Remedying a Shaky Mind: Part 2 – Accepting All Outcomes

Last week we spoke about choosing faith as a remedy for the ordeal of a shaky mind. To deliberately choose to have faith in the goodness of people and the world, along with the Three Jewels, will warm the heart that has descended into fearful iciness. This choice of faith will remove the “super anxiety” that is created by a lack of strength following our identification with a weak state of mind. So faith is like having a strand of rope to hold onto as you hang off the edge of a cliff. Holding onto that last strand of rope, everything else falls away, and you realize you can actually pull yourself up.

Some people may think, “It’s silly to hold on to that kind of rope,” as if faith is something that is beneath them. They presume that faith is not sophisticated enough or intelligent enough for them to use in this situation. But actually, in this state of mind, when the shit hits the fan so to speak, you have to hang on to that last remaining possibility. You hang on to that rope of faith, and then just really surrender. So the result of choosing faith is actually surrender.

This notion of surrendering is very interesting too. Again, it’s a choice. So, you make this choice in your mind, and then say this prayer: “Whatever the outcome, whether good or bad, I place my trust in it. Through faith in the Three Jewels and through faith in the goodness existing in the world, I accept whatever the outcome.”

There’s really quite a lot of intelligence behind doing that. If you say you only want the outcome to be “good,” there is obviously no complete surrendering of yourself because you are using your own agenda. And “good” here of course has to be defined, which will necessarily be in terms of your own desires. So, real surrender would be to say, “I accept whatever the outcome is. I’ll accept all outcomes as good, even though they may not be favorable, even though my mind might not experience it as good. Nevertheless I will accept it.” So you’re saying you will accept whatever happens as “good.” You’ll adjust to it as good, you’ll try to see it as good. Then, the prayers that you make can really open your heart completely, and will allow your heart to become very strong at its core.

Of course we’ll go back and forth for awhile, first wanting our own agenda and then becoming more or less open to accepting all outcomes. But at least you can actually begin to see this tendency in yourself. When you choose wanting your own own agenda to be fulfilled, you will immediately be able to feel the weakness in that. But when you can keep your heart open, and genuinely say, “Whatever outcome happens will be okay. I’ll accept it and learn to experience it as good,” you will immediately experience the strength in doing that.

So you have to decide. Where do you want to end up: with the weakness of holding onto one’s own agenda no matter the cost, or enjoying the strength that comes from accepting all outcomes?

In that way, making such prayers inevitably brings about what you want to have happen, because what you ultimately want is what is best for you. The seeming magic in the blessing of the Three Jewels is that it always accomplishes what is best for you. So when things don’t seem to turn out as you want them to, look back in hindsight and you’ll see that what you wanted was not necessarily what was best for you. It’s an interesting experience to look back and actually feel glad that something didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to in the beginning.

So in both these ways, in terms of strength as well as long-term benefit, you end up with the best outcome.

Someone who has come to that “last straw” realization, who recognizes that faith is their last strand of rope with which to help themselves, has no arrogance left at all. So this choice becomes easier for them to make. At the same time, it is important to understand that having faith in the Three Jewels or in the goodness of the world, is actually having faith in yourself. You need to understand this. Although it may not be very clear to your logical mind right now, eventually you will begin to see that having faith in the Three Jewels, or in basic goodness, is all about having faith in your own mind, in what your own mind can do, and the power and goodness of your own mind. To me, this is really interesting.

In the beginning, all this may seem rather dualistic. It may seem as if you are focusing on an outward, external object in which you place your faith. But actually this is all occurring internally. It has to do with the subjective mind that conditions itself to relate to a greater existence in the universe which is well beyond your ordinary small mind.

And when you realize this, it is very humbling. It helps you understand that people who have faith are actually not stupid. It’s not that they are just theistic, and through their belief in God are always just focused on an outside force. Actually, they may be in a life and death situation and are showing strength by having that faith. That kind of strength is not somebody else’s strength. It is their own mind. And we can see how this strength can work against all odds to counteract what causes people to suffer. Therefore we can verify how their faith supports them, and brings them through some very difficult situations in their life, as well as even life and death transitions.

It’s then that you begin to realize, “Wow, I have some very stuck-up attitudes about people being too theistic or being unsophisticated, unintelligent, or uneducated in philosophical matters, with their simplistic practice based on devotion or faith.” You may regard yourself as someone who is a sharp thinker, someone philosophical, with pride in your intelligence, charming and well-read. By honestly comparing yourself to someone who simply has faith, you can begin to really admire the other person’s strength. You can appreciate that this person has an incredible quality that sustains them from within.

So surrendering in the way we’ve described is the second genuine remedy that gives us strength in difficult situations.

Read Part 3 – Acknowledging Our True Strengths
Taken from Personal Link 221

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