Stand Firm

In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord… But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today…” Exodus 14:10-13

Wisdom is often paradoxical, even counter-instinctual, to our human impulses. When we operate from the surface mind that judges by appearances, we are likely to distance ourselves from discomfort. Seeking comfort rarely, if ever, leads to liberation, just a brief reprieve from temporary distress. Moving toward difficulty may be counter-instinctual and yet the wisest move. This principle of spiritual healing, sometimes referred to as the tantric path, was brought into sharp relief as I read the harrowing tale of survival in the midst of a storm by the late civil rights leader, John Lewis.

He and 14 other children were playing outside their aunt’s home when a huge storm approached. Their aunt ordered them to take shelter in the house. At one point, as the wind tore at the house, John could see that one corner of the room they were huddled in was raising up! “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. None of us could. This storm was actually pulling the house toward the sky. With us inside it.” His aunt was scared along with all of the children, however, her instructions to them were clear. Move toward the corner that was rising up. They minded her strange instructions, and the house would settle a bit, and then another corner would begin to lift and she marched them into that corner. And at last, the storm passed, the house remained standing and they all survived, shaken, but well.

You and I have all been through countless storms in this lifetime. I refer to the inner storms that rail within our minds and hearts, threaten our sense of well-being, that raise our fears and activate the impulse to fight or flee. This is instinctual for the surface mind that operates from the dual motivation of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Giving sway to the impulses of desire and aversion keeps us in a constant state of dysphoria. The Truth would suggest this is a feckless strategy, impossible to succeed, insane in its promise, and the basis of all of our suffering. These survival and avoidance impulses come right along with a sense of separation from Life, from Truth from Wholeness. It is supported by an outward-focused orientation that falsely believes that what is missing in my experience will be satisfied by some objective solution, apart from me and at some time in the future. It keeps us seeking a better day. It has us avoiding discomfort, and resisting unpleasant feelings. Does any of this activity of desire and aversion get us the peace and happiness we are looking for? Not in my experience. This has become increasingly apparent as I have a lifetime of anecdotal evidence of its futility, and the frustration that accompanies this realization.

Spiritual truth would reverse our orientation to well-being as it guides us to recognize the interconnected and indivisible nature of all consciousness and that we are an inseparable part of the universe. From this premise, there is no use in seeking outside ourselves. It will only frustrate and delay the awakening that is our spiritual birthright. Every day I’m tempted to take this senseless journey to fill some vague emptiness and avoid some pesty discomfort. But it just doesn’t work. It can’t. It won’t. That leaves us with the only path that we haven’t fully explored, the inward path. This means we have to take seriously the notion that we are actually spiritual beings. Like the realization that the apostle Paul came to, that “we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

This realization cannot stand alongside the instinct to avoid discomfort, rather it invites us to stand firm with the discomfiture and not run from it. Resistance will only deepen the suffering, make it more real, and keep it alive in our experience. Whereas when we are fully present with difficult emotions, we discover the depth of our wholeness that can stand, undiminished in the presence of such feelings. This is why Jesus could say, “there will be trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer….there is an overcoming power” in you. I commend this counterintuitive practice to your way of responding to difficult feelings going forward. Try it. Go toward the upset with your attention. Simply be with it. Let the weight of your wholeness and eternal nature, bear you up. As I have found, you will emerge perhaps shaken, but with a deep sense of safety that belies what you thought you could bear. This is growth. This is evolution of consciousness. This is moving toward ultimate safety and well-being.

Namaste,

Rev. Larry