When we let an unattached intention of peace for self and others inform our actions, we naturally and effortlessly become helpful. On the other hand, letting our actions come from a place other than one of nonattachment is the work of ego. This activity will inevitably show up as some form of unconsciousness that feeds on both itself and on the unconscious activity of others. This kind of activity is the root of greed, hatred, and delusion. Despite what we perceive as our best intentions, any self-serving thought is a divided thought, split between a self and something else. Division that manifests as activity will enhance our contraction and generate tangled lives.
Good intentions can go astray the moment clinging enters into their manifestation. Any of us can see this happen, for example, when we attend rallies or marches for particular causes. Advocates of peace can, and often do, become agents of violence when they cling to their agendas. Absolute certitude gives birth to violence even if the certitude is peace itself. When this happens, we become the darkness that we wish would cease.
Despite the sincerity of their practice, many well-meaning practitioners still cannot see how anyone can act from an intentional place of surrender in the face of situations that generate personal outrage. In fact, they resist this teaching with an intensity that continually impresses me.
“What about all of the evil in the world? How can we fight unconsciousness if we’re constantly surrendering?”
To these and questions like them, I usually ask, “Wouldn’t the antidote for a lack of consciousness be a concerted effort to increase the consciousness in ourselves and others?”
Practitioners usually continue to resist this prompt, which is fine, but resistance is where our unconsciousness is most at home. Intentionally increasing our levels of surrender is the activity that fuels an increase in non-resistance, and this surrender is where awareness is most at home. This continuous surrendering doesn’t mean that we should roll over to whatever challenges we face. Instead, when we return from the summit, we let our responses to unconsciousness be sourced from intentional clarity. This sourcing is exactly what shines light in what would otherwise be completely dark. Letting go of the attachments that push us into positions of outrage helps us take the form of intentionally conscious action. Action that comes from an unsurrendered place, on the other hand, is the kind of activity that begets war and only creates more pain in the hearts and minds of the people who share with us the experience of life and death.
To help illustrate this more completely, let us revisit the concept of evil. Consider that the word “evil” is itself merely a label given to an egoic judgment, while the root of the judgment itself comes from a lack of consciousness. Evil, as an accusatory label, can be applied to either side of any conflict, depending on one’s perspective. Consciousness, on the other hand, is beyond ego, so it enfolds both sides of any argument. Letting the space beyond ego inform our intentions has a huge impact on all circumstances and therefore has the potential to reduce the amount of evil in the world. We start practicing this spaciousness with ourselves and then share our practice freely with others. In this way we stop whatever war we are fighting.
Similarly, when any of us refers to a situation as a “problem,” we limit our circumstance to whatever our mind’s definition of problem might be. When we cling to any definition, we are doing nothing less than writing a script for ego to deliver on the Stage of Mind. As long as we see any situation as a problem, we’ve lost an opportunity to Awaken to what is exactly beyond ego’s ability to grasp. This realization can be hard for egos to take since it radically diminishes their influence in our lives. But when we rest in the realization from the enlightened perspective that there are no problems, we discover that more peace and clarity are available to support our thoughts and actions. When we return from the summit, we see that all situations, regardless of our perception of their desirability or undesirability, are noticed as circumstances that offer us direct connections to Awakening. The perspective offered from this realization can’t help but increase consciousness and decrease the amount of evil we see as well as the number of problems we encounter. From here, any problem becomes a circumstance that shows us a direct path into the heart of realizing Truth. Our job is to take that Path, knowing full well that it is always there.
Although this Awakened perspective on evil and problems may be difficult for our small selves to accept, the state of the world is simply the state that it is in at this moment. Sure, there are situations that need our full and immediate attention and compassionate activity. But if either our actions or reactions to the world don’t come from a place of deeply generous intent, then we are fueling the tangled negativity that generated the situation in the first place.
In a peace march relating to the United States’ involvement in Iraq, my wife and I were amazed at the venom being spit by so many people who claimed to be agents of peace. Human likenesses were burned in effigy, placards proclaimed that one or another of the Bush administration feasted on Iraqi babies, and those that spoke at the rally used language that most of us would try to prevent our kids from hearing. Despite their wishes for peace, they were fighting internal, ego-driven wars. Instead of the assembly being for peace, it was at war with war. The moment we allow for ourselves to cling to a position against anything, we are divided, and in division we let the ego take us to war. This doesn’t mean that we have to allow for injustice to flourish without responding appropriately. Protest can be very effective, especially when we don’t allow the ego to co-opt either our intentions or our responses. Meet those opposed to your view, and by being clear and present, you won’t let their unconsciousness ignite your own. Instead, embody the peace you wish would fill the space between and among all the sides, and then act with complete generosity.
So what might this look like? How might an enlightened person, someone who has returned from the summit, intentionally engage the world? She would meet each moment with relaxed intimacy, a quality no different from generous intention. Then she would let her actions come from that place of radical openness. This intentionally surrendered action would allow for an appropriate response to anything that could possibly arise. She would therefore be a helpful agent of clarity and peace even in the face of madness. The clarity she expresses would also allow compassion to be expressed for all sides of any conflict. Each step that she might take, each move that she might make, would come from the wisdom that we are all divine expressions of Spirit. Most of all, a modern day Buddha would not attach to anything in any part of this process. Ever. In this way, the Enlightened sages among us show up as the very peace that resonates deeply in the hearts of all beings. Sometimes, they will show up as a helpful hands to those in need. They might also set clear but compassionate limits by which their children can live. When they give themselves over to a cause, they never let anger or bitterness harm anyone, including themselves, in the process. Whatever the situation, those who are Awake in this life continually live from their deepest expression of love and care for every single being in the Universe.
