Sunday, September 19, 2010

Beyond the net

"The real world is beyond our thoughts and ideas; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer.  To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net.  It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes."
 -- Sri Nisargadatta, in Jack Kornfield's A Path With Heart

Through this web of desire, we can see the divisions, and we can see the light.  But we can't seem to step back far enough to see the whole picture, and don't want to reach through and touch into that space of wholeness; it's much more comfortable to stay on this side and continue speaking our endless litany of "He is evil" and "She is bad" and "They done me wrong."

When will we come to sense the interconnectedness and the emptiness out of which all beings arise?  The more solidly we insist on grasping our identity, says Kornfield, the more solid our problems become.  As long as we continue to see ourselves as separate, not just from others, but from ourselves; as long as we ignore our blind spots, blame others for our own lack of vision, ignore or vilify our own weaknesses and torture ourselves with thoughts of rejection and misuse, the pattern will remain the same.

Wholeness will never be about rooting out impurities and imperfections.  Wholeness will emerge when we can learn to see the blessings that lie hidden beyond the stories we weave around our challenges and vulnerabilities; our weaknesses and our shame.

2 comments:

Maureen said...

Diane, this is a beautifully expressed post.

Such an interesting image, too, with that light behind the spider's web.

That web is so strong, and oh how we get caught in the one of our own making.

Louise Gallagher said...

Ah yes, to be caught in the web of our own making is to be blind to the wholeness of our truth.

Beautiful post Diane. Thank you.