Peace in the Middle of Fear
Paz en Medio del Miedo
A student shares that fear has diminished and a profound peace has been surfacing more often. The teacher describes a subtle but important shift: discovering that peace and pain are not opposites, and that peace was never conditioned by the absence of fear.
Peace in the Middle of Fear
A student shares that fear has diminished and a profound peace has been surfacing more often. The teacher describes a subtle but important shift: discovering that peace and pain are not opposites, and that peace was never conditioned by the absence of fear.
My fear has dropped quite a lot these days, and what is called profound peace has been surfacing much more often. I think that's what allows me to see the jitters and pain more easily. Mentally, I'm not gripping so hard on what the mind suggests.
Yes, and then the shifting that can happen becomes more subtle.
The narrative of "one day it will stop"
For example, there could be an experience: "Oh, there's fear. There's pain. This is still happening. One day it'll stop happening." That's the narrative. "One day, when realization deepens, when I clear more and do more work, it will stop."
Peace that coexists with pain
Then what can happen is a different realization: "Oh, there is fear. There is pain, just like there has been before." But suddenly it's totally, perfectly fine. There's peace at the same time. And the realization is: there didn't need to not be fear, and there didn't need to not be pain, for there to be peace. That's a really subtle shift, and it's not a belief. It's an experience. In the middle of fear, in the middle of pain, there is peace. They are not exclusive or opposites.
Yes.
That's a whole other level of freedom, but it's not a freedom that was attained or that happened, that wasn't there before. The truth was always true. It's simply the freedom that comes from knowing the truth that was always true: the peace was not conditioned.
The peace that was always present
This can also come as a realization. The way it happened for me was to see: "Oh, there's peace." It began. From one day to the next, suddenly there was peace. And then came the realization: this peace was always present. In the darkest nights, in the deepest pains and the deepest terrors, throughout my entire life, this was present.
Yes.
What I'm describing sounds like a really big thing, but it's actually very subtle. Very profound, but very subtle. It creates a big impact, yet experientially it is an extremely subtle thing.
Sitting honestly with what arises
In the meantime, to be able to look at fear, to be with pain, to be with the triggers, to sit with all of that and observe it honestly, noticing, "This is what's happening, this is the belief I have, this is what I'm attached to," all of that brings you closer to the depth of non-duality. Because that which is seeing these parts of you is not the identity, is not the belief in identity. It is coming from something prior to that.
And then one day it could simply dawn upon you: "This is what I have always been." It is emptiness and fullness. It is always at peace, and it has always been here.
Yes. I can feel it. I just cannot describe it.
You don't need to.
Thank you.