Longing Is The Core of Mystery  

Rumi says:

Longing is the core of mystery.

Longing itself brings the cure.

The only rule is, Suffer the pain.

 from The Book of Love - Coleman Barks, translator  

First of all, what is this longing that Rumi speaks of?

In the great plan of redemption (Tikkun), the Earth sphere is meant to gradually evolve into a garden of unity, harmony and light.  This is happening through an evolution of consciousness in the Earth’s inhabitants.  We are all entangled in the web of duality: life and death, good and evil.  Generally speaking, the evolution of consciousness is a result of devotion to our inner work that frees us from the web of duality.

The soul’s greatest longing is for God; just as the Psalmist says: “My soul thirsts for God.”  The journey of longing and seeking and following – this journey itself is what gives meaning to life.  We long for ease and healing of the fear, pain and strain of duality; we long for the Beloved, for union with the All.  This longing lives in every one of us, whether we allow ourselves to feel it or not.   

The question becomes: How do we hold this longing?

On the one hand, it is necessary to accept the world as it is, and deal with it on its own terms.  We need to see and fully accept that there is night and day, good and evil, that we must choose this way or that. . . while simultaneously recognizing a new vision gradually evolving through the mist.  When the limitations of life on Earth are being accepted and dealt with honestly, maturely, and constructively, then the inner evolutionary process proceeds organically.  Thus a new state of mind, the unitive state of mind, is automatically and inexorably, if ever so slowly, ushered into the world.

The unitive state of mind can hold duality, so that another third perspective evolves that cherishes both poles.  The movement of the journey – seeking God – is nested together with stillness – dwelling in the Mystery that is present in every moment and every place.  That Mystery is the Divine: a deeper level of truth beyond duality, where all is goodness.  This unity in duality emanates in Kabbalah’s Tree of Life as Tiferet – loving/merciful compassion.

This great goal (holding duality, finding unity) cannot be willed into existence by the ego alone.  However, the ego’s frustration – it’s inability to have only pleasure and no pain – can motivate us to seek God.  Our disappointments can spark a longing for a different, non-dual way of living.  In the longing exists a kernel of true knowing that peace exists, and can be found.  Slowly, and with many interruptions, an inner state evolves in which you want life, not because you fear death, but because you accept death. . . and ultimately you come to know that there is no death.

In this process, we learn to accept the pain of being human.  Buddhists call this the First Noble Truth.  If we defend against pain, we are defending against reality, resisting our humanness.  This creates a tightening or rigidity that prevents healing into oneness.  Healing requires a deep and more than physical relaxation of the entire human system, in order to connect with the ever present Divine healing currents that penetrate all that is.

Perennial wisdom teaches us to be in the world, but not of the world.  This means that we patiently seek to understand where struggle must continue and where it must cease.  The noble human struggle to find the truth is an inevitable preparation for unity, enlightenment.  Struggle can also be the tense and fearful striving that muddies the waters, concealing the peace that flows from the Most Holy.  May we all experience that incomparable peace of no longer fearing pain, and no longer pushing anxiously for pleasure.  May we truly become still and know God in all that is, in the best and worst, in what we want and what we don’t want.   

* * * * *

  Iris Markham is a Kabbalistic Healer, working with Kabbalah and the Tree of Life.  She is also a Pathwork Helper (spiritual counselor) with a philosophical and spiritual foundation drawn from almost forty years of studying Pathwork and other teachings.  She offers private sessions by phone and in person, and is teaching a class on Kabbalah at Crazy Wisdom in March.

www.KabbalahandHealing.com

“As a healer and a helper, I serve Oneness: Adonai Echad.  Therefore, I often work with holding and healing duality, whatever that may mean in the moment.”

This article is partly derived from Pathwork Lecture #253: Continue Your Struggle and Cease All Struggle (www.Pathwork.org).

This entry was posted on Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Kabbalah and Healing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.