Wholeness

At the center of our being, is wholeness. This truth is present across all wisdom traditions. Whatever name you choose to call it, our True Nature, Awakened Heart, Self, Essential Self, etc. This wholeness dwells within us.

It is present and ever-shining.

That “Self” cannot be harmed, stained, erased, injured, or taken away.

Even in the most profoundly confused human being, the Self continues to shine its light. We can have the experience of being separate from it but it doesn’t go anywhere. Wholeness is not something we have to gain or lose. We cannot add it to our experience or subtract it from our experience.

The Sufi poet Rumi says: “Our task is not to seek for love but to seek the barriers to love and embrace them.” He points to the fact that we are not our barriers to love, contentment or inner strength.

The path of transformational work is to learn to “embrace the barriers” to our peace of mind, to love, to our fierce compassion, to clarity, to ease. It offers an opportunity to relate to ourselves and our difficulties from the place of wholeness rather than from brokenness.

The fruition of transformational work is knowing how to be in the world but not “tossed away” by it.

So the ground of transformational work is wholeness, the path is embracing our barriers to love, contentment and ease and the fruition is to be in the world and not be “tossed away by it” as Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi would say.

In this season of expressing thanks, there are few words to describe my appreciation for knowing in my bones that my barriers to love are gateways to waking up and the amazing good fortune that I get to hold that space for you.

I bow deeply to all those with whom I engage whether through these blog posts, through audio sessions, or in person. We are woven together in a field of invisible grace and connection: a kind of sacred reciprocity that is the essence of all giving thanks.

Be Well, Meg