Radical Honesty…

The effects of this self-enquiry are cumulative

and we find it naturally brings up within us a radical and ruthless honesty as we start getting “real” with ourselves.

Nowhere is honesty more needed than in the spiritual endeavour. I recently had the pleasure of working with a young man who upon arrival asked what the best way was to obtain the maximum amount of benefit from coming to talks. I replied ‘honesty’, but more importantly ‘honesty with oneself’.

I have seen time and time again people coming to meetings and professing that they are sincere seekers and are looking to wake up from the dream. Upon closer examination you will always see an underlying issue. Whether it is a financial issue, relationship, family, or any number of issues. This is the real heart of the matter and to use Rumi’s parlance: ‘The wound’.

However, rather than seeing that this is the beginning of the path, many try to obscure it or avoid it by saying that they are in fact seeking. This is spiritual bypassing - that not wanting to deal with the immediate and most pressing issue. This contracted energy that, unless dealt with will be totally unmoved by any number of meetings, watching videos or reading books. It is not until the issue is acknowledged that progress can be made.

Why then do we try to avoid the blatantly obvious? A simple answer could be fear. Why are we so fearful to face that which scares us? When we are fully aware, as the popular saying states, “Everything you desire is on the other side of fear” or even “Feel the fear and do it anyway”

And yet for all of this many of us will never allow ourselves to truly meet that which scares us. We will instead opt for a dull numbing pain and discomfort in our lives instead of putting our stories down.

Why is this so? I can only imagine that the story has had such time and energy invested into it that we are loathe to put it down. It has provided us with security, status, and a sense of worth. Why then would we want to upset the status quo and let it go. Instead, we see our fear as a small price to pay to keep things the way they are. Yes, we are fully aware that the current situation is not ideal, but what is the alternative? Can we loosen the stories grip on our lives and see it isn’t real and as such can be put down?

This is where self-enquiry and contemplation comes into its own. By questioning whether what we believe is real we can start a process of change. Baby steps inwards which can, over a period let us see that that which holds us back is not in fact real. By allowing our natural way of being to dictate the pace, we can find that insight, understanding and clarity can come to us as and how we deepen in our understanding of who we are.

The effects of this self-enquiry are cumulative, and we find it naturally brings up within us a radical and ruthless honesty as we start getting “real” with ourselves. This momentum allows us to continue the inward journey and drop more and more of what we are not. Glimpsing our natural state, we see the illusory nature of the story and the minds attempt to keep us in a dualistic state. We are able then to let the story go or put it aside. Seeing that it is just here to help us navigate through this illusory existence called life. Like any good story that we read, we can engage with it as much or as little as we choose. And that furthermore the story appears in this play of consciousness and is not everything but merely an aspect of our reality.

Slowly but surely its impact on who we truly are is minimised and we accept our natural way of being; a way of acceptance and radical honesty.