02 Jun 2021, 22:56

Accepting what Is

There’s a parable of blind men touching an elephant and determining that an elephant is different things based on what part of the elephant they were feeling.

Similarly, we are all blindly experiencing life, each in a different way, and thereby believing into reality a different world for each of us.

Because we only experience the part of our world that we experience, we tend to believe “this is everything” even though it’s not even an appreciable fraction of the whole.

Because our limited perception gives us an imperfect picture, we similarly perceive apparent imperfections in ourselves.

This can cause us to judge ourselves as bad or incomplete because of these (incorrect / incomplete) perceptions of imperfections.

Upon accepting (our incomplete perception of) ourselves, even though we seem to think we are imperfect, we begin a process of loving ourselves and loving what is.

Accepting all parts of ourselves as we are, we experience unconditional love from within. This allows the previously-considered “imperfect” parts of us to be recognized as perfect within the world in which we exist.

Recognizing all parts of ourselves to have value, we begin to allow our parts to express their value in the world that we’re experiencing/creating with our perception.

The expression of ourselves doesn’t have to be overt or even perceived by others, but we can gain intrinsic value by allowing all parts of ourselves to be involved in the experience of living in our world.

A recent overt example of this in my life was allowing the wacky idea of walking across Japan to manifest itself in reality.

A recent private example of this in my life is judging my mother-in-law as a burden in my life. This judgement allows me to realize that I have a judgey part of myself. This judgy part of me hangs out in my head and often accuses me of being imperfect.

Accepting that I have a judgey part of myself can allow me to love that aspect of myself and give it a more useful role. e.g. Recognizing the value of having a “part of me that can make judgment” gives me the option of using said part to make quality decisions in my life.

What parts of you might you have trouble accepting in your life?

How might your experience of life be different if you accept those parts of you and love them for the value they bring into your life?