12-11-2013, 12:00 AM
~Usually, when we think of a ‘warrior,’ someone drawing a
line in the sand, making their last stand on earth, we think they are committing
themselves to an all-or-nothing battle: here and now, on this spot, live or
die. That's the kind of ultimatum Carlos and others often describe. They make
it sound like a fight, like put up yer dukes, but it's really not.
It's the end of fighting, the end of a lifelong struggle.
Drawing this line doesn't mean battle stations, red alert,
defcon one and all that. It’s not that kind of battle. It means we have to
lower our shields, not raise them. That's how easily and effectively we are
undone, and it's because the enemy is within, running the show, redeploying all
of our mental and emotional resources against us.
Instead of adopting a warlike posture, we must,
counter-intuitively, lower our shields and defenses. This seems confusing until
we understand that we are both the protagonist and the antagonist in this
conflict, both attacker and defender.
This is the paradoxical nature of the struggle. We can't win
by fighting. The very thing that fights, that resists, is the thing we seek to overthrow.
Only by vanquishing self importance can we prevail. Only in surrender can we
find victory. This is the part so few get, and fewer get beyond. This is the
part where everything starts sounding all sagely or zenny, but that can't be
helped. If you want to say that all religions and spiritual teachings share a
core truth, it can only be this: Surrender is victory.
Yet, this isn’t the end.
It’s only the beginning.
Once we surrender, the Work starts.
line in the sand, making their last stand on earth, we think they are committing
themselves to an all-or-nothing battle: here and now, on this spot, live or
die. That's the kind of ultimatum Carlos and others often describe. They make
it sound like a fight, like put up yer dukes, but it's really not.
It's the end of fighting, the end of a lifelong struggle.
Drawing this line doesn't mean battle stations, red alert,
defcon one and all that. It’s not that kind of battle. It means we have to
lower our shields, not raise them. That's how easily and effectively we are
undone, and it's because the enemy is within, running the show, redeploying all
of our mental and emotional resources against us.
Instead of adopting a warlike posture, we must,
counter-intuitively, lower our shields and defenses. This seems confusing until
we understand that we are both the protagonist and the antagonist in this
conflict, both attacker and defender.
This is the paradoxical nature of the struggle. We can't win
by fighting. The very thing that fights, that resists, is the thing we seek to overthrow.
Only by vanquishing self importance can we prevail. Only in surrender can we
find victory. This is the part so few get, and fewer get beyond. This is the
part where everything starts sounding all sagely or zenny, but that can't be
helped. If you want to say that all religions and spiritual teachings share a
core truth, it can only be this: Surrender is victory.
Yet, this isn’t the end.
It’s only the beginning.
Once we surrender, the Work starts.