Pair #16, Go On, Go For Nothing!
Many spiritual paths make getting enlightened a goal. The trouble with this idea is that, barring having a burning bush experience, it sounds like a very long and arduous path to getting somewhere you are not entirely convinced exists. (OK, SOME of us are not entirely convinced). This week on the radio show with Peter Fenner we talked about the idea that you can be totally fulfilled without changing anything at all. That sounds so far off reality for most of us that it’s easy to just pass it over completely. But the more I thought about it, the deeper the implications.
It made me consider the last few years of my life when most of my effort has gone into personal change and I could really identify with the thoughts I often had that went something like…
- I need to create a ‘better me’
- When I understand more, life will become easier
- If I get better at this stuff, I won’t have any more problems
Sound familiar?
Those of us who are either ‘pursuing’ personal change or teaching it, what would happen if we actually called off the search?
One of the implications of ‘loving what is’ – which Peter talks about and which those of you who read and follow Byron Katie’s work is that the only time we suffer is when we are arguing with reality. That the result of loving things as they are with no need to change them is, in fact, peace. “When you argue with reality, you lose,” as Katie would say, “but only 100% of the time.”
The idea that there is nothing to become underlies the effortlessness and accessibility of the Buddhist nondual teachings of Radiant Mind.
Here are some of the main thing you can learn from Peter on the show and in his book “Radiant Mind”
- the anti-frantic environment
- how to stop making a problem out of having problems
- why we get stuck when we think there is more to know than we know right now
- why we don't have to make anything better
It is also my experience that painful thoughts and feelings dissolve when we are not struggling to establish what needs to change in order for us to feel better.
We pre-recorded the Friday the 23rd show, as I'm in New York, but I have to tell you, I had such a wonderful experience of sharing this 'state of awareness' on the show with Peter that I think just listening to it, there is a very good chance you will feel it too. And get a taste of what it is like when there no goal to get anywhere.
It made me consider the last few years of my life when most of my effort has gone into personal change and I could really identify with the thoughts I often had that went something like…
- I need to create a ‘better me’
- When I understand more, life will become easier
- If I get better at this stuff, I won’t have any more problems
Sound familiar?
Those of us who are either ‘pursuing’ personal change or teaching it, what would happen if we actually called off the search?
One of the implications of ‘loving what is’ – which Peter talks about and which those of you who read and follow Byron Katie’s work is that the only time we suffer is when we are arguing with reality. That the result of loving things as they are with no need to change them is, in fact, peace. “When you argue with reality, you lose,” as Katie would say, “but only 100% of the time.”
The idea that there is nothing to become underlies the effortlessness and accessibility of the Buddhist nondual teachings of Radiant Mind.
Here are some of the main thing you can learn from Peter on the show and in his book “Radiant Mind”
- the anti-frantic environment
- how to stop making a problem out of having problems
- why we get stuck when we think there is more to know than we know right now
- why we don't have to make anything better
It is also my experience that painful thoughts and feelings dissolve when we are not struggling to establish what needs to change in order for us to feel better.
We pre-recorded the Friday the 23rd show, as I'm in New York, but I have to tell you, I had such a wonderful experience of sharing this 'state of awareness' on the show with Peter that I think just listening to it, there is a very good chance you will feel it too. And get a taste of what it is like when there no goal to get anywhere.
© 2010 Elese Coit
If you wish to reprint, feel free, please link back here and if it's of use, include:
"Elese Coit is a leader in transformative personal change and Hosts the Radio Show A New Way To Handle Absolutely Everything. To see the world differently, reach for one of her '101 New Pairs of Glasses' each day on http://elesecoit.com"
Thank you.
If you wish to reprint, feel free, please link back here and if it's of use, include:
"Elese Coit is a leader in transformative personal change and Hosts the Radio Show A New Way To Handle Absolutely Everything. To see the world differently, reach for one of her '101 New Pairs of Glasses' each day on http://elesecoit.com"
Thank you.
