There seems to be a lot of weight out there in the spiritual world surrounding the word acceptance. It is used by almost every tradition and has become very popular, especially in this so called new-age spirituality. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually sort of like new age spirituality, as it tends to offer ancient wisdom in feel good packages that are more acceptable by those who lack a strong understanding or background in the more traditional paths, but because it pulls from so many sources, the true meanings are often distorted or even lost. It is perfectly okay to pull from different sources, but I feel it's important not to just skim off the top, only taking what sounds good, and not really having anything that we can put together into one cohesive understanding. There are plenty of token phrases floating around out there, but if we don't have anything that really grounds us in our practice, we too, will be floating around out there.
Concepts of letting go, surrendering, and acceptance are at the forefront of these types of spiritual catch phrases. "Surrender to God's will," is one that I've heard over the last couple days here in Rishikesh, India, and it has got me thinking. How do I know what God's Will is? While I do believe in God in the sense of being the creative intelligence of the universe, I don't believe in a personalized form of some bearded guy out there somewhere, looking down on us, and controlling things. If there is a Divine Plan, aren't we all apart of it, isn't it happening as we speak? Do we need to wait for it to happen? Do we need to separate ourselves from it?
Let's take another one of these token phrases, that says we are one with everything in the universe, and use it to put this into perspective. If we are one with God, who is the one who needs to surrender? If there is one who is surrendering, and one who is God, that makes two, not one, so we need to be careful here. The problem with this trap is that it tends to lead to complacency, or inaction. If my spiritual practice is just to "get out of the way" so as to let the "Divine Will" flow through me, I've created a separation, and there is no longer just "one." What I mean to say, is that by doing this, I've made God out there somewhere and me sitting here, and therein lies the problem. That is exactly why I left Christianity, because I didn't believe that there was a God somewhere who existed separately as myself, and now I'm weary to fall back into another belief system, or ideology, that will leave the same result. Luckily, for me, I've come to adopt the Buddhist perspective, that simplifies things, but the Buddhist perspective doesn't account for all of my beliefs, so I want to take the opportunity to express exactly what those are in regards to divinity and acceptance.
Yes, there is a danger with the ideology that we should just accept things for the way they are, but this doesn't mean that we have to sit back and let atrocities in the world happen without standing up for ourselves, others, animals, and the planet, by taking action. The way I see it, is that acceptance is the key to action. First, we need to bear witness to the event, through the power of observaation. If we don't even know it is happening, if we are completely ignorant, we are powerless. In that respect, we need to open our eyes, and be aware of what is happening around us, and within us. This goes for everything from global crises to personal problems with anger or impatience.
The second step is to accept that what is happening, is in fact happening. This seems like it's not worth mentioning, but I know with myself, it's all too easy for me to slip into complacency because I pretend like I didn't see it. In other words, in those situations, I don't have the courage to admit, acknowledge, and accept what I have borne witness to, because if I accept it, I know I have to do something about it.
And the third step is action. If we don't see it, we are powerless. If we see it, but we don't accept that it is, in fact happening, or that it is, in fact a problem, we are powerless. We can look at all the denial surrounding the holocaust to see that if people don't accept what is happening, nothing will be done about it. If we bear witness and accept what we have witnessed, whether it be something seen, heard, thought, etc, then and only then are we empowered to act.
Acceptance doesn't have to be seen in terms of judgment. Too often, critics of acceptance think that by accepting something, you agree with it. This is not the case. Yes, it's just one way of looking at the word. We know that there are different meanings surrounding words, and we like to hold on to those meanings that are familiar or comfortable for us. But I will ask you to loosen your grip on your understanding of the word acceptance to understand what I'm saying. On the other hand, those who grip the word too strongly, also risk missing the point because they just want to write everything off as being God's Will or ultimately out of their hands.
Both of these viewpoints are extreme. There is no one controlling everything. Yes, I believe in Divinity, and I believe we are a part of that, so our actions can't be separated from God's, and neither can our will. We are God's plan, and everything we do is also. God knows himself through us. We are not separate from Him. Now, there is another way of looking at this, and it is a way of making the separation between the small self and the big self. The small self can be seen as the ego and the big self is part and parcel of God. With this view, we can see that it is the ego that needs to surrender, leaving God to do His work. But we must understand, it is still us that is doing the work. There is no one who is going to come in and show us what to do, there is nobody in the sky to impart this divine wisdom in us. We are it already! What we must do, is to purify ourselves from the defilements of the mind, that are products of the ego, such as greed, hatred, and delusion. When we chip away at the layers that cover up our innate divinity, God is all that remains. This is what the Buddha did when he became perfectly enlightened, but he spoke about it in different terms other than God, because he knew all the weight surrounding the sacred word, and that people would have a hard time letting go of their pre-conceived notions.
If you are practicing surrender, you need to ask yourself, who or what are you surrendering to? If it is not "you" who is in control, who is? Are you waiting for something from an external source? Do you believe that someone else has a plan for you? If so, there is a definite risk that you will fail to take the reigns in your life and be in charge of your own awakening.
No, we can't control everything, but this doesn't mean that we can't control anything. There are plenty of things we can control, and to think that something outside of us is controlling everything doesn't help us. Yes, there are certain forces at work, forces that are bigger than us, but that we are a part of. We can call these forces the Laws of the Universe, or dhamma (dharma in Sanskrit). As my intention here is to bridge a gap of misunderstanding, among different traditions, to find a common ground, I will offer a perspective that hopefully fulfills this and unifies the two theories.
Instead of thinking in terms of me and God, let's think in terms of our head and our heart. Surely, the little self, the ego, lives in the head, with desire, fear, etc. The bigger self, or God, lives in our heart. So instead of saying, "I need to get out of the way to allow Divinity to flow through me," we can say, "I need to center my intentions in my heart instead of my head." This way, we are not creating a separation here, and we are not relying on anything but ourselves to take control of our lives. Though we have this seeming duality here, between the ego and the heart, we need to remember that it is all us. Can we be big enough to accept that we are not only the perfection but also the imperfections?
If we can practice observation, acceptance, and action, we can bring about the changes we wish to see in the world. We need to have this confidence, that it is only us that is going to make the changes. There is no one else. Instead of thinking that some greater force is controlling things, we need to think in terms of aligning ourselves with this force. In order to do this, we need to find the source, which lies in the heart. From this place, the source of all love, creativity, and intelligence, we can rest assured that our actions are divine and that so are we. Now, of course we need to be careful to not take credit or personalize any achievements, understanding that there is no person here that is separate from the whole. As long as we do what we need to do, and give the credit to divinity, we run no risk of identifying with the small self and strengthening the ego.
As divine beings, nothing we do can not be divine, it can only differ in terms of being aligned with the source of love or the source of hate. Love comes from the heart and hate comes from the head. So as divine beings, we can tune-in to the divine channel, and align ourselves with God, simply by surrendering the will of the ego, and acting from the place of love in our hearts. But is it so simple? The ego is largely in control of us, how do we suddenly render it powerless?
Well, from this place is where the different traditions, techniques, and practices are born. There are different theories about how we can do this, how we can work to purify our minds and unite with our innate beauty and perfection. And it's a good thing, too, because within our unity, there is diversity, and we need to celebrate that diversity by honoring the different paths to purification. One way I seek to honor these different paths is to put them in terms that will allow me to find their common ground, to understand that two seemingly contradictory viewpoints can actually be pointing to the same thing. If we become too attached to language, we will fail to see the common ground between the traditions, and we will continue to live a life of separation. Can we dissolve our personal boundaries to the point that we can see that all the major religions and spiritual paths in the world are valid?
With this, I now feel compelled to mention that although I came to reject Christianity in my late teens, I have now see things differently. I refuse to see things in terms of black and white, and instead, I find that the essence of Christianity is the same as the essence of what I believe. If you take away all the dogma, all the fear-based teachings that try to get you to beleive, you are left with a message of unity and peace. That is the point. It doesn't matter what you call yourself, you can call yourself a Christian or an atheist, but if you are judging others, condemning others for being different, you are missing the point of life. The point of life is to connect with this infinite source of love within our hearts, call it Love, call it God, or don't call it anything, it only matters that you know it and have an intimate relationship with it. If you think you are nothing and It is everything, you've created an unnecessary separation, and will always be one step away from realizing your Divine Nature.
So the next time you are getting impatient, waiting for Divine Guidance that never comes, or are confused by who is supposed to surrender and who is supposed to make decisions, you can come back to this understanding, that it is all you, it is all God! Don't belittle yourself by thinking that God is above you, God is within you! You are God, we all are, and so is everything else in the Universe. If you start separating, you really risk losing the ability to stand up and act. The only separation to be made is whether or not you are connecting with the source within you, or if your actions are only to fulfill you own sense desires.
If you are still unsure, you can ask yourself a few questions, before you make a decision about how to act, or when analyzing where an action is coming from.
Who stands to gain from this action? Am I only trying to help myself or am I intending others to benefit as well? Do I have the best interest of others in mind? Will my actions hurt others, either directly or indirectly? If my main intention is to benefit myself from my action, can I see how this will later empower me to help others? Are there any negative impacts to the environment? Were there are any violations to human or animal rights involved in getting me what I want? Can I, after having assessed this action, consider this to be a wise, conscious, and responsible decision?
Do you see how easy it is to get our heads out of the clouds and start to see spirituality in a grounded, practical perspective? We have to rely on ourselves, our ability to discern, to observe cause and effect, and speculate about the possible consequences of our actions, to determine whether they are only serving us or whether they are aligned with God's Plan. Otherwise, we will never know what that plan is, and we will never know what part we play. We will always be looking for signs, waiting for signs, when the whole time, the signs are right there, in our own God-given abilities. We all have a role to play in this world, and that is only something that we can step up to take part in. It is up to us to find our way, and to do what we can to make the world a better place. We all have a purpose, but it's not already assigned to us, we have to sign up! So don't be afraid to take action in this world, don't be afraid to make choices that serve humanity as a whole and to stand up for what you know in your heart is right. Take the direction in life that you feel as being what is right for you. Take only inspiration from others, but trust that you are in control and that although you can't control everything, it is only through your own efforts, and with your own hands, that changes can be made. Don't wait for anything or anyone else, the time is now!
Concepts of letting go, surrendering, and acceptance are at the forefront of these types of spiritual catch phrases. "Surrender to God's will," is one that I've heard over the last couple days here in Rishikesh, India, and it has got me thinking. How do I know what God's Will is? While I do believe in God in the sense of being the creative intelligence of the universe, I don't believe in a personalized form of some bearded guy out there somewhere, looking down on us, and controlling things. If there is a Divine Plan, aren't we all apart of it, isn't it happening as we speak? Do we need to wait for it to happen? Do we need to separate ourselves from it?
Let's take another one of these token phrases, that says we are one with everything in the universe, and use it to put this into perspective. If we are one with God, who is the one who needs to surrender? If there is one who is surrendering, and one who is God, that makes two, not one, so we need to be careful here. The problem with this trap is that it tends to lead to complacency, or inaction. If my spiritual practice is just to "get out of the way" so as to let the "Divine Will" flow through me, I've created a separation, and there is no longer just "one." What I mean to say, is that by doing this, I've made God out there somewhere and me sitting here, and therein lies the problem. That is exactly why I left Christianity, because I didn't believe that there was a God somewhere who existed separately as myself, and now I'm weary to fall back into another belief system, or ideology, that will leave the same result. Luckily, for me, I've come to adopt the Buddhist perspective, that simplifies things, but the Buddhist perspective doesn't account for all of my beliefs, so I want to take the opportunity to express exactly what those are in regards to divinity and acceptance.
Yes, there is a danger with the ideology that we should just accept things for the way they are, but this doesn't mean that we have to sit back and let atrocities in the world happen without standing up for ourselves, others, animals, and the planet, by taking action. The way I see it, is that acceptance is the key to action. First, we need to bear witness to the event, through the power of observaation. If we don't even know it is happening, if we are completely ignorant, we are powerless. In that respect, we need to open our eyes, and be aware of what is happening around us, and within us. This goes for everything from global crises to personal problems with anger or impatience.
The second step is to accept that what is happening, is in fact happening. This seems like it's not worth mentioning, but I know with myself, it's all too easy for me to slip into complacency because I pretend like I didn't see it. In other words, in those situations, I don't have the courage to admit, acknowledge, and accept what I have borne witness to, because if I accept it, I know I have to do something about it.
And the third step is action. If we don't see it, we are powerless. If we see it, but we don't accept that it is, in fact happening, or that it is, in fact a problem, we are powerless. We can look at all the denial surrounding the holocaust to see that if people don't accept what is happening, nothing will be done about it. If we bear witness and accept what we have witnessed, whether it be something seen, heard, thought, etc, then and only then are we empowered to act.
Acceptance doesn't have to be seen in terms of judgment. Too often, critics of acceptance think that by accepting something, you agree with it. This is not the case. Yes, it's just one way of looking at the word. We know that there are different meanings surrounding words, and we like to hold on to those meanings that are familiar or comfortable for us. But I will ask you to loosen your grip on your understanding of the word acceptance to understand what I'm saying. On the other hand, those who grip the word too strongly, also risk missing the point because they just want to write everything off as being God's Will or ultimately out of their hands.
Both of these viewpoints are extreme. There is no one controlling everything. Yes, I believe in Divinity, and I believe we are a part of that, so our actions can't be separated from God's, and neither can our will. We are God's plan, and everything we do is also. God knows himself through us. We are not separate from Him. Now, there is another way of looking at this, and it is a way of making the separation between the small self and the big self. The small self can be seen as the ego and the big self is part and parcel of God. With this view, we can see that it is the ego that needs to surrender, leaving God to do His work. But we must understand, it is still us that is doing the work. There is no one who is going to come in and show us what to do, there is nobody in the sky to impart this divine wisdom in us. We are it already! What we must do, is to purify ourselves from the defilements of the mind, that are products of the ego, such as greed, hatred, and delusion. When we chip away at the layers that cover up our innate divinity, God is all that remains. This is what the Buddha did when he became perfectly enlightened, but he spoke about it in different terms other than God, because he knew all the weight surrounding the sacred word, and that people would have a hard time letting go of their pre-conceived notions.
If you are practicing surrender, you need to ask yourself, who or what are you surrendering to? If it is not "you" who is in control, who is? Are you waiting for something from an external source? Do you believe that someone else has a plan for you? If so, there is a definite risk that you will fail to take the reigns in your life and be in charge of your own awakening.
No, we can't control everything, but this doesn't mean that we can't control anything. There are plenty of things we can control, and to think that something outside of us is controlling everything doesn't help us. Yes, there are certain forces at work, forces that are bigger than us, but that we are a part of. We can call these forces the Laws of the Universe, or dhamma (dharma in Sanskrit). As my intention here is to bridge a gap of misunderstanding, among different traditions, to find a common ground, I will offer a perspective that hopefully fulfills this and unifies the two theories.
Instead of thinking in terms of me and God, let's think in terms of our head and our heart. Surely, the little self, the ego, lives in the head, with desire, fear, etc. The bigger self, or God, lives in our heart. So instead of saying, "I need to get out of the way to allow Divinity to flow through me," we can say, "I need to center my intentions in my heart instead of my head." This way, we are not creating a separation here, and we are not relying on anything but ourselves to take control of our lives. Though we have this seeming duality here, between the ego and the heart, we need to remember that it is all us. Can we be big enough to accept that we are not only the perfection but also the imperfections?
If we can practice observation, acceptance, and action, we can bring about the changes we wish to see in the world. We need to have this confidence, that it is only us that is going to make the changes. There is no one else. Instead of thinking that some greater force is controlling things, we need to think in terms of aligning ourselves with this force. In order to do this, we need to find the source, which lies in the heart. From this place, the source of all love, creativity, and intelligence, we can rest assured that our actions are divine and that so are we. Now, of course we need to be careful to not take credit or personalize any achievements, understanding that there is no person here that is separate from the whole. As long as we do what we need to do, and give the credit to divinity, we run no risk of identifying with the small self and strengthening the ego.
As divine beings, nothing we do can not be divine, it can only differ in terms of being aligned with the source of love or the source of hate. Love comes from the heart and hate comes from the head. So as divine beings, we can tune-in to the divine channel, and align ourselves with God, simply by surrendering the will of the ego, and acting from the place of love in our hearts. But is it so simple? The ego is largely in control of us, how do we suddenly render it powerless?
Well, from this place is where the different traditions, techniques, and practices are born. There are different theories about how we can do this, how we can work to purify our minds and unite with our innate beauty and perfection. And it's a good thing, too, because within our unity, there is diversity, and we need to celebrate that diversity by honoring the different paths to purification. One way I seek to honor these different paths is to put them in terms that will allow me to find their common ground, to understand that two seemingly contradictory viewpoints can actually be pointing to the same thing. If we become too attached to language, we will fail to see the common ground between the traditions, and we will continue to live a life of separation. Can we dissolve our personal boundaries to the point that we can see that all the major religions and spiritual paths in the world are valid?
With this, I now feel compelled to mention that although I came to reject Christianity in my late teens, I have now see things differently. I refuse to see things in terms of black and white, and instead, I find that the essence of Christianity is the same as the essence of what I believe. If you take away all the dogma, all the fear-based teachings that try to get you to beleive, you are left with a message of unity and peace. That is the point. It doesn't matter what you call yourself, you can call yourself a Christian or an atheist, but if you are judging others, condemning others for being different, you are missing the point of life. The point of life is to connect with this infinite source of love within our hearts, call it Love, call it God, or don't call it anything, it only matters that you know it and have an intimate relationship with it. If you think you are nothing and It is everything, you've created an unnecessary separation, and will always be one step away from realizing your Divine Nature.
So the next time you are getting impatient, waiting for Divine Guidance that never comes, or are confused by who is supposed to surrender and who is supposed to make decisions, you can come back to this understanding, that it is all you, it is all God! Don't belittle yourself by thinking that God is above you, God is within you! You are God, we all are, and so is everything else in the Universe. If you start separating, you really risk losing the ability to stand up and act. The only separation to be made is whether or not you are connecting with the source within you, or if your actions are only to fulfill you own sense desires.
If you are still unsure, you can ask yourself a few questions, before you make a decision about how to act, or when analyzing where an action is coming from.
Who stands to gain from this action? Am I only trying to help myself or am I intending others to benefit as well? Do I have the best interest of others in mind? Will my actions hurt others, either directly or indirectly? If my main intention is to benefit myself from my action, can I see how this will later empower me to help others? Are there any negative impacts to the environment? Were there are any violations to human or animal rights involved in getting me what I want? Can I, after having assessed this action, consider this to be a wise, conscious, and responsible decision?
Do you see how easy it is to get our heads out of the clouds and start to see spirituality in a grounded, practical perspective? We have to rely on ourselves, our ability to discern, to observe cause and effect, and speculate about the possible consequences of our actions, to determine whether they are only serving us or whether they are aligned with God's Plan. Otherwise, we will never know what that plan is, and we will never know what part we play. We will always be looking for signs, waiting for signs, when the whole time, the signs are right there, in our own God-given abilities. We all have a role to play in this world, and that is only something that we can step up to take part in. It is up to us to find our way, and to do what we can to make the world a better place. We all have a purpose, but it's not already assigned to us, we have to sign up! So don't be afraid to take action in this world, don't be afraid to make choices that serve humanity as a whole and to stand up for what you know in your heart is right. Take the direction in life that you feel as being what is right for you. Take only inspiration from others, but trust that you are in control and that although you can't control everything, it is only through your own efforts, and with your own hands, that changes can be made. Don't wait for anything or anyone else, the time is now!
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