Getting it Straight

We carry so many habits of mind…

As we move along our spiritual journey, circumstances bring various habits of thinking to the surface to be seen. Some habits are good ones. To be nice. To be able to walk and talk.

But some we discover don’t serve us so well. Once those are seen, they can be seen through and cleared. But you may find some of the bigger ones have layers.

Say you have difficulty with supervisors at work. You see that and let it go, finding a deeper resistance to authority figures in general. Then to your dynamics with your parents when you were young. Stepping back through our active stories allows us to get to the plot, as it where, and clear the fundamental habit and its emotional drivers.

In some cases, we don’t remove the entire tendency, just its negative influence. Thus, we may still find caution with authority but recognize it and are not overshadowed by it. It does not trigger emotions. Our personality is not neutered. (laughs)

After awakening, this can become very curious. The mental habit to divide is so ingrained that we have to see through all the ways we habitually separate. We see things from an infinite perspective but still find the habit of dividing.

For example, we may get into an internal debate about which aspects are part of a “me” and which are divine. And then we realize that the idea itself is what is creating aspects of a me. There is no “other”.

Similarly, we may get into a debate around desires – which are right or wrong? This tendency to divide and judge is the key symptom. It is not the content at issue now, just the dividing idea.

You can see the process gets increasingly subtle. But again, there may be a habit of mind that thinks it has to do something, to control the process. But no, it is automatic. we need only patience and observation to see it all unwind.

Gradually what is infinite becomes increasingly lively, overshadowing any thoughts of division. And it is great fortune that we don’t have to go into every concept and memory to clear them. The light of peace will roast the seeds of many an old issue. It is only for us to clear the active stuff. The stories we keep telling, even if we have not always been listening.
Davidya