Power Of Accepting What Is? Elias Amidon Notes Open Path

accepting what is: “… Know everything in this moment and you will know the Eternal Tao …” ~ Lao Tzu

“… Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have … Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment … Surrender to what is …” ~ Eckhart Tolle

“… When all efforts to improve and get somewhere fall away, what remains is the traffic, the birds, the breathing, the listening presence, the empty space in which it is all happening, awareness itself: the simplicity and wonder of what is …” ~ Joan Tollifson

Indeed, the opening excerpt from Lao Tzu’s Verse 14 expresses not only the essence of both acceptance and what is .. but also of accepting what is! … which is a simple – yet profoundly powerful – way to navigate life with ease and equanimity … and both Eckhart and Joan underscore this powerful insight …

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj says: “The only thing you know for sure is: ‘here and now I am’ .”

Eckhart Tolle says: “Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. … This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

Byron Katie says: “The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, “what is” is what we want.”

All of these luminaries are expressing a principle that’s useful in daily life navigation … a principle that either prevents or dissolves suffering caused by seemingly challenging everyday encounters … it may seem difficult or counterintuitive to accept certain circumstances but as we explore deeply – vs reacting – we can discover what’s possible (and it may not necessarily be “happy” every time) and likely strengthen a way of meeting life that ultimately cultivates peace within …

In this post, Elias Amidon takes a mini dive into Accepting What Is … in one of his monthly reflections (February 2023) that’s sent to his Sufi community at the beginning of every month … where he suggests that…

“accepting what is” potentially implies “… a fresh and creative way of living, free from our likes and dislikes and judgments …” … a way that … “… opens us to a natural humility and innocence in the moment, in the continuity of nowness, from which we can respond spontaneously — compassionately, or passionately, or humorously — to whatever comes …”

Elias Amidon (a master in the Sufi tradition, who has also deeply explored Theravada Buddhism, Native American, Christianity, Zen, and contemporary Dzogchen as part of his life long pursuit of spirituality) is a Pir (Spiritual Director) of The Sufi Way (since 2004) and has been “an initiate of the Sufi Way since 1970 …”

So, here is Elias on …

The Power Of Accepting What Is …

There’s a story about Margaret Fuller, a brilliant 19th Century American feminist, who, after a period of seclusion and contemplation, emerged and said, “I accept the universe.” Her comment is remembered because the Scottish philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, responded cuttingly, “By Gad, she’d better!”

When I first heard that story as a young man, I smirked along with Carlyle at Margaret’s seeming arrogance, but now I wonder if Carlyle understood what Margaret meant. “I accept the universe” is simply another way of saying “I accept what is,” which implies a fresh and creative way of living, free from our likes and dislikes and judgments.

In recounting this story in The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James remarked:

“At bottom the whole concern of both morality and religion is with the manner of our acceptance of the universe. Do we accept it only in part and grudgingly, or heartily and altogether? …If we accept the whole, shall we do so as if stunned into submission,—as Carlyle would have us—”Gad! we’d better!”—or shall we do so with enthusiastic assent?”

To accept the universe “heartily and altogether,” with “enthusiastic assent” — can we honestly do that in these grim times with their consistent news of injustice and inequality, the possible collapse of civilization and the biosphere, and the prevalent view of the universe as a vacant infinity devoid of anything sacred?

I’m reminded of the ancient koan that Zen teacher John Tarrant relates:

A student asked, “When times of great difficulty visit us, how shall we meet them?”
The teacher said, “Welcome.”

Accepting or welcoming what is doesn’t mean we’re blind to great difficulties when they visit us. It simply means we don’t restrict our view and presence in the moment by maintaining “fixed reference points” — points of view, opinions, likes and dislikes, or attitudes that narrow us into reactivity. As the saying goes, “No one ever won the battle against what is.”

If someone abruptly cuts in front of us while driving, can we “welcome” or “accept” that? If we can’t, we know what happens — we constrict into our reference point, we shout and curse the other driver, and our suffering is acute. “Suffering is resistance,” Rupert Spira reminds us. To the extent we resist what is, the car cutting in front of us, an irritated comment from our partner, a rainy day when we wanted to go on a picnic, news of a violent war or a devastating government policy, our constriction and resistance makes for more suffering.

Welcoming what is, accepting what is, without withdrawing into a fixed reference point, frees us from self-protection and defensiveness. When our hearts are undefended we no longer have to react out of fear, dislike, or disappointment. “What is” is accepted as it is, even our feelings of fear, dislike, or disappointment, but we don’t need to take a stand with them or act from them.

When a group of ISIS bandits pounded on the door of the desert monastery of Mar Musa in Syria, intent on pillaging the place, the Abbess, Sister Houda, opened the door and welcomed them in. She prepared a meal for them and asked what they needed. Those tough men, so used to resistance, were embarrassed and tenderized by her welcome. When they left they promised not to steal anything or attack the monastery in the future.

Of course, meeting times of great difficulty with welcome doesn’t always end up so happily, but that’s not the point. Accepting what is doesn’t guarantee happy endings. Commenting on the koan above, John Tarrant writes:

“…the first task of the inner life is not to amplify the delusions, not to add hatred to hatred but to head in a different direction, to be openhearted without being gullible. The little story about welcoming the times we are in offers a path when we don’t know what to do. It’s not about drawing conclusions as a way to freedom. Instead, this koan is an environment.”

An environment, not retreating into a reference point, an openness to what is — these are ways of describing being present without strategy so that our experience, as Khyentse Rinpoche tells us, “our experience becomes the continuity of nowness.”

Rinpoche’s observation points to the heart of accepting and welcoming what is. Our acceptance is not something static, not a conclusion about what is. Indeed, what the universe is, and what any situation is, will always escape our knowing. Accepting this not-knowing opens us to a natural humility and innocence in the moment, in the continuity of nowness, from which we can respond spontaneously — compassionately, or passionately, or humorously — to whatever comes.

~ Elias Amidon

Elias’ writes a monthly Notes from the Open Path which are short contemplations on an approach to living wholeheartedly and in clear awareness (aspects of his Open Path teachings) … visit his website for more of his work: The Open Path – The Sufi Way.

The entire text of Accepting What Is above is authored by Elias and is excerpted from his February 2023 monthly email Notes from the Open Path (also available on his website). He has graciously given us permission to freely share these notes with our readers.