Duality or Non-Duality?

Which is the more “enlightened” perspective?

***

Often (daily, hourly?) we come to a T in the road.

We can go to the right or the left – each direction in stark polarity to the other.

On the one hand, we honor inner resonance.

On the other, we honor living in integrity with others in the world.

How can we make this choice?

***

Many times we don’t make the choice.

Consequently the flow of our energy – of our life – becomes blocked.

***

We seek relief from this dissonance through distraction, projection, and suppression.

Yet no matter how hard we work to push the discomfort away, it keeps coming back, each time more emphatically.

***

We find a path to deeper resonance through a spiritual practice and the relief is significant.

We celebrate, thinking we have discovered the answer – and indeed we have!

***

Yet shortly after feeling our wholeness (even if we’re practicing wholeness every day – even three times a day!) the tension returns.

And when it returns, it has grown.

Why is this?

Isn’t the most essential aspect of experiencing each aspect of life in resonance, a practice of wholeness?

***

And so we dive into our practice once again, seeking relief from the polarity of this decision.

And once again, the relief is overwhelming.

And once again, a short time later, the tension returns and once again it is even more pronounced.

***

As we repeat this cycle we very quickly come to a point where the discomfort is untenable.

What are we to do?

What is the source of this tension?

Is there a third way forward?

Some way to transcend the dilemma so we can live in integrity while honoring our truth?

***

And then it hits us: the common element to all this dissonance: our perspective.

But what other perspectives are available to us?
***

Very quickly we discover the source of our tension.

In our practice of wholeness we open to the Divine perspective. We see and feel ourselves as Divine, and we recognize the innate Divinity of all things and our connection to all that is.

In the transition from our practice to everyday life, another perspective is added: the ego – steeped in the illusion of control.

Immediately the illusion of separation consumes our perspective and once again we are caught in the quicksand of polarity and dissonance.

***

So we begin focusing on releasing the ego – the apparent source of this fatal flaw that returns us to pain and suffering so quickly.

And as we progress, we discover we are once again faced with a fractal of the original dilemma: Cast out an essential aspect of the trinity that we are focused on integrating (the mind) and move into a deeper experience of dis-integration – or Integrate the mind and welcome the ego with it.

Polarity once again revisits us and the tension grows.

***

As we are lowered to our knees in a prayer that is born from the hopelessness that comes from our repeated failures to successfully navigate our way through this dilemma, another way forward comes forward for consideration.

The pathway of surrender – of releasing control and attachment.

Of allowing the Divine to erupt into our lives, replacing all the energy of effort and work and control that we have been holding as sacred to this point.

A short time later we choose to surrender.

The mind decides to let go – releasing itself from the bondage of control and polarity.

***

And in this moment a third way opens before us.
A grace that can fully express through us, yet is beyond the construct of our minds, flows – showing us a way forward that to this point, has been hidden from view.

One of the challenges with talking about the third way, is that we can easily develop attachments to what the third way looks like or what it means.

Yet over and over again, we discover (much to our amazement and, ironically, relief) that we are not responsible for the creation of the third way.

Except that we must let go to allow it to reveal itself.

***

The Third Way.

***

Is there an opportunity in your life right now to open the door to The Third Way?

For my part, that opportunity exists in every moment of every day. I ask myself: “Where is the area of greatest tension right now?”

The answer always points me towards an opportunity to surrender and open up to a pathway forward – a third way – that until that point had been invisible.

That’s it for this week … From My Heart.

Peace,

Ken

Ken Stone
The Soul Archaeologist
Experience the Divine Within
www.KenWStone.com