We suffer when we refuse to align with the flow of life. Can we force the hand of destiny to serve us anything different than what we are entitled to? We try. We are driven by hope and optimism and we keep on pushing with an expectation, that just by our act of persistent trying, we may someday end up in the right place at the right time. We struggle to swim against the flow of our destiny.
In the end, destiny always wins. The flow of life has its own rhythm. It goes on with a billion pulsating waves, moving along its own mysterious course, omniscient and nonchalant. We are always invited to align with the flow, but we often do not respond to this invitation. We prefer to move in our own separate way.
We are merely a tiny ripple of ignorance, trying to plan, predict and struggle to control where we go in this majestic flow of all that is. We do not see, nor are aware of the glorious ocean of the whole and suffer in our narrow sliver of temporal rise and fall.
The flow takes care of every drop, ripple and wave as itself, because every drop, ripple and wave is itself, the flow.
If only the view is shifted, the perspective changed to see the whole, instead of a part. The part is not in isolation, it is not alone, it is not separate- it is one with the flow! There is absolute integration and harmony, because there is only the one whole flow. There is only one possibility for our being to be content, and that is to align with the flow.
Every drop that rises or falls within this flow is not separate, it is the whole flow, if only it could see this, understand and live this truth, it is already absolutely and completely whole. There is just one perfect flow of the whole. It is beautiful and blissful.
There is no chaos, no conflict, or confusion, there is no suffering. We are always trying to reach the ocean without realizing that we are floating in this ocean. We do not need to struggle. Whatever is needed for us to be one with the flow is already happening. So, why struggle against, trying to get somewhere? We are already where we need to be!
We are always exactly where we need to be right now. We may not always understand how or why, but we can trust the flow, and let life unfold.
When we look back, we may see the perfect course of our destiny more clearly. Every twist and turn in its path was needed to make it what it is now! If only we can understand this, at every moment we have an opportunity to act consciously, and live in complete trust and alignment with the flow!
It is like floating through life, while the flow takes us in its current, we do not swim against it. Then, every turn is met with a spontaneous effortless joy. We may work hard, but it is still effortless! Surrendering to this truth, we are free from all the needless misery, efforts and struggle.
We do not need to make any efforts, to align with the flow. We are already aligned perfectly, because there is no other possibility! We are always in the flow of the whole, and any other apparent perception or belief, is an illusion, arising from ignorance.
Living consciously, in alignment with the whole flow, means embracing the beauty, joy, happiness and harmony inherent in each moment of life. This understanding of reality and this attitude of trust is where the life is always taking us, no matter where we find ourselves in its swift current!
Comments
7 responses to “Align with the flow”
“When we look back, we may see the perfect course of our destiny more clearly. ” Martin Palmer interprets the line in the Tao Te Ching, “The Tao that can be said/told/explained is not the eternal Tao,” as: “A path that can be discerned as a path is not a reliable path,” leaving us with seeing the path only in hindsight. We trust ourselves to the next step with the confidence generated by all the previous steps, knowing that even if we take a wrong turn, we can apply what we leaned there to all future turns, just by going with the flow. Thanks.
Yes, and the confidence grows further when we accept the flow and trust that it has never taken us to a wrong place, that there are no wrong turns, that the so-called wrong turns were only a necessary part of our course, to end up in the right place. Thank you Jim!
Ramble, From your “name” to your comments, you show yourself to be well within the sphere of the old Taoists and Gnostics who have gone before us. Theirs was not the way of theology or believing, but of seeing/hearing/knowing/doing what needed to be done, the way it needed to be done, and “letting nature take its course,” trusting that all would be as it needed to be, and knowing that is all we need it to be, and all we can hope it will be, and “letting be what is.” And, I look forward to sharing the path with you for a while.
I have found helpful comments in the work of Joseph Campbell and Martin Palmer, in the writings of Lao Tzu, Chung Tzu, Wen Tzu, and Lei Tzu all translated by Thomas Clary, and The Gospel of Thomas translated by Jean Yves Leloup. Where have you found confirmation, affirmation?
Be talking to you, Jim
I love the teachings of Lao Tzu and Chung Tzu from my brief encounter with them, but haven’t studied in much depth.
I have come across many teachings from several traditions that have appeared to have the same essence in depth, under all their superficial differences. I am not bothered by their differences if I can appreciate the oneness of the truth shared through them. I have come to understand that there is one truth and all paths lead to the same peak, sooner or later. We just happen to prefer one route over the other due to our personal conditioning, preferences or chance, but we all are going to the same place!
Some day I may elaborate in a post all the major influences on my writing, as there are many. Strongest overlap is with the eastern traditions of Advait Vedanta of Hinduism and Buddhism. Thank you for your comment, I will look into the books you mentioned!
The “out of the blue” phenomenon appears to me to be the basis of all religion. Shamans and prophets “realize” something, and off we go. Where, exactly, is “out of the blue”? I hunch it to be “knowing what we know,” knowing what is “always there” awaiting recognition, awaiting external conditions to be such that we understand internal connections in different ways than before, when we could dismiss/discount/ignore the “always there” because of other external conditions that “get in the way” of seeing what is always there… And we are back to Aldous Huxley’s “doorways of perception,” and “Seeing without filters.”
Seeing without filters sounds about right, but we have many acquired filters and the right kind of seeing comes when we are aware of these ‘screens’ that colour and mediate all our perceptions. Freedom from our conditioned view of reality can only come, when we directly perceive ‘what is’, without personal bias or preference.
This “seeing” itself leads the way to most suitable, appropriate right action in every situation.
This is what I have understood so far, but aligning life moment to moment with this understanding by not loosing the thread of awareness- is the never ending journey we are always on!
Seeing/knowing/doing may be one thing. A thing without thought, without thinking. Spontaneity is a surprise straight from the heart for me, in a “Wow! Where did that come from? Kind of way.. Showing me more than I knew was there, and enabling me to “know what I know.” I am always showing myself things I didn’t know I knew…