I am going to be talking about Chapter 11, pain the price of freedom. This is where the rubber meets the road. Freedom lies on the other side of the pain. Every awakened being that I know of has gone through some kind of pain or struggle before waking up...including Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, and Buddha. I don't think there is any way around the pain.
In this chapter Michael talks about learning to tolerate pain...it's just a feeling...watch it and let it pass.
What has become so clear to me is that all of the 'little' daily inner disturbances (i.e., pain) that I experience are a result of my samskaras being hit. The real problem is not the current situation (whether it be a feeling of hurt from a friend, a feeling of rejection, loneliness...), the real problem is that I do not feel whole, or good enough on the inside and so I become hypersensitive to how the world interacts with me.
How often do you feel bothered by a situation such as: you find out that some co-workers went out to lunch without inviting you, a friend neglects to call you back, people stop talking when you enter a room, someone that you are interested in prefers the company of someone else, so and so didn't come to your party...
Most of us take these kinds of situations personally and we allow them to cause inner disturbance. That is because we already do not feel good about ourselves (the root, inner pain) and these current situations trigger this inner pain. We do all sorts of things to avoid this pain such as trying to look a certain way, act a certain way, surround ourselves with people or activities, make a certain amount of money...
To get to freedom, we need to allow this inner pain to rise up and then we need to let it go. We've talked about this process before. Most of us know how to do this. I do and yet I still find myself avoiding the pain by eating a little something, keeping busy, and otherwise distracting myself from the feelings.
However since I really want to get to the other side I am determined to let the pain come up and to let it go. I am reminding myself that it is only a feeling and that it will pass. Every time some pain comes up I will rejoice because every little bit of pain that I let go of means that there is less inside for me to hold onto.
The pain is there. There is no going around it. I will have to go through it and let it go. Instead of trying to fix me and fix the world so that I do not feel any more pain I will face this demon and watch it dissolve (transcend it that is).
Join me today in allowing the root pain to come up. When the feeling of anxiety, annoyance, hurt, insecurity arises take a breath and allow the deeper feelings to arise (i.e., the pain at the core of your being). Then take another deep breath and let that go. Use today's events to take a step closer to awakening to your true Self...by taking a breath and letting go each time you feel some inner discomfort.
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