Post by Pine Tree Lady on Sept 23, 2012 7:12:37 GMT -6
The Dark Night by Devaji
At a certain point the ego becomes willing to offer itself to love, as opposed to demanding what it wants. This offering of itself comes at a time of great expanse, of very deep seeing.
The offering says, "I will give anything. I will give myself. My love for you is so profound that I don't care what is asked. I don't care if it means pain, I don't care if it means agony. I don't care what it means. I don't care how it looks. I don't care if I get anything back. All I want is to be there for you, for this love." And in this offering there is unspeakable beauty.
And it is this offering that opens the door for the play of what is called "The Dark Night of the Soul". For there has been a call that has been put out to the cosmos that says, "Now I am ready." And what is it that you become ready for? You are ready to meet everything that the ego does not want to meet, meaning everything that creates and maintains the ego. So this ego cries out from love, "I am ready to do anything - I am ready to face my greatest fear, I am ready to feel the deepest pain. I am ready." And in this opening the perfection of everything is crystal clear.
But when what has been asked for begins to come down the pike, there is usually the experience of contraction, confusion or pain. And the ego does what a spoiled child would do. It says, "I take it back now. No deal. This is not what I bargained for."
Because the initial opening was so large, the tendency for a rebound reaction is enormous. That means the tendency to shut down and to re-identify with the separate one becomes enormous. In this the ego's response is suffering. This is what is called "The Dark Night of the Soul" - when the hands go up in the air and there is the thought, "I can't take it anymore."
But over time this process begins to wear something down. It begins to erode the idea of who you are. It erodes the relationship with you and the world. And as it begins to wear this down, what happens is your relationship shifts from the world to that which is untouched by the world, to that which is eternal peace and love and freedom.
But this is a journey for very few because it requires everything. Yet it offers everything. Eventually you realize that this world cannot touch you anymore. It can't kick you around anymore because now you sit in the seat of truth. You sit in the heart of love. You've faced all there is to face. And now all you experience is love, not love in the absence of pain, not love in the absence of fear, not love in the absence of anything, but love through absolutely everything.
Excerpt from Devaji's early teachings in his book The Wisdom Of Love.
At a certain point the ego becomes willing to offer itself to love, as opposed to demanding what it wants. This offering of itself comes at a time of great expanse, of very deep seeing.
The offering says, "I will give anything. I will give myself. My love for you is so profound that I don't care what is asked. I don't care if it means pain, I don't care if it means agony. I don't care what it means. I don't care how it looks. I don't care if I get anything back. All I want is to be there for you, for this love." And in this offering there is unspeakable beauty.
And it is this offering that opens the door for the play of what is called "The Dark Night of the Soul". For there has been a call that has been put out to the cosmos that says, "Now I am ready." And what is it that you become ready for? You are ready to meet everything that the ego does not want to meet, meaning everything that creates and maintains the ego. So this ego cries out from love, "I am ready to do anything - I am ready to face my greatest fear, I am ready to feel the deepest pain. I am ready." And in this opening the perfection of everything is crystal clear.
But when what has been asked for begins to come down the pike, there is usually the experience of contraction, confusion or pain. And the ego does what a spoiled child would do. It says, "I take it back now. No deal. This is not what I bargained for."
Because the initial opening was so large, the tendency for a rebound reaction is enormous. That means the tendency to shut down and to re-identify with the separate one becomes enormous. In this the ego's response is suffering. This is what is called "The Dark Night of the Soul" - when the hands go up in the air and there is the thought, "I can't take it anymore."
But over time this process begins to wear something down. It begins to erode the idea of who you are. It erodes the relationship with you and the world. And as it begins to wear this down, what happens is your relationship shifts from the world to that which is untouched by the world, to that which is eternal peace and love and freedom.
But this is a journey for very few because it requires everything. Yet it offers everything. Eventually you realize that this world cannot touch you anymore. It can't kick you around anymore because now you sit in the seat of truth. You sit in the heart of love. You've faced all there is to face. And now all you experience is love, not love in the absence of pain, not love in the absence of fear, not love in the absence of anything, but love through absolutely everything.
Excerpt from Devaji's early teachings in his book The Wisdom Of Love.