As we approach the New Year our tendency is to look forward with hopeful, positive thoughts. We smooth out the past and move into the future with a smile and a raised glass. The world will be better, we will do better, we will care and love more. And every year we approach this time with this same ritual. There is nothing wrong with being hopeful or positive, except that we are then also setting up the opposite. We live in a world of dichotomies. If we are hopeful, then we are also disappointed. If we are positive, then we are also negative.
We may retort with “No, I am always positive”. If that is the case, then we really do have a problem. Attachment to positive will throw us into a state of being out of touch and oblivious. The same goes for negative. If we are attached to being negative, we will occasionally find ourselves in the place of realistic and clear. So the seesaw is all we get, if we live on the surface of life. One man’s positive will be another’s negative. We are not universally in agreement.
Positive Negative
Out of touch Realistic
Spiritual Practice is not about reaching the point where everything is positive and sweet. Spiritual Practice is also not about being a cold renunciate. Spiritual Practice will take us to an acceptance of what is. When we have negative thoughts, people will tell us to be positive. And when we are a Pollyanna, people will tell us to open our eyes and wake up. Neither the negative nor the positive is the right spot. We need to redirect to the center.
Good Bad
Burdened/Suffering servant Free/Does what wants
Spiritual Practice is about redirecting our attention to the center of our soul. When we are focused on either positive or negative, good or bad, pure or impure, we are off center. We may believe we are centered on our authentic self but in fact, we are aligned not with our core at all. We are centered on an idea that will dissolve away as we delve into Spiritual Practice.
So as we move forward into the New Year let us align ourselves with Reality. Acceptance and surrender to the real Center, God, will bring us all to Love.
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