The Freedom That Isn't in the Direction
La libertad que no está en la dirección
A student describes a shift in well-being after dropping a long-held strategy, and the teacher validates this while pointing toward subtler layers of freedom.
The Freedom That Isn't in the Direction
A student describes a shift in well-being after dropping a long-held strategy, and the teacher validates this while pointing toward subtler layers of freedom.
Something seems to be very real. We are immersed in the reality of whatever feels most important. For example, the problem I'm having with my brother. Then I go to a retreat, take some time, and I forget about the problem with my brother, because I'm doing other work and the contrast changes. It's a different situation. Now I see: wow, that problem with my brother doesn't seem so real.
We create this contrast, and from it a suspicion arises, a skepticism: maybe that's not the real problem. Some people will live a whole life with one or two problems that they believe are the cause of all their suffering. But these are very deep beliefs, and they're not really the problem.
Dropping the strategy
I'm describing a larger map here. When we create this contrast, we can find something deeper. I think that is what's happening in what you're describing. You created a big contrast, and through it you discovered that a well-being is possible by dropping the strategy you had been using to solve the problem you were trying to solve. You dropped that strategy and discovered, "Okay, there is a well-being here." In a sense, you recognized: this is what I want.
But at the same time, what can happen is that we come to think or believe that this new approach is the solution. And so it becomes a process of going deeper into more subtle layers.
Yeah, I understand what you're saying. For me it's not just an option I use for well-being. It's a way to go a little deeper, to see what's going on. I haven't created a new plan and started again. At the same time, I have to resolve some physical symptoms. During that period there was a kind of relaxation, although it wasn't fully relaxed. But I was able to resolve problems with my partner, and I started addressing these health symptoms. So that time was a real opportunity.
I can see all of this more completely now. Thank you very much for hearing me, because this is the first time I've had a space where I can see the whole picture.
That's beautiful. That's really beautiful, isn't it?
Yes. I was listening to your last meditation as well, and it was amazing. Thank you very much.
Two ways of relating to the moment
What I was offering was first a map, and also a confirmation, a validation of the shift you experienced, while pointing to more subtle refining that you can take with you.
It no longer has to be about the action or the direction. For example, it's not that important what kind of work you do, or how you work, or whether you work at all, because the freedom is not in the action. The freedom is not in the direction. The freedom is when we stop trying to fix something through a strategy that projects a solution somewhere else.
In a sense, things can turn around completely. You are fully surrendered, but in trust with this moment. And from there, you can choose whichever direction. That is where it becomes free and creative. Compare two possibilities: in one, something is fundamentally not okay right now, and I will fix it by going in whatever direction. In the other, now is fundamentally okay, and I want, I desire, I have this deep movement to go in some direction (work, no work), but it's not coming from something that is not okay, something I need to fix.
These are two very different ways of relating to the moment. In one way, we are escaping something that is happening, something we feel we cannot trust. It might feel painful; there are all different kinds of sensations we cannot face. In the other way, we have learned to face these sensations, to feel these feelings, to trust even when the mind says, "This is not okay."
One of these ways of relating moves toward consciousness, toward freedom, toward trust. The other moves away from that and into a mechanism of suffering.
Thank you. It's really lovely to hear you.