to release all these grievances and judgments. In other words, the darkness we see in ourselves cannot be fully dispelled until we let all of them go. God’s Will for us is perfect happiness. If this is true, which it is, the only way to fulfill God’s Will for us is for us to be happy. We cannot be truly happy unless we are at peace. Questions that Really Matter This book – or any book – is not at all required for the brilliant illumination and rapturous love of God that come with a full awakening to the Self. These are not dependent on the world’s forms in any way. Their return to awareness occurs solely by the heart’s desire for them and not by any specific words or techniques. The only way to measure the value of words or techniques, then, is in terms of whether or not they inspire us to awake. If we can imagine what our lives will be like when we feel peace without limit, certainly we will want it. And when we want it, it must occur. To say this in another way, words and techniques do not act independently of those who use them. Rather, they are completely dependent on what those persons want. This book is a message to those who are tired of delaying their own experience of peace to some later time. I am looking for those who want to experience peace in this place, right now – today! In all circumstances such persons must learn to ask themselves over and over again, “What do I really want right now?” This is an appropriate and constructive response to any doubts, questions or feelings of conflict that arise. When this question is asked with an open mind – that is, with no attempt to answer it based on the past – it alleviates all feelings of distress, reinstating the desire for peace that precedes its return. Indeed, this question cannot be asked sincerely without turning the mind’s attention away from what it merely believed it wanted, based on the past, and directing it instead to what it really wants here and now. This question, combined with a willingness to patiently consider its answer – and all the consequences of that answer – very rapidly sorts out the relevant from the irrelevant, for it clears the mind of all petty concerns, leaving room for the passionate curiosity, uncompromising self-honesty and complete trust that are necessary to awaken. When this overwhelming interest in enlightenment fills the mind, some of the other more relevant and valuable questions that arise are: “Who am I?” “What is actually happening here?” “Who is the cause of this?” “What is under my control?” “Why am I suffering?” “What is real?” “Where is love?” and again, in a further and much deeper searching of the Self: “What do I really want right now?” A dark or fearful mind is a mind that hastily provides its own answers to these questions, taking the past as its guide. It then proceeds to act on the basis of those answers without actually being sure they are true. An awakened, or enlightened, mind is a mind that listens for the true answers to these questions and abandons all its own attempts to supply them. It then receives what it wants, having done nothing to interfere with the answers that it heard. |
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