The Truly Valuable Is Already Happening

Be sensitive to any expectation for something special to happen. What’s truly valuable is already happening. The Buddha supposedly said about awakening: what was eternally present in me was simply revealed; I just hadn’t noticed it. Our being is always present but often obscured by the mists of doubt, sorrow, shame, fear. The more we abide in being, as being, the mist clears, and being’s innate peace and quiet joy shine increasingly brightly. Between our thoughts on the surface and the depths of being is an intermediary layer of uncomfortable feelings. To escape the discomfort, we venture in thought to past and future. This is true even of boredom. We must have the courage to turn and face the discomfort. To find peace, stillness, we must sink into the depths of our self. As Rumi said, ‘Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.’ That’s where we find the peace that passeth understanding.

Be sensitive to any expectation for something special to happen. What’s truly valuable is already happening. The Buddha supposedly said about awakening: what was eternally present in me was simply revealed; I just hadn’t noticed it. Our being is always present but often obscured by the mists of doubt, sorrow, shame, fear. The more we abide in being, as being, the mist clears, and being’s innate peace and quiet joy shine increasingly brightly. Between our thoughts on the surface and the depths of being is an intermediary layer of uncomfortable feelings. To escape the discomfort, we venture in thought to past and future. This is true even of boredom. We must have the courage to turn and face the discomfort. To find peace, stillness, we must sink into the depths of our self. As Rumi said, ‘Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.’ That’s where we find the peace that passeth understanding.