Believe it or not there is nothing that you experience that is without your consent. All of the circumstances, the events, the joys and the pains that you experience are being chosen by you on some level of your consciousness whether you are aware of it or not.
The world "out there" is not as separate from you as you might imagine. In fact, you are influencing and shaping its evolution from moment to moment in more ways than you can imagine. And everything you perceive is right or wrong with the world out there is a reflection of some aspect of yourself that you are in fact relating to. And very often the things you tend to judge the most about people or events in your world around you are aspects of your own self that you are most in denial about or afraid to acknowledge.
As a society we have built intitutions, laws and religion in an attempt to do exactly this - to compartmentalize humanity into different versions - a worthy version, an unworthy version, a conscientious version, a perverse version - so that we may witness that same division in our world that we experience everyday within our own beings, where we pit our good self versus the evil, where we reward the repenter in us and chastise the sinner, where we idolize our generous nature while shaming that part of us that is greedy and covetous.
Its all a game. And the game you play with yourself is the game you will see in the world you live in. The world is a direct reflection of your inner state.
The point is not to reach some state of peaceful, joyful liberation. Rather true liberation is the liberation from having to reach any particular kind of state at all. True liberation exists only in the present moment and exactly within the content of this moment.
The entire Universe exists as a result of opposing forces. Every being constitutes positive aspects and negative aspects. It is the acceptance and deeper understanding of the necessity for both of these sides to exist that will lead you to a greater appreciation of who you really are.
Pain and pleasure are two necessary aspects of each and every single life experience you have had, are having or will ever have. Every coin must, by the limitations of our physical reality, have another side. It is impossible to experience only positive experiences. When we pursue happiness, this is what we in effect are telling ourselves. That there is such a place where I can feel good all the time.
There isn't and nor is it set up that way. The point isn't to try and setup a life in which you are impervious to heartbreak, to grief, to disaster, chaos or sorrow. Rather the point is to see that the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the sorrow are twins that worl in tandem, each feeding off the other, each strengthening the other.
You cannot truly understand the meaning of success without having faced failure, of confidence without doubt, of the true appreciation of family without loss, of the meaning of love without heartbreak. These dualities serve each other in allowing you the benefit of experiencing Life in a multitude of flavors.
Even in our societies, without war and genocide we would never have evolved to a point as a civilization where we collectively value human life and cherish it as we do. Without disease, we may never have evolved our understanding and creativity of medicine and anatomy, without nuclear holocaust we might never have developed a true respect of the awesome power and havoc we hold at our fingertips and the frailty of human life.
Every tragic event while tragic in circumstance, in the bigger picture provides catalyst for great positive change. It may be that the catalyst needs to be provided a number of times over and over until the lesson is learned. But without challenge, without chaos and without limitation there would be no such thing as success, harmony and liberation. The negative, the evil, the tragic, the destructive gives context to the positive, the good, the heroic and the creative. You cannot have one without the other.
This is the world you live in and this is the world that lives in you. The moment you stop dividing your inner world is the moment you begin to live in a world undivided. That means bringing the light of wisdom and love to ALL aspects of yourselves: the worthy aspects including the good, the generous, the kind, the selfless but even more vitally all those forgotten aspects of yourself that lurk in the shadows : the dark, the envious, the cruel and the selfish - these are just as worthy of your love and compassion as the others. They are all your inner selves and they are all deserving.
