Awakening beyond fear or no fear


I was reading a post the other day from another spiritual teacher and he said that the way to deal with fear was to ignore it.  Don't put your attention on it and you will overcome it.  While I agree that meditating on fear is a distraction from being here and living life fully - I have to add that in my experience it's not about ignoring fear when it arises.  For me, ignoring it and putting my attention on "the guru", for example, led to a great deal of bypassing what needed to be felt, understood and realized.

In my experience, fear is just a shield from feeling the absolute rawness and vulnerability of what it is to be human.  It's not something to overcome or conquer, it's something to be understood and seen for what it really is.  It is a great teacher that is here to lead you to the Truth, if you are willing.  To get in touch with this existential angst that is at the core of every human being is the only way to awaken into the heart of your own Being.  And while there are many different ways that can lead to Truth, there is no easy way to it, no quick fix out of the fear.  There is only the exquisite offering from your own Self in whatever way it is showing up in your life right now - to trust and let go into That which is living, breathing and being you.

If you let fear be without tensing or running away, it will naturally dissolve and you will begin to thaw out.  You will become aware of a rawness that is deep within you.  And it will become more and more obvious how much you have protected this vulnerable place your whole life because you thought it shouldn't be there.  All the strategies and attempts of trying to fix what has appeared to be broken will be seen as just that.  The brokenness, the longing, the rawness is your greatest guide to your own Self.  And even after you realize that you are That which is living you, this rawness does not subside.  It is there to be felt and stoked.

There is nothing to overcome or get rid of, there is only this gift from the Beloved that is an eternal invitation to merge more deeply with your own Self.

I am this very longing, and I am the Source of the longing that is always present and existing as Love itself.

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