Synonym: exposed.
Everything comes through the same barrier. You can't filter out the bad and absorb the good*. So, you learn to handle the bad so that you can feel it all. You learn by being taught, coached, being left alone to try it out, fine tune it. You learn by talking about it, diving into it through novels and movies and art. And by softening.
Pema's The Wisdom of No Escape:
Renunciation does not have to be regarded as negative. I was taught that it has to do with letting go of holding back. What one is renouncing is closing down and shutting off from life. You could say that renunciation is the same thing as opening to the teachings of the present moment...
It's as if everyone who has ever been born has the same birthright, which is enormous potential of warm heart and clear mind. The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good. Every moment of time has enormous energy in it, and we could connect with that. Letting go at the end of the out-breath, letting the thoughts go, is like moving one of those boulders away so that the water can keep flowing, so that our energy and our life force can keep evolving and going forward. We don't, out of fear of the unknown, have to put up these blocks, these dams, that basically say no to life and to feeling life.
So renunciation is seeing clearly how we hold back, how we pull away, how we shut down, how we close off, and then learning how to open. It's about saying yes to whatever is put on your plate, whatever knocks on your door, whatever calls you up on your telephone. How we actually do that has to do with coming up against our edge, which is actually the moment when we learn what renunciation means.
*If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave, too. And when they leave they're so hard to find.
- Tom Waits
Everything comes through the same barrier. You can't filter out the bad and absorb the good*. So, you learn to handle the bad so that you can feel it all. You learn by being taught, coached, being left alone to try it out, fine tune it. You learn by talking about it, diving into it through novels and movies and art. And by softening.
Pema's The Wisdom of No Escape:
Renunciation does not have to be regarded as negative. I was taught that it has to do with letting go of holding back. What one is renouncing is closing down and shutting off from life. You could say that renunciation is the same thing as opening to the teachings of the present moment...
It's as if everyone who has ever been born has the same birthright, which is enormous potential of warm heart and clear mind. The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good. Every moment of time has enormous energy in it, and we could connect with that. Letting go at the end of the out-breath, letting the thoughts go, is like moving one of those boulders away so that the water can keep flowing, so that our energy and our life force can keep evolving and going forward. We don't, out of fear of the unknown, have to put up these blocks, these dams, that basically say no to life and to feeling life.
So renunciation is seeing clearly how we hold back, how we pull away, how we shut down, how we close off, and then learning how to open. It's about saying yes to whatever is put on your plate, whatever knocks on your door, whatever calls you up on your telephone. How we actually do that has to do with coming up against our edge, which is actually the moment when we learn what renunciation means.
*If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave, too. And when they leave they're so hard to find.
- Tom Waits
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