Recently, a long time friend and I were talking and he mentioned a book that has helped him cope with the uncertainty of life, to accept – even cherish – that place of not knowing. A couple days later, much to my surprise and delight, a copy of that book – Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion by Pema Chödrön – arrived in the mail as a gift from him. Since then, I have been reading one of its short sections with my readings from A Course in Miracles and meditation. This is part of what I read this morning:
When we start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual discipline, we often think that somehow we’re going to improve, which is a subtle aggression against who we really are. . . . But loving-kindness — maitri — toward ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.
Comfortable with Uncertainty, p. 11 (emphasis added). Befriending who we really are! What a miracle to realize that, as I read in the Course this morning, absolutely nothing about me needs to change for me to be worthy of Goddess’ love, to be worthy of the love of another, to actually deserve a place in this world. What a miracle to love myself without the burden of my past hanging over me. I cried when I first read, “Goddess Herself is incomplete without me.” (T:9:VIII:8:2) Never before had I believed that I could be so worthy. What healing has come from those words! Thank you, Goddess, for your unending Love and all that you have taught me.
Namaste
