7 Masters Online Course

Class 3: Accepting The World

Discussion

I spent a number of years in formal Buddhist training, struggling to overcome my ego judgments and desires, so that I could enter into the bliss of Buddhahood - but I found that, as with the Hindu and Christian traditions, many generations of priestly complication had added many layers of dogma, confusion and conceptual barriers, so that the path seemed extremely difficult.

At last, in the midst of my own extreme suffering and frustration, I gave up - and suddenly realized that all along I had been pushing mentally and spiritually against a psychic door that opens not in the direction I was pushing - but in the other direction.

As a psychologist and therapist, I saw that we can struggle forever and never against the mind, hoping to summon enough mental control strength to dominate and overcome our judgmental habits - but to no avail whatsoever.

For most people, even with years of meditation, the leap into total acceptance that Buddha encourages, just never happens. Why? Because I finally realized using spiritual karate just doesn't work. We can't force out minds to stop judging and worrying.

We must instead choose to sidestep the massive power of the cognitive mind - and just leap forward as an act of faith into total acceptance of reality.

Missing The Point

So much Buddhist training, when closely examined from a logical point of view, says this - yes, you must accept the reality of the present moment just as it is right now - but first you must train your mind for many years, so that sometime in the future, you can accept the here and now.

But wait - this doesn't equate with Buddha's teaching that right now, not in the future, is when we wake up and realize that we are perfect beings in a perfect universe.

Psychological logic dictates that projecting into the future to a time when we wake up to perfection in the present moment makes no sense. We will never wake up in the future - years of meditative discipline isn't the trick - we must leap now, right this moment - declare our intent, and then just do it!

Therefore I humbly let go of traditional meditation techniques that offered distant hope of future awakening, and looked to discover anew the psychological process that enables us to wake up - right now.

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Taking The Leap

In my search for a direct path to waking up spiritually and breaking free from chronic emotional suffering, I step by step came to understand the mental process that is now called cognitive shifting - plus the in-action mental tool best defined as the focus phrase.

I grew up on a cattle ranch with a father who was a non-stop inventor, and he taught me that the shortest distance is usually the best solution to a problem.

In this spirit, I realized that if you want to shift your mental focus entirely away from the judgmental function of the mind, you simply must go into action and do it.

Shifting from judgment to acceptance is not a progressive mental act - it's a sudden shift in an either-or equation.

If you really want to stop judging other people and the world right now, then you must state your intent - and open up to experience that shift - right now!

Just say to yourself as the third expansion:

"I accept the world, just as it is."

... and in the act of actively stating your intent, you will shift immediately in this direction. If even for just one breath, experience what it's like to fully accept the world just as it is - say it - do it!

I've written whole books on this topic, such as Quiet Your Mind, and I certainly can write much more here on the topic - but rather than talking any further about the act, I feel we do better to move right on into the audio meditation for class three, and directly experience 'doing it'.

Just hold in mind that the first few times you say these words to yourself, the earth isn't going to shake - this is a learning process. Give yourself a few weeks ... let your mind begin to get the notion of what you want to do.

And rest assured that each new time you move through this process, you'll go deeper - and experience more fully the reality you're aiming toward.

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Again for your memorization process, pause and walk yourself through these three steps you've learned thusfar:

Tune into the sensation of the air flowing in and out of your nose.

Say to yourself, "I am breathing freely."

Be open to a new experience ...

Also be aware of the movements in your chest and belly.

Say to yourself, "My mind is quiet."

Be open to a new experience ...

Tune into the people and the world around you.

Say to yourself, "I accept the world just as it is."

Breathe into whatever experience comes to you!

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Power Of Acceptance

An important variation on this acceptance focus phrase that I teach often these days in business circles is: "I accept the people I'm working with, just as they are," or, "I accept this person, just as he or she is."

When we're working with someone, we all too often judge this person and don't accept them just as they are. Instead we judge, and then try to manipulate the person to be more like we want them to be.

This is certainly what people do in relationships too - rather than loving someone just as they are, they constantly reject the person and try to make them change so as to fit an ideal image.

We always have the choice - to participate (accept), or to manipulate (reject). When we accept the world just as it is, then we are free to participate spontaneously in the world, each new moment. This is where the magic of life unfolds.

But when we reject the world as it is, we then have to try to manipulate the world to change in the direction we think it should change in. This is where life becomes really not fun at all.

Earlier today, I had a phone call from a good American friend currently doing business in Moscow, who is learning this meditation method. He phoned to say he'd had a bit of an epiphany with this third expansion.

In a meeting with a man who was not performing well in the business at hand, my friend's first impulse was to go on the attack, to try to make this person perform properly. But instead, he shifted his attention to his breathing, and held the focus phrase "I accept this person, just as he is," in his mind - and let the person talk for a while without judging him.

My friend said that he felt a wonderful sense of detachment emotionally, and a freedom to just enjoy the emerging moment. He could watch his thoughts moving by without attaching to them - and experienced a true expansion of consciousness, so that he felt connected with his deeper, higher source.

He could also feel the other person as a real human being, not just a business associate - and felt compassion for the man rather than the contempt he'd been feeling earlier.

And somehow in this process of totally accepting this person, harmony prevailed, the man talked his way into a more acceptable business stance, things got resolved without pressure or conflict - and progress was made in the meeting.

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Don't Fight Reality

Most of us do tend to go through each day fighting reality. Anxious that the world is not unfolding as it should, we use our ego pressure to try to force it to change so that we can accept it. We judge - and then try to manipulate. In the process we create conflict, disharmony, confusion, and collapse our consciousness into fear-based reaction.

Always in each new moment, we have the choice and the power to shift into full acceptance of the moment - to stop trying to change the world according to our ego demands, and instead to openly participate in the unfolding of the new moment.

When we're judging the world and other people, when we're trying to force our ego intent on others, we are unable to feel love in our hearts. We can't judge and love at the same time. And when there's no love flowing in our lives, nothing good can come of our actions.

Therefore simple psychological logic dictates that the wise move is to stop judging, to stop manipulating the world, and to instead free ourselves to participate harmoniously in the unfolding of the new moment.

And how do we accomplish this shift from manipulating to participating? Simple. Memorize the focus phrases. Say them often. Say it - do it.

I accept the world, just as it is.

Let's shift to audio - and do it!