Following The Flow
/We are conditioned to be structured. Through the educational system and then later in life, we are conditioned into the idea of structure and routine. Work, eat, sleep and repeat. One day is similar to the next with very little divergence. This works well until that moment when something feels slightly off. Sometimes it can be just a simple feeling that something doesn’t make sense or sometimes something radically alters our worldview. The end of a relationship, the death of a loved one, losing a job or suffering a financial loss. We find, then, that our most carefully constructed model starts feeling obsolete. The immediate thought is that something is broken and needs fixing. So we go about trying to fix the problem, again, another conditioned response. We find, though, that the harder we try to fix the problem, the more it persists and despite our best efforts, the problem simply does not go away. We find ourselves stuck.
Rumi states, “the wound is where the light enters.”
However, at this stage, we see this wound as a problem and not a blessing and certainly not an opportunity to know ourselves. No, we need to fix this problem as it is causing us pain and we have been conditioned to run from or avoid pain. Unfortunately, in this situation, try as we may, we can’t run. So, the search for the solution continues. We then come across spirituality and see it as the panacea for all of our problems. Again, our conditioned response is to try and understand so that the agitation will go away. We don’t see that, if we were to simply accept our agitation and wallow in the mire, that this acceptance of the agitation may set us free. We persist - the mind whirs on looking for a solution to its agitation - believing that this unsolvable conundrum can be solved. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Let us now play with the scenario that some sort of an acceptance occurs and what is experienced is our true self. We have experienced who we truly are and a sense of peace pervades our being. Things just seem to flow and we realise the mind is silent. Things make sense and the need to know, discuss or debate dies.
As we settle into this, which is, in fact, living as we actually are, we find a trusting start to occur. The mind being stilled also sees questions that have preoccupied us, such as,
‘How will I survive?’,
‘Will my bills be paid?’,
‘Will I lose family and friends?’
seem to just fall away. We find a freedom that has always existed in us but now is more apparent. We live in the moment and are continually shown our story isn’t real. This constant disproving of the story deepens our trust in what is and a recognition occurs that what I am trusting is not separate from me. Trust deepens and we find life flows; we can trust this flow as it is always taking care of us. There is a surrendering to life that it will always do what is right for us. The eternal mystery is accepted without the need to know and life simply is.
Following the flow, then, is following yourself in the truest sense of the word. Accepting yourself and trusting yourself. It is seen that we cannot escape this and nor would we want to, as, where can we go where we are not? The collective is seen as one and all that is met is a meeting of oneself. The more the flow is followed, the more we see ourselves in every instant as we truly are.
