Читать книгу May I Sit with You? - Tom Catton - Страница 16
ОглавлениеThe divine comedy is that everything the ego entices us with is impermanent. The ego plays its part, convincing us and promising us great joy and fulfillment—if only we acquire a big bank account, a perfect marriage, a nice home, new cars, and more things. Impermanence is one of the many spiritual principles I embrace while working the Twelve Steps. As I move through my life I call on this principle many times, especially when my heart is broken by my unrealistic attachments.
In the act of observing what is, we learn the impermanence of thoughts and feelings that arise. By sitting and not attaching, we learn to wave goodbye to them. In experiencing the simple feeling of wanting to scratch the itch at the tip of our nose, but not doing so, we learn that by just noting the feeling, it soon disappears. Small lessons such as these soon advance us to larger challenges that appear in life. We find from experience that when we just be with all that is going on around us, without following our stories to a fantasized outcome, our feelings will change as we move on to the next moment. Life is always in transition. The only constant in life is change.
Embracing impermanence opens a door to our true nature. A feeling of bliss and joy can arise from deep within us for no apparent reason. In this awakening, we realize that true joy has always been who we are, and that all the outer things we cling to, such as people, places, and things, have always been impermanent. Clinging to the material world can only produce a temporary happiness that leads to despair as our outer world changes.
We must also be conscious that even clinging to the idea of enlightenment is another parlor trick of the ego. Enlightenment is also like our lives: an unfurling process of experiences rather than a target we place in the crosshairs of our ever-desirous ego.
When the principle of impermanence becomes embedded deep within, the spiritual seeker notes the tribulations that have been caused by reaching for outer circumstances in seeking greater fulfillment. This clinging ultimately ends with joy, contentment, and security slipping from our grasp. The spiritual path leads us all to times of being stripped of almost everything. To experience impermanence at this level is a sort of baptism, which alone drives one to practice, knowing the path to lasting joy is moving through life with mindfulness.
In Tibetan Buddhism, they have a ritual that honors impermanence. Several monks work on a sand painting that consists of different-colored grains of sand. They create beautiful mandalas, certainly works of art. Some can take weeks to create, with many monks working simultaneously. When the mandala is finished and enjoyed by others, they sweep it clean, destroying it completely. This is done to demonstrate impermanence.
Change makes all things possible. We hear it reinforced throughout the recovery programs that it is not change that causes pain, but rather our resistance to it. Whether we are addicts or not, we soon realize that we seem to be universally addicted to struggle and resistance. That is why surrender is the key that unlocks every path toward change in our lives, regardless of tradition, religion, lineage, or life philosophy. Suffering would never end if things didn’t change. The phrase This too shall pass hangs on the walls of many recovery meeting rooms throughout the world. The law of impermanence persuades and affects all things in life to change.
