The Freedom in Being Human
La Libertad en Ser Humano
A student reflects on the fear of experiencing their own humanness, and the teacher explores how not-knowing opens the door to a fuller, more embodied humanity.
The Freedom in Being Human
A student reflects on the fear of experiencing their own humanness, and the teacher explores how not-knowing opens the door to a fuller, more embodied humanity.
I was afraid to experience it. And just having that reality check: yes, I am a human, and I do have all these fears and all these strange, nuanced desires.
Yes. And from that perspective, there is the freedom to explore the wisdom that can grow from it. You will be able to distinguish more and more what kinds of thoughts you want to make room for, what kinds of desires you want to listen to. You can start to recognize that some desires come very much from illusion, limitation, and contraction. Those you no longer need to listen to. And then you become able to distinguish deeper desires, longings, and callings, which are what I talk about as being the more universal.
Choosing without knowing who chooses
We don't have to involve the complexity of "Who am I talking to? Who's the one deciding? Who's the one listening?" That's another aspect. The point is to see that there is something here, something that knows, something that chooses. The problem is in our knowing and understanding of what that is. For example, if I know that what chooses is a limited human, defined by the image I hold of myself, then that's illusion. But if I recognize that choosing happens, and I admit that what chooses and how it happens, I don't know, I cannot pin it down. It's "I." What that is, I don't know. I know it creates everything, but how it is, what it is: it's all mystery.
When humanness isn't accessible
I want to also say that I personally am not able to connect to this humanness all the time. Sometimes I need some help from a higher power, or simply from being with the unknown. Sometimes I don't feel any humanness here, which is frustrating and annoying. But can I be with this? Can I be with the mystery?
Not-knowing as a doorway
This is what not-knowing is. But not-knowing is precisely what lets you get in touch with the vastness, which is our true nature. And that vastness doesn't deny our human nature. It opens the door for a kind of embodiment that becomes more and more fully human. So it's not in opposition to our humanity. It's complementary. True freedom fully enables our humanity.
Is that all fine? Yeah, thanks.
The illusion of control
And we're not supposed to always be in control. No, we never are. We think we are. We'd like to be. It's a fun illusion. Sometimes not.