Not knowing IS all there is, so we might as well look at with
bravery. Sure, why not? It definitely sounds good, enlightened and where
I personally aspire to be. Yet, throw in a few failed romantic attempts
at dating - again, a car breaking down - again, an unstable house to
live - again, a fragmented gender identity, and maybe even a few bratty
kids into the batter of utter confusion with the whole of this "living
experience", and not knowing can be one of the most frustrating, painful
and seemingly unattainable parts on this whole path of bravery.
The last two questions of your post leaves me wide eyed with a slight
upturn of the brow. I mean, really, can we do this? I wonder. Often.
"Can we really get out of those boxes completely and take a fresh and
unfettered look at this possibility of social awakening?"
"Completely" sounds like some sort of perfection, a quickening of
sorts - and coming from a place far from perfect sure doesn't help grow
optimism that individual - let alone - social awakening is actually
possible.
So, we can begin again. Again and again and again. But that can be so
exhausting. Perhaps the solution is to keep saying 'this is just a
thought' - just like everything else.
I think we can commit to waking up in the moment and try to take a
fresh look at a given situation. I do. But life is messy and can be
super fucking hard - just as it can be utterly orgasmic. There is untold
suffering waiting around every corner just as there is an underlying
sense of basic goodness in every sunrise - a seemingly constant blend of
the relative and absolute. Can we be with and embrace both? Like for
real? Like "This-is
life-and-we-can-really-be-authentic-and-present-for-all-that-is-arising"
... and have a positive impact!
How do we bear witness to the messiness of our lives and the lives of
those around us with hope for the future when it can at times seem
incredibly bleak? How do we look at something painful, maddening,
confusing with a fresh and unfettered view when we're so conditioned to
be with our own and others suffering?
Which leads into your next question: "Can we begin with not-knowing
and bravely look at what that might mean?" I suppose we can just throw
our minds back into the groundless nature of reality - again - and bring
ourselves to the cushion to repeatedly tell ourselves "thinking." But
how is that living? And how does one figure out how to act in the most
enlightened way when it seems the least painful path takes the form of
the big no-no: spiritual bypassing? Sure, this is a path of the warrior,
it sure feels that way. And dam it's hard - it's like a constant
workout..hiking up a mountain that never seems to plateau. And what of
fear? When we do get to the top (if there is such a thing) and all there
is is more pain and suffering to greet us - blisters, dehydration - you
know the typical stuff from an endurance hike. And then there's this:
as the Bodhisattva knows all to well, a hungry vow to end the
un-endable.
So, here we are..trying to live up to some set of prescribed
techniques that someone, a long long time ago, said would lead to
liberation. Is this just the process of breaking down the mind? And is
that seeming un-surmountable mountain just our conditioning?
