Last Sunday, I wrote of taking a Complaint Break; today I encourage you to consider the vaster field of struggling with people and situations and reach for a larger reality. Complaints are one of the ways our brains have developed to protect our sense of self--we deflect our difficulties and struggles and experience them as the fault of 'other': personalities, groups, the planets, or all sorts of ideas of sources external to ourselves. What then, are the boundaries of self? This is not by any means a simple question--it is a core question of human life in relationship to the Unknown. To me, the most natural way to expand our understanding of self vs. other vs. Other (Transcendent) is to circle around it again and again as life presents us with circumstances that spark conflict and confusion, as well as insight. So in that practice, I offer you some quotes to ponder today as you move about your life. This one is from Witter Brynner's translation of Lao Tzu's "The Way of Life":
"As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone,
So to yield with life solves the insoluble:
To yield, I have learned, is to come back again."
Yielding to life is a central principle of Taoist thought; here the yielding is itself the solution. And that yielding involves return; we return over and over again, actively engaging in life as best we can from a spiritual perspective. In time, often when we least expect it, we gain insight, even expansive revelation. When the prospect of return seems overwhelmingly difficult or we are too deeply wounded, Ramana Maharshi's verse can be soothing. From Sri Muruganar's translation in poetic form ("The Garland of Guru's Sayings"):
" 297: Do not dwell in the desert hot of the non-self, eating arid sand. come into the Heart, the mansion Cool, shady, vast, serene And feast on the bliss of Self."
Now we have the idea that most of our struggles involve the non-self. Indeed spiritual practice is often about letting go of the non-self, defined in varied ways. But Self is not about knowledge and knowing; it is about Being. From Ramana (The Garland of Guru's Sayings):
"576: Knowing a thing is only drawing The boundary that limits it. Defining, measuring, is the mark Of knowledge. The all-transcending Self Cannot be measured and cannot be known."
If it cannot be known (or not known in the usual way we understand that), what are we to do? Consider this advice from Lao Tzu. (Susan Nettleton)
"There is no need to run outside
For better seeing,
Nor to peer from a window. Rather abide
At the center of your being;
For the more you leave it, the less you learn.
Search your heart and see
If he is wise who takes each turn:
The way to do is to be. "