THE BODY IS THE ULTIMATE TEST OF SPIRITUAL LIBERATION
I have quite a lot of personal experience of the vicissitudes of the body. And I have worked individually and in groups with many people who have suffered/are suffering with ‘issues’ involving the body. It’s a tough teacher. And it’s a challenge to equanimity and inner peace.
Whatever fear, whatever remaining attachment, whatever is still held onto, will be dragged into the light when something happens to the body, namely ‘illness.’ Of course meeting death is the ultimate and final test (as far as we know), and spiritual awakening is a profound preparation for this, but when spiritual awakening meets illness, disease and malfunction it takes on a whole different intensity, for suddenly our very mortality is at stake. And that is a very great challenge for even the most dedicated spiritual adept.
And yet it is the ultimate doorway to existential freedom.
If you can see the beauty Even in the suffering You have touched grace. -------------------------- Surrender is the only truth I know There is no knowledge in it Nothing to overcome Nothing to get Nothing more needed And yet surrender of the self Is the most difficult thing of all And often happens At the end of a long journey. ------------------------- When your wounds Become your gifts And your imperfections Become doorways to love You have returned To the wholeness That is your natural state Which is love. ----------------------- To find your place In the market Of human activity But to be unidentified With whatever you do Is not a cold detachment But a full immersion Without attachment An intimacy with experience Without becoming lost in that intimacy In the world But not of the world. ------------------------ Grace is realizing the garden we are already in. ------------------------ There is wisdom locked up inside you The divine planted the seeds of grace In each incarnation You don’t have to search for it You have to uncover it. ----------------------- Life is cruel Our one true task Is to love it Back to kindness. ------------------------ Sometimes I sit quietly In the early morning silence Before the birds start their chatter And the light peeks over the mountains And simply rest in the eternal emptiness And just allow it all to be exactly as it is Without me having to do anything. ------------------------- Let me not become cold To this existence Let me instead Become soft and tender Warm and embracing Willing to bear it Without closing It is a fragile path we walk And only the tenderest care will do. ------------------------ Friend, come back To the garden of your innocence Just for a moment It will restore and renew you And remind you of the truth You may have forgotten. ----------------------
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We often form dysfunctional, transactional relationships that sustain us but fail to satisfy our souls, and true transformation requires shedding these "tentacles" of control and collusion, leading to a raw and painful but necessary spiritual journey.