Stopping at a red light one morning on the way to work, the sky still pink tinged from sunrise, trees silhouetted against the snow, the red of the traffic light a brilliant spot of luminous color in the urban landscape, I fell into the moment and realized that I was thoroughly enjoying being stopped... being made to wait.
It was easy to enjoy--no big zen deal--because we all know that within the experience of the red light, lies the experience of the green light. We have no doubts about that. We are asked to stop, and then we are allowed to go. The going is contained within the stopping. We know this so thoroughly that if the traffic light were to malfunction and stay red, we would all just take turns going. We wouldn't stand there forever, focused on the red light, saying "I can't go!"
Stopping guarantees going; the journey guarantees the destination; the question guarantees the answer. Easy to say, hard to live?
Let's say you have a couple of weeks off and you decide to take a train to visit a close friend who moved 500 miles away to a new city. During the majority of your travel time, you are definitely not in the city of your friend. You're not there, you're not there, you're not there. Yet you have purchased your ticket and there is no doubt in your mind that the experience of actually being there will occur. You let go and allow the railway company to manage the experience of getting you there, much in the same way that you let go and allow the traffic lights to manage the experience of an intersection.
That interval between the identification of your desire (a reunion with your beloved friend) and the realizing of it in time and space, is pleasurable. You can allow the interval to be fun because you do not doubt the outcome.
When you enter into an experience of uncertainty or lack, the experience itself creates within you a dissonance that evokes its opposite. The journey to your destination begins automatically. Yet where we become confused is in that time interval between the experience of lack and the experience of fulfillment. In that interval, we tend to use our focus in the wrong way--in a way that actually widens the gap.
We tend to focus on the current manifestation: the physical pain, the financial problem, the emotional hurt, the inconvenience, the spiritual emptiness. And as we use the powerful magic of our focus to drill into the current manifestation with complaint or resistance, it responds like a plant to water. It gets "worse."
This is the magical paradox. We need to learn to ignore what seemingly "is" and let go with an open heart as though we actually believe that the destination is being managed and taken care of. It's like pushing an elevator button and then allowing the elevator to take you where you want to go. You don't have to micromanage the elevator--it knows how to get you there--you just have to push the button.
This is another way of looking at the idea of active trust. So when those life situations arise that resonate with uncertainty, learn to recognize that you are now in the elevator, you are on the train, you are stopped at the red light. Just savor the moment and let go. Enjoy the question, because it will soon be replaced with the answer.
Comments