Face Everything and Avoid Nothing

Face Everything and Avoid Nothing The third tenet is called Face Everything and Avoid Nothing. ( It states that if we want to be free, we must be wilUng to face

everything and avoid nothing at all times, in all places, through all circumstances . Very few of us face anything. Without being aware of it, we are in the grip of a fear-driven habit, a habit of avoidance^and denial That habit is the movement of ego . The movement of ego is a compulsive need to remain separate at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. And as long as we are blind to this movement of ego, we will be oblivious to the enormous degree to which we are avoiding and denying any information about our own experience that would in any way conflict with the ego's compulsive need to see itself as being separate. Once again, tgo is that movement of mind that needs to maintain a separate sense of self at all times , in all places, through all circumstances. And in that movement, we will deliberately choose to avoid anything that would challenge the ultimate validity of the ego's separate identity. For the Face Everything and Avoid Nothing individual lost in the nightmare of ignorance, the survival of that separate sense o f self^always appears to be more impor- tant than anything else. But if we have made up our minds that we want to be free, then the whole picture changes. Now the primary object of our attention is ihF3esire tor treedom, not the survival of the ego. Now we've decided that we want to be liberated from the painful experience of having our attention constantly fixated on the ego. We have discovered that as long as our attention is primarily focused upon this one object, our experience will bFone of suffocation and limitation. In the startling shift of perspective experienced in the spiritual revelation, our attention is temporarily liberated from ego fixation and as a result literally expands in all directions. In that expansion we discover something extra- ordinary and profound the true and right relationship of all things. In the spiritual revelation, we recognize that that mysterious knowledge has always been there but because so much ot ouTattention has been focused on the needs of the ego, we simply have been unaware of it. We will never be able to perceive the true and right rela- tionship of all things as long as so much of our attention is devoted to maintaining and sustaining a painfully separate sense of self. But once we_are no longerinvestedjnjn^^ taining that sense_ofjsolation ,and separation, then and only then will we be able to directly experience what it means to see Embracing Heaven & Earth clearly. In order to experience what it means to be awake, in i order to be able to see clearly for ourselves what the truth actually is, we must liberate ourselves from the insidious need to always see ourselves as being separate. Now if we have spent a lifetime devoting almost all of our energy to supporting the ego, while simultaneously avoiding anything that would cause us to doubt its validity, it's going to require nothing less than a heroic degree of interest, determi- nation and passion to liberate our attention from its influence. Only if we want to be free more than anythmg else, and only if we have recognized the entirely volitional relationship that we have to our experience, will it be possible to override the egos compulsive tendency to avoid and deny so much of what is actually there. So once again, ordvif the first two tenets Jim^bdn2^ved m. earnest will we become so conscious that we will be able to directly perceive the true and right relationship of all things. Indeed, when the first two tenets are lived in earnest, instead of seeing only what the ego wants us to see, wejwill be able^ to recognize what the true picture actually^ In the spiritual experience, the third tenet, Face Everything and Avoid Nothing, is recognized as being the natural expres- sion of a liberated state of consciousness. Why? Because inJhL. liberated state there is no longer any desire to avoid anything. In face Everything and Avoid Nothing that state there is no longer any motivation to deny anything. In that state there is no motivation left to see things other than as they actually are. When consciousness is liberated from the veil of ego, it's thrilling. It's thrilling because instantly there is infinite depth, extraordinary vastness and the recognition of a profound interrelatedness within a context that is limitless. Only when we allow our attention to become that vast are we going to be able to live in a way that will be a clear reflection of that vast- A ness. How is this achieved? By facing everything and avoiding ) nothing at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. MBy always facing everything and avoiding nothing, and never I for any reason swerving from that absolute relationship to our I experience—-notjgyen for an instant. What does it really mean to face everything and avoid nothing? It means we have to ceaselessly inquire into the true nature of what it is that is motivating us to make the choices that we roake. Do we have the humility to face into the aggressive and frighteningly selfish nature of many of our own actions? Do we have that kind of courage? Because if we refuse to face the darkest parts of ourselves, we will never be able to transcend them. Only if we truly want to be free more than anything else will we find the integrity of interest that will enable us to face everything and avoid nothing, no matter how difficult or challenging it may be. But facing evervthing means facing everything, not only Embracing Heaven & Earth our darkest impulses. Facing everything means that we dare to face wholeheartedly into the infinite depth of our own Self, a depth that reveals a mystery so awe-inspiring that it simply cannot be imagined. Facing everything means facing into our own infinite potential. But more often than not, we're unwilling to do that. We're unwilling to face the profoundly liberating implications of our own potential because we're simply not prepared to accept that which our mind cannot comprehend. Always living in denial of our darkness and ever fearful of the overwhelming brightness of our own unexplored heights^ the inevitable result can only be mediocrity. Why do we have so much trouble seeing things clearly? Why do we consistently make important mistakes? The\ answer is simple. If we are not paying attention, we are not going to see clearly And if we are not seeing clearly, we are not going to do the right thing. But ifwe want to be free more than anything else, we are going to be profoundly attentive. You i\ see, in order to do the right thing we want to see the whole picture, which is the true and right relationship of all things. When we make important mistakes, when we consistently do the wrong thing, it simply means that we weren't paying atten- tion. And the only reason we don't pay attention is that we don't want to bejree more than anythingdse. If you understand this very deeply, the mysterious ques- tion of how to live the spiritual experience can be easily Face Everything and Avoid Nothing understood. Believe it or not, the third tenet is literally the means to your own perfect Liberation. But you have to recognize this for yourself. Then the path in all its glory will reveal itself before your very own eyes. When that happens, you v^ll know v^thout any doubt that even you can be free in this life, if only you are willing to pay the price. Embracing Heaven & Earth