Cultivating Nonresistance, Part Two
In the human sphere, Earth stands for the power to carry good beginnings all the way through to good endings. The power to bring beneficial creations to completion. The power to raise all boats together on the same tide.
But where does this power come from?
On this point the wisdom teachings are unambiguous—it arises from voluntarily ending all inner resistance to the unitary nature of the world. Failure to do so, in fact, forms the very core of resistance keeping us from fulfilling our purpose in life and finding lifelong fulfillment. It is what keeps us from living the ecstatic life.
At this very moment, there are imperceptible waves and particles passing through my body. I am taking in part of the atmosphere, converting it, and breathing it back out into the atmosphere. I am converting food and water that I have taken in and will return to the world in changed form. Nutrients I have taken in from the world have been converted into hair, nails, and skin cells that are regularly being sloughed back off into the world. I have played my part in a marriage of sperm and egg that has produced an entirely new human body in the world.
My experience that there is a “me” that is separated from the rest of the universe by this boundary of skin, in other words, is as naive as the idea that one of the cells in my body is a “me” that is separated from the rest of my body by the boundary of its cell wall. Yet this illusion of separateness is what we maintain throughout our lives despite all evidence to the contrary.
Inner Nonresistance depends, therefore, on eliminating our core of resistance once and for all by daily increasing our sensitivity to the oneness of all that exists. This means that our first-hand experience of the unity of all creation is of paramount importance to “sensing the openness of Earth within”. But it also means that if we are to “train ourselves to achieve inner Nonresistance” we must cultivate our openness to the unity of all creation in such a way that our appreciation and understanding continue to deepen over time. That way, the longer we work to stabilize our sensitivity to the Whole, the more we can see how our social and familial conditioning have taught us to view the world dualistically, with “me” as the subject inside and “everything else” as the object outside.
On this point the wisdom teachings are unanimous—there is no “inside” nor any “outside”. There is just this single vastness, this one unified ocean of existence, whose infinite number of parts makes up the one indivisible Whole. And whose unitary nature imparts to each of its innumerable parts a trace of the Whole, just as each drop of water in the sea carries the taste of salt.
Although it seems like this perception of the indivisible Whole is difficult to achieve—somewhat like a fish trying to see water—the opposite is, in fact, true. What requires tremendous energy is our effort to ignore this very perception: while a fish living its entire life in the sea may never actually see the water in which it lives, it does sense the water temperature, water pressure, and myriad other aspects of its invisible environment. Likewise, we are subliminally aware of the indivisible One that is the unchanging background of permanence from which we arise and to which we return. So it is impossible to be completely ignorant of the single Source and Destination of all that exists—but it is just as impossible for our minds to experience it consciously without right preparation.
Therefore, the first half of this course was about breaking the conditioning that stands in the way of our experiencing the world as it truly is, whereas the present lesson builds on that foundation in order to begin our cultivation of the inner power that will enable us to make real what we can envision and thereby live the ecstatic life.
Inner power is attained once we stop wasting energy on resisting awareness.
As noted above, there is nothing but our own resistance to sensing the unitary nature of the world that is holding us back from achieving our own lifelong success. While this identifies the principal obstacle on the path of good fortune, however, it does not yet make clear precisely how it is that we resist awareness nor how we are to reclaim that wasted energy through Nonresistance.
So, what is the precise mechanism of resistance and Nonresistance?
The governing of attention.
Attention is energy. Active attention expends energy. Passive attention stores up energy. Active attention looks for things to pay attention to, whether they be external or internal in nature. Passive attention waits for things to present themselves to awareness, whether they be external or internal in nature. Active attention is like a hunter’s arrow. Passive attention is like a fisherman’s hook. Active attention is like a scalpel. Passive attention is like a sponge.
Active attention is focused on acquiring, whether those acquisitions be concrete or abstract, real or imaginary, in nature. Active attention moves out from the center of awareness, pursuing security, status, recognition, relationships, knowledge, self-knowledge, and so on. This constant pursuit of acquiring results in a steady outpouring, an unrelenting diminishing, of energy. Suffering from the misconception that such acquisitions will replenish our energy, we redouble our outpouring of energy and redouble it again. It is as if a lion spent all day trying to catch a hummingbird to eat—even if it ever managed to actually catch it, the minute amount of energy recouped from such a meal would never make up for the tremendous outlay of energy expended in the great beast’s day-long activity of running, leaping, and stalking. The paradox of active attention is that the more it acquires, the more depleted it becomes.
Passive attention, on the other hand, is unfocused. It is completely open awareness. Like a blotter, it soaks up. Like the open sky, it absorbs every cloud. Like the open ocean, it absorbs every wave. It is that which receives and, specifically, that which receives impressions. This constant state of receiving results in a steady in-pouring, a limitless increasing, of energy. It is as if innumerable torches were lit at noon—no matter how many torches were added to daylight, its capacity for brightness could never be exceeded. The paradox of passive attention is that the more it empties itself, the more energy rushes in.
Active attention resists new awareness in the same way that someone who is always talking never hears what is being said. Passive attention welcomes new awareness in the same way that the newborn are completely open to the undifferentiated world around them—or the way the ocean welcomes the inrushing river. Or the night welcomes the morning light.
In general, most of us nowadays engage only in active attention, having forgotten that passive attention even exists. This keeps us bottled up in the dualistic world view of subject-and-object and, therefore, closed off from a first-hand experience of the unitary nature of the Whole.
Passive attention makes conscious our subliminal awareness of the Whole, thereby granting us access to the source of awareness, creativity, insight, problem-solving, and belonging. By enabling us to consciously sense the oneness of all things, passive attention brings us into harmony with the one intent of the Whole. Harmonizing our individual intent with the one intent ranks among the most profound experiences of Nonresistance: with time, we increasingly stop thinking of our personal needs, increasingly succeed at helping others identify and fulfill their hearts’ desire, and increasingly participate in the world with a sense of joyful belonging. This last point is particularly telling, since it speaks to the connection between passive attention and the ecstatic life—a connection that is of great moment on the path of good fortune.
Passive attention awakens our awareness of the Whole, leading us out of resistance and into Nonresistance.
Nonresistance, in turn, harmonizes our individual intent with the one intent, awakening our inner power.
Inner power, in turn, allows us to accomplish things as if they were long-fated, removing all blocks to the ecstatic life.
This is a chain of spiritual cause-and-effect to which we will return in Part Seven of this course.
Exercise One—Sit quietly with eyes closed, breathing slowly and deeply from the abdomen. Visualize yourself sitting in the middle of a clear stream, your hands folded in your lap, facing upstream. As you gaze at the water coming toward you, you notice bits of debris, such as leaves and twigs, floating closer and then on past you. Now occasionally a bit of debris floats close enough to you that it catches in the crook of your elbow, just large enough that it cannot pass where your arm rests against your torso. Visualize yourself responding immediately by silently repeating to yourself, Pass Through, as you move your arm enough to let the small piece of flotsam continue its journey downstream. Every few moments, another small piece of debris catches in the crook of one arm or the other, to which you respond immediately by silently repeating to yourself, Pass Through, as you move your arm enough to let the small piece of flotsam continue its journey downstream. After practicing like this for a while, visualize yourself recognizing those currents that are consistently carrying the bits of debris which are catching on you. Identify the bits of debris earlier and earlier that will catch on you, silently repeating Pass Through as you move your arm even before it catches on you, After practicing like this for a while, visualize yourself sitting with your arms permanently held away from your body enough that nothing, not even the current, catches on you as you silently repeat the catch-phrase, Pass Through. In practicing this exercise, it is important not to skip or rush through any of the steps in its progression.
Exercise Two—Sit quietly with eyes closed, breathing slowly and deeply from the abdomen. Visualize yourself as an open window in an ancient stone wall that runs across a vast plateau ringed by mountains and crowned by clouds. The wind blows this way and then that way, constantly shifting, rushing first from one side of the ancient wall and then from the other. As the wind pours through you, first this way and then the other, silently repeat the catch-phrase, One. After practicing this for a while, visualize the wind passing through you in one direction with each inhale and then shifting to pass through you in the opposite direction with each exhale. With each inhale, silently repeat the catch-phrase, One. With each exhale, silently repeat the catch-phrase, One.
The practice of Nonresistance is the practice of Inner Nonresistance. It is the cultivation of a more refined awareness that no longer clings to ideas, emotions, and memories in order to fabricate an artificial sense of self. It is the stabilization of an awareness that allows thoughts, feelings, and memories to pass through it without catching on it. It is the harmonizing of that awareness with the unitary nature of the World. Because our reactions to events around us are based on the degree to which we can respond without preconceptions, we will lead a more fulfilling life if we can tap into the wisdom making up such an enduring part of the universality of human nature.
This should not be mistaken for political Nonresistance, which, as an ideological response to political repression and violence, carries into a situation an already-established set of responses. While such an approach is unquestionably superior to its alternative in theory and nearly always in practice, the wisdom teachings are clear in pointing out that there are no fixed and certain guidelines in this world—wisdom has to be a living presence within us, the expressed ability to discover our own guidelines and create our own responses to each evolving situation. It is in this way that wisdom grows toward its limitless potential with the arrival of each generation.
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The above is an excerpt from The Spiritual Basis of Good Fortune by William Douglas Horden.
If you’d like to learn more, visit the website: http://spiritualbasisofgoodfortune.com/
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The Toltec I Ching, by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza and William Douglas Horden has just received a Silver Award in the 2010 Nautilus Awards. It recasts the I Ching in the symbology of the Native Americans of ancient Mexico and includes original illustrations interpreting each of the hexagrams. Its subtitle, 64 Keys to Inspired Action in the New World hints at its focus on the ethics of the emerging world culture.
Click here to go to the main site to see sample chapters, reviews and the link to Larson Publications for ordering the book.
