If you are exploring true nature, principles, essence or whatever name you’ve given it, here’s an idea to play with:
When, in that exploration, you hit a word that makes you edgy, that you bounce off of or get stuck in . . . well, first notice that a narrative arises.
Here’s an example. The word ‘God’ used to have me leaving the room. And the narrative? “As an atheist with a theology degree, I can see too many bad connotations.”
Sounds reasonable? Yep, the narrative is compelling. That’s the ‘job’ of the narrative. To tell a convincing story, to paper over any cracks, to make us feel safe by explaining the world and finding someone to blame.
Was I feeling that narrative, that thinking? Nope. The story came to explain the feeling. That feeling has played out repeatedly over time; the original instigator long since gone, yet it has triggered again and again.
So, notice the narrative, welcome that narrative as it is, but there’s no need to follow, investigate, question or fix the narrative.
The narrative is there to distract from what you discovered. Let’s rewind. You come across a word that makes you edgy, that you bounce off of or get stuck in.
Now is not the time to declare, “They are just words; it’s all semantics.”
Then what? Turn to it. Ask one of these questions:
— On whose behalf is this sensation held?
— What is this sensation made of?
Both of these will guide us directly. The first to seeing who we are not; the second, to who we are. Together, this one singular understanding will bring the sensation to the light, allow it to be seen for the resistance it is. And, bit by bit, to see it washed away.
So, whether the word you hit up against is ‘God’, ‘awareness’, ‘reality’ or something else—don’t turn from it. Stay with it. Nothing to fix or mend. Just notice a resistance that is ready to see the light of knowing presence.
With Love,
Sara
