Cruising the Stratosphere

There seems to be only one way to actually listen: wholly and fully to whatever Is. This is very challenging when you find that you do not like what Is, yet that is the kit and caboodle of the challenge itself, and I daresay the main factor as to whether we are in relationship (an actual, working interplay between fellow beings) or not. The ability to truly listen is such an important factor that it permeates our lives to our benefit or detriment, as per our abilities All the Way Through. There is nothing in our lives that is not touched by this.

     The ability to listen or not means discovery or not and this is true of the outer as well as the inner. We tend to block what we do not like or shut if off or down rather than awareness just taking conscious note of the preference. Is it possible to listen to both the outer stimuli AND our inner responses of like or dislike without trying to pull it in (like) or shove it away (dislike)? In this way it is possible to listen deeper both to our friend/relative and to ourselves. Our fortified prejudices keep us from the Freedom and Beauty of Discovery. It's not that we 'try' not to have prejudices, that would be like fighting the force of gravity, but rather than them playing the role of a dam in the liquid world of our awareness, they are more like bolders in the bottom of the stream.  Awareness can see them yet they do not constipated the works, and thus it can flow on as it's nature.

      This requires an Inner work that has nothing to do with force or manipulation, but everything to do with love and a yearning to be free.

      "The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. ---Tao te Ching

Age comes naturally. You have to work for Wisdom.

It's funny and ironic to me that we, as human beings are always trying to accept only one side of this dualistic principle.
     The perpetual search for greater and higher pleasures only brings more pain when we Demand them. The same seems to be true for the Demand of avoiding pain itself...more pain.
     There is a fine road, a line, a way, if you will of navigating the pleasure/pain principle. It seems to require
an inner state of neutrality, and since nothing is constant and 'effort' is also another snare in which to get caught one finds that that it requires a light hearted vigilance that does not sleep. An acceptance and a love that breathes with your surroundings and circumstances, and the ability to allow yourself to fall asleep and wake up a thousand times a day without remorse, and love it for what it is, with a smile on your face is paramount to gleaning any understanding of self.
     I think it's not the 'end' result, as if there was one, that's important, but just the moment to moment, day to day Journey that is crucial. There is only now. The future will come of it's own. "Sufficient unto the day are the concerns thereof..." -Bible (paraphrased).
     "We hold reality in the palm of our hands...not too lose, and not too tight." --Some Zen Somebody

     Some piece to this perplexing aspect of the human experience may lie in the acceptance of reality As It Is, rather than the constant knee jerk reaction of having to change every little thing that we do not like in this or that moment. How much energy is spent on that? How much energy is spent on trying, at great lengths, to avoid pain? What would happen to a person's inner evolution if they came to a Full Stop on manipulating their external reality? What would action then look like? Do we actually Know true Action apart from reaction?

 
Age comes naturally. You have to work for Wisdom.