The Stuff We Fear

It’s the same with the stuff we find within, the stuff that we fear – the big ‘monsters’ and the ghastly things we can’t bear to face or think of.

Those kind of things actually feed off our resistance and denial. Yet, if we can give them space, we can see…’Oh, just feelings; perceptions…just that much’ – not in denial or rejection but in a full acceptance and opening to just what is.

The intensity caused by the struggle then fades out – the energy that was trapped there is released, unbound, freed. And that’s quite a relief to see and know! It’s as if we become deeply whole again, no longer split and struggling within ourselves.

It’s amazing how many of these ‘ghouls’ and ‘monsters’, these powerful forces we have to meet enfolded within our psyche. But we can learn how to let them be; give them space; accommodate them. It all amounts to the same thing– a dispelling of dukkha and delusion.

Giving it space means accommodating what’s there. It doesn’t mean letting it have the reins. It’s compassionate accommodation of what is. It takes a certain trust in the Refuge – that capacity of heart that can trust, open, ease out a bit, and know things for what they are.

Remember, this stuff is the stuff of Awakening – with the right relationship to it, it can lead us to freedom.

This reflection by Ajahn Jitindriya is from the book, Awakening Presence, (pdf) pp. 84-85.