Why is it so difficult to adopt and accept that everything flows? We use lots of energy to categorize and squeeze our perception of the world into a frame and into predictable patterns. We create expectations and illusions, which are always broken. And then we get disappointed. Again and again.
How about accepting the uncomfortable fact that we are not in control? Just take life as it comes, without any expectations — humbly. Less sorrow and far fewer surprises. Everything is new, and nothing is surprising. Everyday is an adventure and brings something new and exciting. No need to fear anything since uncertainty and change are realized facts of living, like breathing. One can worry less and concentrate more on living. One moment at time with a flexible mind.
For the most part, i agree with the first paragraph and have said so before. Our lives are determined by our expectations, our perceptions, and our beliefs. What we assume and expect to see happen will be seen and happen. One of the worst things we all do is to categorize each and every perception and thought, as it is being perceived and thought, into this box or that, with this label or that. We then view our world in terms of those boxes and labels.
I'm not so sure, though, that i accept the assertion that our expectations will always be broken; that we will always be disappointed. In fact, now that i have written that sentence, i'm sure i don't accept it. Some expectations are not illusions. Some expectations are valid and reasonable. Which ones? Those that are not based on illusions.
I expect that a daily meditation practice, maintained over many years, will bring benefits to my life. Do i know that for a fact. No, but it's not based on illusion, rather it is based on the teachings of people who have done the same thing for thousands of years.
I expect that if i don't get rid of hatred from my life it will affect my life for the rest of my life in ways that i can't currently see; in ways that i may never see, even as they are happening. If i do learn to let it go, my life will be better for it. Do i know that for a fact? No, but i expect it because countless teachers of every faith have said it is true and shown it in the way their own lives have unfolded.
That second paragraph, though, gives me problems. It's absolutely true that in the grandest scheme of things we are not in control of our lives. Life happens. And then it goes away. Until it comes back again. Only to go away again. Only to ...
But, on the relative, this is your day-to-day life, level, we are very much in control. We can choose to live the life of a renunciate, living on nuts and berries in the forest or we can choose to get an education and run a business, making rules and policies that affect possibly tens of thousands of people's lives. Or we can choose one of the 6 billion plus other possibilities, since for every person alive there are different possibilities. At this level, it would be pure foolishness (IMHO) to simply accept life as it comes, to go with the flow accepting anything and everything that happens to you as fate.
No need to fear anything? How does that one-liner definition of courage go? When everyone around you is afraid, and you're not, maybe you just don't understand the gravity of the situation.
Poincare is quoted as saying "Doubting everything and believing everything are two equally convenient solutions that guard us from having to think." That's the trap i see this author falling into. Some people think they know everything, think they have the answer to everything, and suffer because of that. This author seems to be advocating the other extreme: don't believe anything, but don't worry, what happens always happens for a purpose, and since it happens it must be right, so don't be afraid. Nonsense.
For me, it seems obvious that Shunryu Suzuki got it right with his concept of "Beginner's Mind," although he says i came from Dōgen, not himself. Walking right down the middle between knowing everything and knowing nothing, he says, "... [T]he most important thing is not to be dualistic. Our 'original mind' includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few." [My emphasis]
The expert's mind is closed off behind walls of certainty. The beginner's mind is always open to the possibility of learning, seeing, hearing, being something new. That's how i want to live my life. Certainty equals stagnation. Stagnation equals a stoppage of growth. A stoppage of all growth equals death.
"Worry less and concentrate more on living." I can agree with that. But, react to your life with your intelligence not just your instincts. Our brain has evolved into what it is for good reasons. It would be a waste to set it aside in favor of our instincts.
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