The proof of the pudding is in the taste. Similarly, the proof of one’s own spiritual endearment is in the resilience of facing again and again what comes up in the mind experiences arising at each moment without giving in to reaction. It can be as minor as the desire to talk to someone, or the urge to react to a situation or as challenging as to come to terms with one’s own inner fear without being compel to do anything about it.
In the normal context of life whenever we are faced with such compelled situation, the immediate response would be to succumb to the mind’s need by reacting to it. In reality we seldom “face” what comes up in the mind as they arise. “Face” here to mean taking them on exactly as it arise without needing to do anything with it. It may sound ridiculous not to react as meanings of “necessary”, “important”, “no choice” or “what if” comes into picture immediately, but surprisingly, these meanings are merely facade of one thing that constantly plague the human mind. It is this one thing that makes the meaning of suffering real. Take a peep into mind the next time any experience comes up, and it need not necessary be any “big” situation. It can be as “normal” as the urge to take a peep at your smart phone. What is it that propels that movement? Look deeply and one will see that familiar “one thing” – the experience of unease. It is this uneasy feeling that propels movement of any sort.
Sit back and try facing this uneasy feeling. And you can be sure the experience is not pleasant. Lots of meanings stormed from this space and that is when one is compelled to “do” something as if it is necessary to settle what is needed to be done, which in reality is merely a coy of our unconscious movement of distracting ourselves from facing this unease.
The mastery of one’s spiritual endeavour is in the potential of staying impartial to this experience and let it come and go and see through it beyond what is there. It is kind of a peaceful warrior of confronting our deepest dis-ease and yet not succumbing to fixing it in the form of attack or defending but merely doing nothing, to be precise, non-doing.
It takes guts, courage, patience, determination and even love to sit through it with all the meanings of necessity comes pounding one after another, yet one is unperturbed by it. This art of non-reaction has non-interference as its attitude, acceptance as its result and groundedness as its base. It is like a piece of stone grounded solidly upon the earth with winds of high velocity blowing from all different directions. Come what may and yet one is unmoved by it. This stability and impartiality is what the Masters of ages have offered to each disciple to develop –the ultimate surrendering – not to any one or being, but to the inner balance of giving up the egoic needs and trust the flow that comes from the sacredness within of each. A very simple instruction but yet probably the one and most difficult experience to arrive at in the world. It is not something one can do except through persistent and consistent reminder of stepping back and witnessing the working of the mind.
When one finally arrives into this field, whatever movement a person makes is no longer dictated by want or do not want but simply a facilitation of flow of what is at that point of time. If in the past one is compelled to do any action out of guilt, fear or unease, now it will simply be movement of love of what is there to be done, without any iota of resistance as the world is now seen as one with itself.