To do list for this week:
-consider the general structure and implications of this principle.
-play the game of Find It!
Our next meeting will be a chance for an interchange about your thoughts, insights, examples and questions about this month’s principle and related matters.
This Week:
We are beginning our exploration of the “The Principle of Acceptance” the fifth of the principles of valid action (all twelve can be found in chapter XIII of The Inner Look). This principle says: “If day and night, summer and winter are well with you, you have surpassed the contradictions.”
This week we consider the structure, sense, and scope of the principle/ We will also take a first pass at understanding it in general terms. To help with that I’ve included a story that illustrates some of its aspects.
We might consider it an example of what someone playing the game found (after all the game is Find It!). During this week keep your eyes and ears (and memory and imagination) open for things around you that illustrate the principle. See what other expressions of the principle we can find around us, in stories, the plots of movies, folk tales, sayings, etc.
General Considerations and Personal Reflections:
I hope these reflections might be useful raw material for your own meditations and they are being shared in that spirit.
It has been said that this Principle explains how apparent opposites can be reconciled when you change your point of view about the problem or situation.
The extreme heat of summer makes us think of the cool of winter, and the extreme cold of winter makes us think of the warmth of summer. Every difficult situation leads us to remember, or dream about its opposite. However, when we find ourselves in this other situation, we are usually not content for long, and soon find ourselves itching for something else. Each new compensation leads us back to some opposite point. Whenever we are in a difficult situation (that is, when we suffer) the search for a new compensation begins. However, the compensation cannot in itself help us resolve the problem, nor get us past our suffering.
Compared to someone who has a defined meaning in their life others appear to lack a sense of direction. They’ll also differ noticeably in their attitude, and behaviours when confronting problems. A person who has a clear meaning in their life can see difficulties as things that can serve that meaning, or that can be useful as tools, or lessons, or as a means for self-transformation. That’s a very different attitude than that of trying to avoid or compensate for difficulties. A person with an interesting direction faces problems and accepts them. They try to transform or find something useful in them. If the heat of summer and the cold of winter are both useful for me than how can they be opposed to each other.
This principle also reminds me of what some of us at times have playfully called The Emerald Path: an attitude, or perspective that is a kind of internal alchemy allowing us to turn all the situations we find ourselves in, good, bad, or indifferent into fuel for our journey to greater internal unity. To put it another way, it allows us to transform everything into nourishment, or fuel for our evolutionary work.
That doesn’t mean we desire difficult or painful situations, rather that when we find ourselves in these regrettable situations, we are able to extract something useful from them. It reminds us of the legends of the ancient alchemists who it was said could turn lead into gold. That’s great, but sometimes we find ourselves with shit instead of lead, so it’s interesting to learn to transmute that more unpleasant substance into gold as well.
While it may be useful to say that we can learn from every situation, this goes beyond that. We want not only to learn from, but to extract the energy locked up, in those moments. This unusual perspective requires a purpose or meaning that transcends whatever situation in which we may find ourselves (eg. the aim of moving toward internal unity and away from contradiction, to cultivate peace in ourselves and carry it to others, etc).
This Week’s Game
Find It!
The rules for week’s game are simple, and summed up in the name of the game, Find it. We are always looking for examples of the principles in our daily life and personal experience. In the game of Find It
we extend that to the cultural environment around us.
Here’s an example of Finding It
A Story:
For a long time, we used a version of the story of Job as an example. But of course, there are others from diverse times and places. Here’s a story that has been told many times and in many different ways. I found this version from China is the oldest one I could dig up. It dates to around 140 BCE and is taken from the Taoist masters of Huanian.
Once upon a time there was a wise man living a simple life in a sparsely populated frontier area in China. One day his only horse ran away. Hearing the news his friends came to see him. They said: “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The sage surprised them when he replied: “what makes you so sure?”.
The next day the horse returned and following right behind it were seven wild horses.
That night his friends came back and said “What amazing luck. We thought you lost one horse but now you have eight!” The sage simply repeated: “what makes you so sure?”.
The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and in the attempt, he was thrown and broke his leg. His friends ran to his home to console him. Full of concern for the injured son they turned to his father and said: “That’s really unfortunate.” “How quickly our luck changes”. Yet again the sage responded: “what makes you so sure?”
The next day soldiers came through the district to force young men into military service. They no interest in the sage’s son because of his broken leg. Again, all the neighbours gathered round and said: “Isn’t that great!” Once more, the sage replied: “what makes you so sure?”
The story is apparently the source of the Chinese proverb:
Sài wēng shī mǎ, yān zhī fēi fú
Coming up:
Next week we’ll look to the past and explore how applying or ignoring this Principle of Acceptance has impacted our lives, and the lives of those around us.
A Question Worth Repeating:
Can you sit with eyes closed and go deep inside to discover the source of inner peace, vital force, and real joy? Can you open your eyes and discover how to transform daily life into your spiritual path?
Remember
Summer and winter being well with you does not imply you don’t dress for the weather! Different situations elicit different responses.
Note:
This week another illustration from Rafael Edwards
These notes have been posted on Facebook and sent to our email list, and, on my website www.dzuckerbrot.com
