Читать книгу 20 MINUTES TO MASTER … MEDITATION - Christina Feldman, Christina Feldman - Страница 16

The capacity for acceptance is another of the primary principles that allows meditation to deepen and that runs through the variety of approaches. True acceptance is neither blind nor passive, but the capacity to see things as they actually are, free from judgement or prejudice. Acceptance is the extension of generosity, tolerance and forgiveness.

The process of inner change includes the process of becoming increasingly aware and sensitive to our inner landscape. In cultivating the power of attention we are revealed to ourselves. The variety of inner processes and dynamics that shape the life of our heart and mind becomes progressively more visible to us. No one has yet created a path of meditation in which we are able to bypass ourselves – our bodies, emotions, minds, or personalities on the way to enlightenment, peace and understanding. Instead through meditation we become increasingly intimate with all the variety of thoughts, feelings, impressions and aspirations that shape us as human beings. We do not always enjoy or appreciate facets of our being that are revealed through our meditation practice. Qualities such as greed, anger, jealousy or indifference are not easy to accept with kindness and tolerance. It is easy to become judgemental and rejecting of parts of ourselves that we dislike because they are not in accord with our image of who we think we should be. Our judgements and rejections serve only to harden the mind and create endless agitation as we endeavour to avoid what we condemn within ourselves.

In a very real way meditation begins with acceptance. It allows us to soften and open, to bring compassion and generosity of heart. We do not have to justify, excuse or vilify the variety of thoughts and feelings that arise. As we become increasingly aware and sensitive to the movements of our minds and hearts we also more deeply understand that rarely do they come to us through personal choice or selection but are born of confusion and misunderstanding. We are not always in control of our minds and hearts – this is a significant understanding. Rarely do we wake in the morning and decide it is a good day to be depressed or angry. Equally it is not so simple for us to wake in the morning and decide it’s a timely day to be happy or compassionate. Understanding with sensitivity and balance the unpredictable nature of our thoughts and feelings enables us to step back just a little, to refrain from judgement, to see things as they actually are and to stay balanced. This is the embodiment of acceptance and compassion.

Acceptance is the withdrawal of judgement and prejudice; this is also the beginning of change and transformation. Instead of resigning ourselves to helplessness or despair in the face of our thoughts and feelings or resisting them with tension and struggle we can turn our attention to meet directly whatever thoughts or feelings are present without conditions. Surrounding those inner processes with a clear and balanced attentiveness creates a relationship of interest and exploration rather than rejection. We begin to sense the possibility of new pathways of understanding, letting go and depth.