Will Be Done
By Michael Erlewine
What to do in a day, like every day. And by “Done” I mean finished with.
I have no choice. The only thing I can think to do each day is similar to one of my favorite quotes, “The dewdrop slips into the shining sea.” What kind of answer is that?
For the longest time, most of my life, I had no idea how to immerse myself in nonduality. Yes, I knew and understood conceptually about resting in the nature of the mind. I just did not know how to do it, how it is done.
Sure, I had read intensely about the true nature of the mind and that resting in it was without subject and object, and apparently it does not create karma. Of equal importance is that such non-meditation is also a total rest, and an authentic place of refuge.
If I could do this enough, my mind would find relief in the rest, and I would come out of this rested and at peace.
However, understand that the above and actually achieving it are two very different things. Yes, I could think it through very well and even talk about it to some degree, but when it came to actually doing it, there was no progress.
And it was not like I could feather my way into what is called Vipassana or Insight Meditation, kind of blurring the edges, like squinting my eyes. That too was a no-go. I could not even take a single tiny step to crossing the divide from duality to non-duality. It did not admit of a fuzzy border or an in-between limbo or twilight zone.
That borderline never wavered and I tried very hard for over a year and a quarter to make it budge. It did not move. I could not lift even my little finger and move it fraction of an inch.
This was very disappointing to say the least.
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There eventually was a solution, but it went against everything I had learned about getting things done, which was to just do them.
I believe there comes a point in life where how things are done changes. Up to a point, at least as a youth, the way I did things was using my will to get them done. And I was pretty good at it.
However, when it came to non-meditation like Mahamudra and Dzogchen, using will power is powerless, at least in my experience.
When I stopped trying so hard to effect this and just sort of gave up and let it go, let it be, the needle moved if at first only a tiny bit. And when I got the drift and began to relax, and let go further, that needle moved a lot.
Over time I moved from doing things by my will to more of the Wu wei approach of Chinese philosophy, letting go and seeking the path of least resistance. And that worked.
If I just relax, life will bring to my attention whatever it offers.
[Midjourney AI graphic prompted by me.]
EMAIL Michael@Erlewine.net Note: If you would like to have access to other free books, articles, and videos on these topics, here are the links: SpiritGrooves.com.
As Bodhicitta is so precious,
May those without it now create it,
May those who have it not destroy it,
And may it ever grow and flourish.
