Not all those who wander are lost

The Art of Deep Listening

Adyashanti

I stayed up really late last night, just to listen to Adyashanti’s live webradio show. Or, as he put it, to join the virtual sangha. I’m so happy I did, because it was wonderful! The theme of the show was deep listening, the flip side of trying to control.

As Adya puts it, the art of spirituality is primarily the art of listening. Deep listening is what gains you access to your inner being, your formless nature (formless being, core, true being, the unmanifest, pure and pregnant and alive vital emptiness, infinite potential, sense of openness). It’s about using all your senses, feelings, your eyes, body, mind and being and bringing them all to a deep state of listening.

He also talked about the ego’s needs (the needs of our outer nature, our human nature, personality, mind, surface) and demands, and the importance of seeing that they are all fundamentally based in fear. We all want to be appreciated, seen, understood etc, but are we aware of why? He encourages us to find out exactly what it is in our exterior nature, our egoic structure, that has the power to velcro us and pull our focus to the surface again. What do I believe is true, real and necessary that isn’t? What is mind holding on to that isn’t real?

What is very important spiritually is for the ego to surrender, to open up and be transparent, in order for the inner nature to function through it. It’s about listening, about not trying to control.

Adya replied to a question someone had put to him through email, about having a feeling of sitting in a glass house, in the sense that she isn’t really completely connecting with life. He stressed the importance of developing the capacity to really listen, to find out the underlying, unconscious story about why “me” needs protection, why this barrier is necessary. What is there that is being protected by it? Open up to the inner stillness and the barricade will start to wash away, Adya continued.

He then moved on to answer a few questions from people calling in to the show, questions about dealing with what’s unresolved within ourselves (reacting to other people’s animosity) and how to deal with an insane world in a sane way (wholesome approaches to raising children). That’s when he touched upon something that really hit me hard and deep. Adya started off by saing that ‘anything you do from fear will be a manifestation of fear‘, something that I must have heard a thousand times before. But this time something clearly felt different. ‘Stop. Listen. [...] Know there’s not going to be any resolution in this space anyway. It’s not there, it won’t be found. There’s no use trying to find it there.‘ Whooa, wait a minute! I suddenly realize that this is something that I’m still doing. A lot. I’m still more or less unconsciously buying into the belief that it’s there to be found, somewhere, if only I try/look hard enough. I haven’t ever though of it as being in a completely different space – like looking for something in the wrong room of a house. Of course it’s not going to be there! Heh heh, silly me!! I think I’ve been seeing it more like a situation of being too distracted to be able to perform an efficient search. Like, ‘maybe I just need to focus a bit better.’ Oh my, I can’t believe I didn’t see that it’s actually a completely different space! I might have been thinking I knew better all this time, but I’m obviously not putting that insight into practice. Just questioning this makes me feel very conflicted, I can almost see the beliefs fighting each others inside my brain with swords and daggers. It’s so real, so… convincing. Am I really ready to let go of this? Really? But what if..? It feels incredibly strange to be seeing the utter hollowness of a certain belief, but still be very hesitant of releasing it… The words of Adya come back to me, ‘You don’t have to like it. Just because it is what it is, that’s the only reason there is.‘

Stillness is what is still before you even try to be still. It is always present.
~ Adyashanti

I’ve also been immersing myself in Adyashanti’s book The End of Your World over the last few days, and I have to say it’s one of the best reads I’ve ever experienced. I find myself overwhelmed by all sorts of emotions… lots of gratitude, relief, pain, anticipation, dread, compassion and wonder. It’s absolutely amazing. There’s a part of me that is completely overjoyed about the fact that there are plenty of people who are going through the same sort of things that I am dealing with, that I’m not alone in this and that there are indeed people who understand what’s going on. Recognition, support and comfort all in one – no wonder the ego is going ‘hadippa!!’ ;) But really, they mean so much to me, these words of Adya. It is immensely helpful for me in coping with my life situation at the moment.

So, did you listen in to the show too? If you did, what did you take with you from it? Please feel free to share your insights in the comments section :)

Be well, be happy, love well! ♥