There is a common spiritual practice of acceptance. That is, the conscious effort to accept what is as it is. This practice has the goal of transforming the chaos of everyday living into the sublime perception of unfailing inner peace. Oddly enough, the practice of acceptance has the opposite effect. It actually increases effort and expectation, the very antithesis of what it is trying to achieve. However, when we throw out the practice in favor of the spontaneous perception of acceptance, inner peace immediately follows. Why?
When you are content with your present existence then you have nowhere to go and nothing to do. In essence, you accept the present as full and fulfilling. (See: The Tail is Wagging the Dog.) Your past and future are unimportant as you revel effortlessly in what is right here, right now. Life is good and you have no need to “make it better.”
When you feel incomplete you feel the need to remove that dis-ease. You search for solutions to your discomfort. The solution is your goal and the procedure you perform to reach your goal is your path. Simple enough, right? The problem is that as soon as you have a goal you are saying, “Where I am is not good enough but when I reach my goal I’ll be happy.” Of course inner peace, or acceptance of what is, cannot be reached. It is as it is and must be recognized as such. Ultimate peace cannot be created. It can only be perceived.
A path connotes motion and ultimate peace is non-moving. You can’t experience stillness by moving along a path. You see the problem? Acceptance is realizing that what is right now is perfect as it is. There can be no path to the present. The practice of acceptance, on the other hand, produces a path to peace, a path that’s goal will never be realized until it is forsaken as the illusion it is. Rather than alleviating suffering, the path to peace increases suffering.
So if you cannot practice acceptance what can you do? Nothing! Now, before you utter a string of blue expletives let me explain. Doing nothing means the mind is at rest and complete in the present. It means that what you perceive right now is perfection which spontaneously yields peace. But doing nothing begs the question, “How do I do nothing?” You may be confounded by the whole conundrum of “doing” nothing but you have everything you need to stop doing right now. (See: The Five Paths to Enlightenment.) You were born with everything you need and you don’t need any special talent or training. Nor do you need belief or faith. You need only point your awareness in the direction of perfection to perceive it. The rest is automatic. I prove this point to people from many and varied cultures and countries around the world on a regular basis. Despite the accepted teaching to the opposite, it does not take years to accept what is right here, right now. We need only stop not-accepting and acceptance dawns like the brilliant rays of the new day.
(NOTE: Any of my Kinslow System™ books/CD’s will describe the simple system of “not doing” (Quantum Entrainment) that lead to the spontaneous perception of acceptance and inner peace. You may also benefit from the Free Downloads of The Gate Technique and The Pure Awareness Technique. While not Quantum Entrainment proper they will indirectly lead to acceptance of what is.)
