Stop Dreaming, Accept ‘What is’, and Enter Your True Reality
Alen Mischael Vukelić, Contributor
Waking Times
Whatever path you choose, be it spiritual, scientific, non-spiritual, realistic, surrealistic, sooner or later, you ‘ll have to face it, that nothing turns out the way you want it to be. Can you do something about it – or should you just accept it?
Should you keep swimming against the tide or turn around and go with the flow? Should you step out of it – all together – and stand alone for yourself?
Acceptance can be really frustrating – and it’s the hardest thing to learn. Here is one typical instance how to practice acceptance:
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Against all odds
I know that all (good) spiritual teachings want us to accept ‘what is’. It is such a simple guideline and yet so powerful and in total contrast to what most people believe in. They are always in conflict with ‘what is’ – this is what they were taught: you’ve got to fight your way through the masses to accomplish whatever it is you’ve decided to do.
I’m no different – I want this world to change – which means that I am in conflict with ‘what is’. Does this make me a better person, because my causes are more honorable than a warlord’s? Perhaps, but still I’m breaking the rule – I’m against ‘what is’.
And I can tell you, this fight is very demanding. One day I sign a petition to save the dolphins from being slaughtered, the next day I find out that the European Council has ‘silently’ voted in favor of a GMO corn crop. As you can see – my job is essentially unattractive and mostly frustrating to its core.
The payment sucks, your family thinks you are an extremist, and many people just try to avoid talking to you on most subjects. But all in all – it’s worth the cost – I think – because I get these tiny little signs here and there that tell me I’m doing the right thing.
And yet …
Do you see all this craziness? Sometimes I’m not sure if we all belong to the same species – honestly! Let me be as naïve as possible: Are there really ‘people’ out there who believe that killing, torturing, destroying, slaughtering, and all these other terrible names are good for you, for anyone, even themselves?
Of course I know what you are going to say, but let’s leave it here at the basics of an understanding, because if we start complicating, we could end up intellectualizing a topic which, in fact, rather needed a sledgehammer than a ‘nice conversation’. Let’s just stay here for a moment and look at it – as ‘it is’.
Nuclear energy is clean and safe
I consider myself to be a lucky guy for many reasons; however, one reason is that two nuclear power plants (maybe more) blew up during my lifetime, and I’m still alive.
And I was even lucky enough not to be sitting in a Fukushima Jazz Club sipping my bartender’s latest ‘bomb’ mix, nor planting my organic vegetable garden on the outskirts of Chernobyl in the spring of 1986.
As you already know, these two disasters have clearly proven that nuclear power plants are not safe, especially not if ‘the unexpected’ happens – which always does. This fact does not discourage people to claim right to the opposite.
Not long ago, I sat with a family member who said that nuclear energy still was the safest and cleanest option available – the ‘Best Buy’ of all energy options – so to say.
See, here we go again: acceptance. All I can do is practice – acceptance of ‘what is’.
What my neighbor says
However, I got something valuable out of those conversations: I no longer believe that politicians or the ruling class – if you want to call them – are the only sources of all evil on this planet. They definitely are a brainless player in this game, but far from being the most crucial.
My 88-year-old neighbor recently said that his generation was ‘luckier’, since they had a post-war world to build – and there was plenty to do – but our generation is jobless, and another war wouldn’t be ‘that bad after all’. Believe me, just writing these words is not easy at all.
What a deep insight from my dear neighbor. I suppose he must know what he’s talking about – he’s seen it all – hasn’t he? I love the old man, but, nevertheless – can’t help but wonder about him.
This is again something that I have learned: ‘old’ doesn’t necessarily mean clever nor wise. Sometimes it means, ‘same old s*** again,’ and the ‘learning from the past’ mantra once again proved to be wrong.
Think about the future!
In the past, I was much more careful and cautious, I liked to think ahead – have a plan – and a direction where I’m heading to, which made me constantly live in fear of an unaccomplished future. My plans always had obstacles and problems to deal with, and it felt like nobody cared for my mission.
Every situation was just a means to fulfill my plan, and as a result I was in constant conflict with ‘what was’ at the time. In most cases, I didn’t even get there where I wanted to go, but also when I did, the destination turned out to be another frustration.
Chasing our tail
Yeah, it’s an unpleasant day when you find out that you are not the center of the world – although from a physics point of view, you might argue that every human being has the same distance to all other objects on this planet – but let’s leave that aside.
It’s like bouncing into this wall without noticing the door just a step from where you are. You are like the truck in Steven Spielberg’s movie, Duel, and ‘life’ is the guy in the car – you just don’t know what the hell you are chasing, but you’ve got to do it, nonetheless.
Here’s a small clip from the movie – just to give you a taste (watch the first 2 minutes – it suffices):
I think this is what we do, we chase our target ruthlessly to its very end. We give it all until – one day – we find out how crazy we are and that we have lost control – completely. All we need to do is slow down to a reasonable speed, to be able to see all objects around us and not just the single object in front of us.
The best seats in your life
However, this is what they taught us, you gotta go after it – otherwise you’re finished – left behind. All others will be faster than you, they’ll fulfill their dreams, and you won’t.
You’ll be all alone on this lonely road. And of course, we don’t want this, we go full speed – to get there – to make it – but what we don’t realize is that everybody is running in the same direction, and we don’t see that this movement gives us the opportunity to see what’s left behind.
In most cases, it is a gift that has been waiting there all along to be discovered – by you. And when you open it – you open it slowly – not because there might be a bomb – but because you don’t want to miss any detail of your new enterprise – since it was designed just for you.
In one moment, you recognize that your chase was senseless and worthless (although it brought you here), seeing that there was no one to beat. You’ve had a reserved place all the time; your tickets were under your seat, but you never bothered to take a look.
But of course why should anyone believe this?
That’s exactly the point – you don’t have to believe it. Just give it a test ride. As if you’re still unsure whether to buy the car or not. Just sit in it, smell the new fabric, and step on it for a few miles or kilometers – as you wish – try to see if it works for you when you stop running and chasing your dreams. What’s the risk?
You might lose everything you ever believed in, all your concepts and convictions. All this might drop dead within a short period of time. Sometimes it’s not easy when you are alone. But I call that a transition period, where all waste goes down the river before the clean water starts running.
However, once it’s clean, you are ready. From this point, it doesn’t matter where you go and what you do; everything has a new quality to it; you examine every situation with a much deeper interest than before, and you start noticing the things that seemed so insignificant – and now turn out to be the signs you’ve been looking for – all along.
We just don’t see it
Acceptance has basically two ways to go; one is when you continuously miss your bus without ever asking yourself: why am I missing this bus all the time? Why am I doing this?
I missed my buses, because I was going in the wrong direction without ever wanting to admit to myself that I wanted to go in a complete different direction than the bus was going to take me.
However, sometimes I must accept that I need to feed my family, and the exact same bus might make that happen as well. In either ways, I should accept ‘what is’ completely, because if I do so, things are much easier to deal with.
This does not mean I can’t have a different goal in life – on the contrary – this everyday acceptance of the current situation will make our goal materialize much faster and easier than through our old habit of being in constant opposition to ‘what is’.
Kissing a woman
Again, I would suggest a test ride, because why should you believe this stuff I’m telling you without any warranty or insurance – just based on this hand written manual? I wouldn’t.
I have to try everything myself, before believing anything – can’t help it. It is as if I ‘explained’ to you how it feels like kissing a woman (perhaps in your case a man?). Could I do that? So that you really knew how it is? I’d give you all the details, and you never had to try it yourself? Would you really know what I’m talking about?
Your life in theory
Some people are satisfied with theories; and I do understand that they might be interesting to talk about, but everyday life needs something real, something that I can use right away – something that works.
I don’t want to have just options and possibilities – I want this thing right now! Can I have it? Of course I can; but I must do one thing – I need to have the sincerity and determination to go for it. And not many people have that.
They have life insurance, but they have no idea what to do right now. Because ‘talk’ is so easy; there’s no obligation; you can repeat it a million times without ever experiencing anything.
Enter your own reality
It’s easy to be a critic, because you don’t risk anything but your reputation. However, to have a transformative change – I have to step outside the crowd and their beliefs. I need to look at things from my own perspective. Even at things for which I officially don’t qualify.
The idea that everything is complicated, ‘technological’, and ‘scientific‘, robs us of our ability to observe things for ourselves. And exactly this worldview blocks you from having any real experiences, because somehow you always feel that you don’t qualify.
The thing is, you don’t have to. The world is not an elite club which you have to satisfy; you are here to have your very own experience. The entry point to this experience is always available – you just have to press the button.
About the Author
Alen covers a wide range of topics, which include health and healthy living, permaculture, the perception of reality, and arts; as well as writing articles and commentaries on current events. He has sold his business to focus entirely on his website organictalks.com, which is a project he and his wife have put together with the help of many other inspiring contributors.
**This article was originally featured at Organic Talks.**
This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.
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