The weather seems like a poignant reminder of how if we change ourselves, then we change the world.
A lot of conversation I’ve been privy to recently has revolved around how bad or terrible this hot weather is. There seems to be an air of irritation and non-acceptance of it; wishing it to be different.
But do we have any control over the weather? Do we even have any control over how the body reacts to this temperature? The ‘hotness’ and ‘uncomfortableness’ of the body occurs all by itself. We don’t control a single thing. All we can ever do is change how we relate to ‘what is’.
The weather is hot, the body gets warm – it’s actually a really interesting sensation to experience. Delving into these experiences lets us explore the depths of our being. Why run from it? Do you notice that most of the uncomfortableness comes from wanting this feeling to go away, wanting it to change, rather than the experience itself?
This is the beauty of impermanence. This will all fall away, and nature will reveal to us contrast in all its cooling glory. The scorching sun subsides. Clouds emerge. Day turns to night. Temperatures drop. Then the body cools.
Pure acceptance is the end of this illusory separation between “me” and the weather. Subject and object. Without the narration or evaluation of this experience, there is just the experience; just the warmth. We can either use the mind to create that gap, or we can merge with the experience. We can be the mind commentating about it, judging it, or be the experience of the warmth in our body. One is dual, the other is non-dual. One gives us the feeling of identifying as the mind, the other gives us the feeling of being a universe of sensation. This is our choice, and it’s only through conditioning that we identify as the mind.
So, we can use this principle for everything. We can get annoyed at the dog barking at night, we can get frustrated with red traffic lights, we can be depressed over a pay cut, we can harbor non-acceptance of how our body looks or feels…. or, we can merge with it all. We can become it, and see it for what it is in this present moment. We can even completely accept feelings of deep emotion that arise, and let them run their course without resistance. Express, rather than suppress.
This is the transformation of consciousness; the alchemy.
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