接納與臣服
無論何時，當你可以，請向內看，看看自己是否正在無意識地製造內在與外在的衝突，在你那一刻所處的外在環境 – 你所在的地方、與你在一起的人、你正在做的事情 – 與你的念頭和感受之間製造衝突。你是否能感受到當你與當下所是對抗時，你是多麼痛苦。
一旦你認出這一點，你也就意識到你擁有放棄這無用的抗爭，停止內在的交戰狀態的自由。
∞
每一天有多少次，如果要你將那一刻的內在實相說出口，你是否不得不說：“我不想在這裡”？當你不想在此時此地 – 交通堵塞、工作地點、候機廳、與你的同伴在一起 – 你有什麼感覺？
當然，你確實應該離開某些地方 – 而且有時候那也許是你的最佳選擇。但是，在很多情況下，離開不是可取之道。在這些情況下，那個“我不想呆在這裡”的想法不但毫無用處而且是失常的。它令你和周圍的人都感到不開心。
有句老話：身在哪兒，心就在哪兒。換句話說：你就在此地。總是如此。要接受這一點真的這麼難嗎？
∞
你真的需要在頭腦里為每一個感受和經歷貼上標籤嗎？當你幾乎一直處於與周圍情境和人們的衝突之中時，你真的需要總是與生命建立一種喜歡或者不喜歡的關係嗎？或者這只是一個根深蒂固的頭腦的習慣，這習慣是可以被打破的？不需要做什麼，只要允許這一刻如實存在。
∞
這個“不”的習性反應強化了自我。而“是”削弱了自我。你的形式的認同，這個自我，無法在臣服中生存。
∞
“我有太多事情要做。”是的，但是你的行為的質量如何呢？開車去上班、與客戶商談、在電腦前工作、出去跑腿、處理這些構成你的生活的無數瑣事 – 在你做這些事的時候有多投入？你是在臣服地做還是心不甘情不願？這才是決定你生命成功的所在，而不是你付出了多少努力。
努力意味著壓力和緊張，需要去未來的某個點，或者達成某個結果。
你是否能夠察覺到哪怕是最輕微的對你正在做的事情的抵抗？這是對生命的否定，如此一來，一個真正的成功的結果是不可能發生的。
如果你可以在內在覺察到這一點，你是否能夠放下這抵抗，全然投入你所做的事情呢？
∞
“一次只做一件事。”一位禪師曾經這樣定義禪的精髓。
一次只做一件事意味著全身心投入你所做的，全神貫注。這就是臣服的行動 – 被賦予了力量的行動。
Acceptance and Surrender
Whenever you are able, have a “look” inside yourself to see whether you are unconsciously creating conflict between the inner and the outer, between your external circumstances at that moment–where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing–and your thoughts and feelings. Can you feel how painful it is to internally stand in opposition to what is?
When you recognize this, you also realize that you are now free to give up this futile conflict, this inner state of war.
∞
How often each day, if you were to verbalize your inner reality at that moment, would you have to say, “I don’t want to be where I am?” What does it feel like when you don’t want to be where you are–the traffic jam, your place of work, the airport lounge, the people you are with?
It is true, of course, that some places are good places to walk out of–and sometimes that may well be the most appropriate thing for you to do. In many cases, however, walking out is not an option. In all those cases, the “I don’t want to be here” is not only useless but also dysfunctional. It makes you and others unhappy.
It has been said: wherever you go, there you are. In other words: you are here.
Always. Is it so hard to accept that?
∞
Do you really need to mentally label every sense perception and experience? Do you really need to have a reactive like/dislike relationship with life where you are in almost continuous conflict with situations and people? Or is that just a deepseated mental habit that can be broken? Not by doing anything, but by allowing this moment to be as it is.
∞
The habitual and reactive “no” strengthens the ego. “Yes” weakens it. Your form identity, the ego, cannot survive surrender.
∞
“I have so much to do.” Yes, but what is the quality of your doing? Driving to work, speaking to clients, working on the computer, running errands, dealing with the countless things that make up your daily life–how total are you in what you do?
Is your doing surrendered or non-surrendered? This is what determines your success in life, not how much effort you make. Effort implies stress and strain, needing to reach a certain point in the future or accomplish a certain result.
Can you detect even the slightest element within yourself of not wanting to be doing what you are doing? That is a denial of life, and so a truly successful outcome is not possible.
If you can detect this within yourself, can you also drop it and be total in what you do?
∞
“Doing one thing at a time.” This is how one Zen Master defined the essence of Zen.
Doing one thing at a time means to be total in what you do, to give it your complete attention. This is surrendered action–empowered action.
