There’s the way we are, and then there’s the way we imagine we can be. Between the two lies a struggle and a dance. If we reject the way we are, we may fail to appreciate the immense goodness and potential we already possess. Likewise, if we’re overly attached to what we imagine we can be, we’re never fully grounded in the present – the only place change can take place.
Real transformation arises when we recognize that everything is already divinely perfected as it is. Deep trust is required. Relaxation paves the way. Yet who are we if we’re not an ego struggling to improve our life? Have you ever considered how much effort goes into trying to make things better?
I’m an Application Support Administrator in an IT Department that responds to help desk tickets all day long. Help! This isn’t working. Help! I can’t find what I’m looking for. Help! This process takes too long. Help! I can’t get logged on. It’s really quite a metaphor for how we are in relationship to ourselves.
Ironically though, true creativity, doesn’t generally manifest with effort. Real inspiration almost always happens when we take a step back. When we thrust ourselves into the murky waters of not knowing. It’s like erasing all the scribbles on a chalk board and then washing it clean.
Not knowing is often a sleepy place though. That’s because our ego-driven nature does provide a secure sense of being active and alive. Descending into the darkness – the place where we lose our bearings and have no sense of direction – can make us want to curl up with our pillow and just go to sleep.
That’s why we use our awareness to poke around this unknown place of open mystery – the place where all our projects are put aside, and we simply rest with what is. Curiosity is as important as relaxation. If we stick with it long enough, the space of emptiness is suddenly consumed by the fullness of clarity and light. We call this grace.
In grace, we discover the real life that is waiting for us right where we are.
Fully grounded in the present with intense appreciation for what is, the divinely perfected order of reality discloses itself. We recognize our true nature within this order and discover that real transformation almost always occurs spontaneously and naturally.
Yes, we still go through the motions of responding to the help desk tickets. We do our due diligence. Yet, somehow, we do it all with a deeper sense of trust, knowing that sometimes we just have to get out of the way and allow life to take care of itself.
In seeing the great perfection of it all, we learn to rest in a different kind of knowing, and before we know it, something that seldom occurs to us has now become our daily mantra. All is well. All is well. Rest now. All is well.
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Contemplative Light offers classes on Contemplative Practices, like centering prayer, The Jesus Prayer, and Lectio Divina.
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