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The only way to really know the validity and value of any wisdom principle or idea is to experience it directly for oneself. LOVE is a perfect example. We can read all kinds of books about love, look at art and films about love, and even write articles and poetry about love, and yet, the profound, direct experience and presence of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE or AGAPE itself can continue to elude us.
"Knowing about" something is distinct from knowing it directly.The direct experience of LOVE is beyond all attempts of language or art to capture it. No concept or representation, no matter how masterfully done, can do more than point in the direction of that which is only known fully by BEING it. In understanding something conceptually, we stay separate from that which can only be known by experiencing it. To know about something conceptually rather than directly is much like attempting to smell flowers through the plate glass window of a florist shop.
One of the biggest blocks to direct knowing is BELIEF. Belief is always conceptual. Beliefs are like cold, stale leftovers after a great meal. They can only give you a hint of what the experience was like. Beliefs are what we make do with when we don't or cannot experience something directly. When we know something through direct experience, we don't need to believe it, we are AWARE of it.
AWARENESS replaces BELIEF in the awakened human being.
Over the years, one of the things I have consistently observed is that the belief in and conceptual understanding of spiritual principles does not in itself lead to enlightenment and freedom. Quoting the truth of Being as written in ancient sacred texts or in the latest spiritual book does not equal BEING it.
A pathway to the direct experience of our true nature is provided when we are willing to put aside our beliefs and concepts and engage in an open and rigorous inner inquiry through DIRECT EXPERIMENTATION.
When you read something in Core Wisdom On-Line, no matter how accurate or interesting you may find an article or quote to be, no matter how much you may believe it or agree with it or be inspired by it, not until you, the reader, experiment with it for yourself can it shift from being something you conceptually know to that which you know by direct experience at the very heart of your Being.
Starting with this issue, I will be including --- as a regular feature of each issue of Core Wisdom On-Line --- an opportunity for you to experiment with a specific Wisdom principle or idea so that you can inquire into it, and experience it directly. With each principle or idea offered, I will provide you with suggestions for experimenting with it so that you can naturally incorporate its power and freedom into your daily life.
I intent that this focus allows Core Wisdom On-Line to evolve into a potent resource for you to engage in the kind of experimentation and direct knowing available in Core Wisdom courses, teleclasses, and individual counseling sessions.
The first experiment is focused on the principle of "Allowing."
In-Joy!
An Experiment in "Allowing"
What is "Allowing"?
Allowing is the state of awareness that is the key to crossing the threshold from living an automatic, conditioned way of being to living from your true, creative nature.
Other words for Allowing include "Openness" and "Acceptance". However, I've found the word Acceptance to be problematic, as it is interpreted by many people as referring to a state in which one is resigned to, putting up with, and enduring what is. Enduring the world of appearances is the exact opposite of what Allowing provides.
Rather than a sense of resignation or enduring, the state of Allowing is one in which what appears as real in each moment is embraced and included fully. Allowing is a proactive state rather than a passive one.
Allowing = BEING with what is without adding anything to it or taking anything away.
Allowing is a state absent of judgments and evaluations. It is absent of opinions and beliefs about the way the world, others, and one's self should be or ought to be. It is absent of all resistance, repression, and submission.
It is in the state of Allowing that, for the first time, one is able to be present to the true nature of what presents itself in the moment. The "suchness" of what is manifesting in that moment of NOW is known directly --be it human, animal, vegetable, or mineral-- uncolored and unencumbered by interpretations and preferences from the past.
When one experiences the state of awareness that is Allowing, there is an inner sense of harmony and balance. To be in the state of Allowing is to be responsive to the world rather than reactive to it. From this responsive and harmonious way of being, one is able to act spontaneously, effectively, and creatively in all situations and circumstances in which one finds oneself without dropping down into the reactive states that are "normal" for the conditioned human being.
All of the emotional states of awareness below Allowing on the Emotional Levels of Being (in ascending order -- shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, lust, resentment, anger, and pride) are reactions and resistance to what is. They are reactions of a mind that is at war with reality. These reactive emotional states are generated primarily by unconscious beliefs and ideals from the past regarding what ought to be, should be, and should not be, rather than in response to what is. All ideals are fictional constructs of the mind, which by their very nature cannot embrace, appreciate, include, or have compassion for what is present at hand in each and every moment of NOW. To live from ideals is to guarantee a life of inner and outer conflict, violence, and suffering.
A simple yet very real example of ideals in action is to recall a time that you were in a restaurant and a child at another table began crying and kept crying. Within a very few moments one can feel the resistance to what is happening, and the accompanying sense of annoyance building up in the diners at the surrounding tables.
If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the ideals rising up in people's minds:
"This shouldn't be happening! I didn't pay good money to come here for this!"
"Those parents should shut their damn kid up!?"
"Those parents ought to know better than to bring a kid that age into a restaurant like this!"
And while all these thoughts are taking them over, many of the diners are oblivious to the fact that their own inner state has become a mirror of the child's--- with tightness and muscular tension taking over their bodies, and anger, blame, judgment, and perhaps even an inner seething tantrum going on within.
What if you could be with such a situation without it affecting the harmony of your inner state of being? Besides the benefit of not having your digestion ruined, you might find yourself responding creatively and empathically to the circumstances in a way that helps resolve the situation positively for all concerned.
Reaction and resistance to what is are opposites of Allowing. They lead to mental, emotional, and physical constriction. Since all ideals are reaction and resistance to what is, to live from ideals is to be blind to the true nature of reality, and blocked from experiencing the gift that life is. When this occurs we are cut off from our awareness of our own true nature, which is the source of living a life of created possibilities not bound to the past.
Allowing is the first state of awareness that is a function of your true nature rather than a function of inherited conditioning and reactive programming. Allowing opens one to the expressions that are natural for an awakened human being: vital interest, enthusiasm, joy, love, compassion, freedom, flow, and Oneness
Allowing has the power to dissolve the fears, constrictions, and limiting conditioning that we have resisted and stored within ourselves. All of these "inner demons" are just stuck mental, emotional, and physical energy. Since the natural state of energy is to be in motion, when we allow ourselves to stop resisting this stuck energy, and authentically allow and experience it without adding any explanations, justifications, or stories to it, the energy is able to move and be released. It dissolves back to nothing, like a vampire placed in the bright light of the sun.
How difficult is Allowing?
How difficult is it to allow a flower to bloom?
Allowing what is to be is effortless. All the effort in people's lives is in resisting what is and giving power to what "ought to be, should be, and shouldn't be," none of which exists in reality.
Energy comes and goes, from the formless to existence and back to formless again. That's the way the universe works at all levels, from the gross to the very subtlest expressions at the quantum dimension. Thoughts arise from nothing, exist, and return to nothing. Emotions arise from the formless, take form, and dissolve back to formlessness. Body sensations arise, takes shape, and then dissolve again.
UNLESS we resist them. UNLESS we identify with them. UNLESS we say to ourselves, "this shouldn't be!" Then constriction, stuckness, persistence, and suffering arise and replace the freedom, joy and flow of life.
The Experiment
Each day this week, would you be willing to practice Allowing? Would you be willing to allow what is to be?
Would you be willing to embrace, or at least allow, whatever is arising in each moment to be what it is in that moment? Of course, the joke is that even if you can't allow it to be, it's being that way anyway. So another way of asking about Allowing is: would you be willing to tell the truth about what's so? With nothing added? With nothing taken away? Just what's so.
The key to Allowing is to operate from a place of Observation or Witnessing. It is like observing clouds going by in the sky. Be aware of and describe what is. Nothing more. When you do this, it will allow your true nature ("X,". Spirit) to guide your actions, and you will be acting in harmony and resonance with the universe.
Can you allow the people in your life -- your parents, your children, your spouse, your partner, your business associates, your friends, all of your relatives, and everyone else you might meet this week to be the way they are? Without trying to change them? Without having to use energy to judge, evaluate, and condemn them for not meeting your standards and ideals of how they should be? Just for this week, would you be willing to give up your anger and resentment toward them for not fitting your script's specifications of the way they're "supposed to be" so that you are not disturbed?
What kind of person do you think would be the most creative and effective in dealing with a person or situation? Would it be someone who is so upset about the way it is, that they are filled with resentment, anger, or embarrassment and can barely think clearly? Or would it be someone who can embrace what is without adding anything to it, and thus can assess the situation accurately, and act creatively from an intention to provide what's wanted and needed in the moment?
Remember, Core Wisdom is "the way of the Practical Mystic". We're looking at the way this state of Allowing shows up in a very practical way in your life!
Since Allowing may not be the state of awareness that you have been familiar with, from time to time during the day you may find yourself slipping back into judgments, evaluations, and opinions about the way he, she, they, or it "ought to be." If so, when you become aware of this happening, don't exacerbate the problem by adding judgments, evaluations, and opinions about your lack of awareness to the judgments, evaluations, and opinions that are already there! Observe that you did that, and then, allow that to be.
Practice Allowing, not only with people and circumstances without, but also with all that you experience within. When you experience what you consider to be a negative thought, belief, opinion, judgment, emotion, attitude, mental image, automatic habitual behavior, or constricting body sensation, rather than resisting it, suppressing it, or judging yourself for it, allow yourself to observe it without judgment or condemnation. Would you be willing to allow it to be, to grant beingness to it?
As you allow what is to be, you will find a very interesting thing occurring--- it will allow you to BE!
Whatever you can embrace, whatever you can allow to be without resisting it, dissolves back into the formless, leaving a new moment that is free, clear, and open for creative action.
I invite you to practice Allowing this week, and observe what happens.
Allowing is the doorway into a creative life of joy, effectiveness, and inner peace.
But don't believe me, don't take my word for it. Experiment with it, and discover what you find out for yourself.
I invite you to let me know by email what you experienced and realized.
-- Hal Isen
From Core Wisdom On-Line Number 72 - Mar. 12, 2007
A Reader's Results from the Experiment in Allowing
In the previous issue of Core Wisdom On-Line we began the first of a series of experiments with various Core Wisdom principles. By experimenting with them directly, these principles can shift from being conceptual information to being a living presence in your life. Below, is feedback from a CWOL reader, S.W., on the results of her experiments with the principle of ALLOWING.
As you invited, I consciously practiced "allowing" after receiving your e-newsletter. Here are my observations/learnings:
- It takes mindful discipline to consciously allow events as they happen. And it becomes easier as the week went along.
Warmest regards,
From Core Wisdom On-Line Number 73 - Mar. 23, 2007
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