I invite you to consider this insight by Ramesh Balsekar: “Tranquility comes only in the utter absence of resistance to the experience of the present moment.”
As you read the words of our Mystic, your unconscious mind has already moved into the warrior posture necessary for the annihilation of “resistance.” Our ordinary human eyes will consistently misread this seemingly simple guidance. This misunderstanding is demonstrated by the mind’s immediate positioning against “resistance,” declaring it to be the enemy.
And once you proclaim anything as your enemy, you are plunged into war with the goal of expunging what you now unconsciously perceive as your adversary or foe.
With this misunderstanding, tranquility drifts further and further into the distance as you fight harder and harder to erase the instinctual human response of clinging to what you like and avoiding what you don’t like.
Obviously, the more you fight to eradicate these struggles in the name of tranquility, the more tense and anxious you will become. Without the perception of your Mystic’s eye, this fight will have to occur for it is the nature of Being when in human form to be driven by the desire to move towards pleasure and the desire to move away from pain.
From the mystical perspective, the road to tranquility is a paradoxical journey of engaging in the seemingly counter-intuitive action of gently surrendering to the resistance itself. Understanding the content, or the “why” of your resistance is not as vital to the emergence of inner peace as being able to relax with your resistance, accept its presence, and allow it to be there as the experience of the present moment.
“How will I know when I’m utterly empty of resistance to the present moment?” is perhaps not as skillful a question or focus as asking: “What does the experience of tranquility look like, feel like, and sound like in the presence of resistance to the experience of the present moment?”
It’s quite stunning what can happen when you consciously take a breath and use it to help yourself relax into whatever resistance is occurring – whether that resistance is in your body, in your thoughts, or in your emotions.
There is a magic in accepting what is happening in front of you and inside of you. And this magic transforms the moment into tranquility. Give it a try and invite these magical moments into your life.
May you find the tranquility that quietly arises in the moment when you can relax into “what is.”
Much love,
Ragini
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