ACCEPTANCE IS THE FIRST STEP IN DEALING WITH NEGATIVITY
If, subconsciously, the negativity within oneself comes to the fore and produces adverse circumstances, then one has to accept it because accepting it is dealing with it.
In everyday life, we find that the expressions of our experiences and thoughts, whatever they may be, are so deeply ingrained in our subconscious that they cannot remain there. If all those thoughts had to remain in the subconscious, we would explode. So, the subconscious mind has to find release, and that release comes about through the conscious mind.
When all those weeds from under the ground are pushed up to above the ground, which would mean that when those subconscious thoughts and negativities that we ourselves have put there in the first place – that must never be forgotten – are pushed up into the conscious level, the conscious mind, whereby those negativities become cognisable, then we feel utterly miserable and hopeless. We feel utterly miserable, hopeless and helpless to be able to accept the situation.
By developing feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in us, we are not helping ourselves. We are actually watering the weeds and making them grow stronger in the conscious mind, and when they grow more in the conscious mind, they reach deeper into the subconscious. If you want to do gardening, do it the best way. That is the best way: you find its conscious expression more powerful, while at the same time letting the roots grow deeper into the subconscious mind. So, what to do?
FROM ACCEPTANCE TO RESOLUTION
When we talk of acceptance, we mean facing the problem. The roots are there in the subconscious. They have to express themselves. They have to rid themselves of these burdens. There is no escape. There is no escape from it. We have put them there. We have sown, and we must reap. But when they reach the conscious level, it is up to us whether we feed those weeds, and that is where the bulk of acceptance comes in.
From the subconscious mind, a thought arises: “I am going to steal tonight.” Are we going to give vent to the idea of stealing with the conscious mind? Are we going to do that? Are we doing so? Are we doing so? Are we going deeper into the roots? Acceptance means not only the circumstances we are confronted with, but also accepting the fact that I tend to be a thief. That is a true acceptance.
I have had a lot of dealings with alcoholics. Sometimes these various organisations call me in to give them talks, and the most important thing which I would have to make the alcoholic realise, is to admit to himself that he has alcoholism. Once he admits that sincerely to himself, I can wean him off his alcohol. So, acceptance means to admit the weakness that is now being pushed up from my subconscious mind. That is what acceptance means. When the alcoholic admits to himself that he has alcoholism, and number two, he does not have the power to deal with it myself, then I go for help. I go to an adviser for help planning my life. One kind of help. I go for another kind of help also, and that is in surrender, surrender to a power which is beyond me.
So, firstly, I admit honestly to myself. The problem with alcoholics for example using this for an example is that they do not want to admit that they have alcoholism. That is the biggest problem which any social worker has, or those who deal with people afflicted with this disease called alcoholism. That is the biggest problem they have.
So, it is to get the person to admit that I have this weakness, that I am an alcoholic. I have automatically accepted the idea, and when I have accepted the idea that I am an alcoholic, I will try to find ways and means whereby this weakness can be dealt with. And if outside counselling fails, I still have the greatest counsellor of all, and I do not need to find that counsellor in tangible form. No, I just surrender and say, “Thy will be done.” What greater acceptance is there than that? This applies to every problem in life: you just do not accept; you face the problem; acceptance comes on its own; and when acceptance comes, ways and means automatically follow. When one sincerely accepts that one is in trouble, one automatically finds the cause of the trouble, and once the cause is found, as a doctor would say, proper diagnosis is half the cure; one has reached halfway in solving the problem. And after reaching halfway, the other half can be achieved by the acceptance of the injunction “Thy will be done.”
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF MEDITATION
See how devotion works? How systematic is it? The whole idea, the whole transformation of the human personality, depends upon one factor, and that factor is the ability to face ourselves squarely in the mirror. When we hide the problems away, like the alcoholic who does not want to admit that he has alcoholism, he can never solve his problems. As these weeds push up from the subconscious into the conscious mind, we know it can be very uncomfortable. Perhaps, most of the time, it could be uncomfortable.
To set off this discourse. Meditation does two things simultaneously. One, it stirs you up and makes you face your problem, and secondly, it gives you the strength to solve it. And if that problem is faced face-to-face, pulled out of the subconscious to the conscious level of cognition, and we face it, then meditation also gives the strength to face problems. And if I face the problem squarely and combine strength with a bit of determination and devotion, then there is something higher than me that can eradicate this problem. All that initial knock, that initial disturbance, is lessened immeasurably. This is how it works.
IF THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY
Therefore, in our system, we apply logic, devotion, and action all the time. And there is no insurmountable problem, no problem to which there is no answer. If a person goes and kills someone and gets convicted of the crime and has to go to jail, twenty years, thirty years, life sentence whatever the case might be, such a person must not look for a miracle, that some miracle must happen where the judge’s mind will just be turned around in some way or the other and pronounce “Not guilty.” That is asking for something which is not right and which you do not deserve.
If you have killed someone and you are sentenced to a long term in jail, what are you going to do? You can make that jail term the most pleasurable experience of your life through meditation. The greatest literary works, the greatest evolution in man, were done in jail, where man was really given the chance to dive deep within himself, to really analyse himself, to really probe within himself. Many of man’s ugly habits have been cured there. So, I am using a very extreme example, but it applies to every circumstance of life. And many a man, if he is of strong character, will find a way, and that strength of character can be built by meditation and spiritual practices, where he will emerge from a sinner to a saint. So, what I am trying to say IS that whatever circumstances we are in, there is always a way. And where there is a will, there is a way. And why my will, Thy will, and the way is smoother, better, more pleasant, more life supporting because it is Divine will.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1977 – 19
