Reflection and Change
This is a section from the book titled THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING by Sogyal Rinpoche, one of my spiritual teaches. The chapter is titled REFLECTION AND CHANGE.
How hard it can be to turn our attention within! How easily we allow our old habits and set patterns to dominate us! Even though they bring us suffering, we accept them with almost fatalistic resignation, for we are used to giving in to them. WE MAY IDEALIZE FREEDOM BUT WHEN IT COMES TO OUR HABITS, WE ARE COMPLETELY ENSLAVED.
Still, reflection can slowly bring us wisdom. We can come to see we are falling again and again into fixed repetitive patterns, and begin to long to get out of them. We may, of course, fall back into them again and again but slowly we can emerge from them and change.
The following poem speaks to us all.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE CHAPTERS
“I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost…. I am hopeless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk,
I pretend I don’t see it,
I fall in again’
I can’t believe I’m in the same place,
But it isn’t my fault,
It still takes a long time to get out.
I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk,
I see it is there,
I still fall in …it’s a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it.
I walk down another street.”
I feel this is so pertinent for us all to contemplate and reflect on our own lives and repetitive behaviours especially if we feel the urgency and need for change.
CHANGE IS POSSIBLE FOR US ALL. AS HUMAN BEINGS WE ARE ALL WORTHY TO BE FREE OF NEGATIVE AND HABITUAL PATTERNS.
