Seeds of Change
By E. Raymond Rock Over 4,000 different belief systems exist in the world, each with its proponents understandably claiming that people of faiths other than theirs are doomed. This is to be expected; otherwise, advocates would not feel secure within their beliefs three thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine beliefs must be wrong! Couple this with each organization encouraging their flock to proselytize, spread the word, and we can quickly recognize the seeds of conflict, seeds that have led to so many wars caused by deep-seated differences of beliefs or ideals, with millions of lives lost. Once we crystallize our beliefs, about whom we are and what or if God is, then all inquiry stops, and sectarian strife begins. Our eyes close. But there is another way to live, and that way is to live in harmony, together, where we can keep all our beliefs and twist as many arms as we like. But this way requires acceptance and surrender to the fact that not everybody will believe as we do (as hard as that is to swallow). We all continue our search inwardly for Truth, or God, or call it what you will, in our own ways, even if we think that we have found it. But we also intuitively know, that as human beings, we are not that Truth, because we are not lasting. We might be part of that Truth, or it might be a part of us, but our bodies change, grow old, and die, where our Truth surely doesnt our Truth is stable, eternal, loving, and compassionate. We are merely the result of conditions. Something had to happen . . . for us to happen. A sperm and an egg, karma, a pre-existing soul, whatever; we are the result of something. Yet our Truth is not. It had no beginning; it has no ending. It was not conditioned; there were no conditions present to make Truth happen. It was simply always there. Since we are a result of conditions, a result of something, unlike our Truth that is not a result of previous conditions; we are, by nature, vacillating and changeable. We are scattered about, here and there, and far away from that oneness of our Truth. Because we are not integrated, as our Truth is, we cant control the changes that endlessly occur, and we find ourselves trapped in that nasty middle management dilemma of having crushing perceived responsibility, with no authority! This is a certain recipe for stress, and stress is fact of life that cant be denied if we are truthful about our lifelong experience. If we did have a real self, wouldnt that self have some power over the changing landscape of our bodies and minds? The fact is; there is no self in control of anything, we just think there is. There is no self, other than the one we create in our minds, and how could such a creation as this have any chance to relate to that great Truth we aspire to? Our self is a result of conditions; we have created it, and therefore it is causal, conditioned, human, and not divine at all. It is only when we are able to see and understand this self, recognizing that it is not substantial and not worth our undying attention, that we can shift focus and really connect with that something greater. But its not the self that connects with Truth, or the self that has a relationship with Truth; it is Truth emerging in the absence of the self in other words, we are really this Truth we chase after. Isnt it ironic that this ineffable Truth has always been right here, within us, and all we had to do was get our self out of the way for a moment in order to see it! When we finally do see through this illusion of self and realize the attachment we have formed toward it, then our other attachments, all of them, even those connected to our views and opinions, are gladly sacrificed in deference to that higher power . . . that liberating Truth. As a matter of fact, we even give up our attachment to the one who is realizing all of this! Now, finally, we can experience authentic peace, a breath of fresh air, a tremendous relief. We have nothing left to lose at this point, with only the delights of life to engage us without the dreadful perceived burden of taking ownership and protecting them. Our opinions and beliefs become just opinions and beliefs thoughts not ideals to be defended to the death. We are no longer attached, no longer grasping and clinging, and life is more mature and joyful now, expanded and open in so many astonishing ways. At this new level of consciousness, we can see that causal things, like our bodies and minds, simply act in certain ways, and we can now understand and accept that. There is nobody getting anywhere; we are already here, and the Truth is not to be attained; it is already here as well. This point in our lives, where we recognize in our hearts that much of our stress is caused by things shifting about randomly, uncontrolled by any underlying self, is the exact point where we approach enlightenment, and where we are truly saved saved from ourselves. And although it will take only a handful of enlightened people to change the world, dont worry about that now; just change yourself! E. Raymond Rock is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center in Fort Myers Florida. His 28 years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. He has practiced with Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Maha Boowa, Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Tui, Bhante Gunaratana, Roshi Kennett, Seung Sahn Sunim, Trungpa Rinpoche, the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the Zen Center in San Francisco. His new book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books), is available at major bookstores and on-line. Seeds of ChangeCopyright E. Raymond Rock 2006. All rights reserved. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=E._Raymond_Rock http://EzineArticles.com/?Seeds-of-Change&id=413248 cash to advance his colorado see find only fast the cash of advance my overnight should emergency more payday come loan while bad your credit as adverse can bad to credit did loan out tenant a
