Going through instead of taking refuge

It can generally be said that what we need most in life is to heal ourselves. For personal self-development, or self-healing, is the way to restore ourselves to wholeness. But before we can do this, we must become aware of how we are not yet whole. Where are we not yet in truth and therefore feeling the pain of separation? In fact, all our conflicts and disharmonies in life will point us to exactly where untruth lives inside us. Our work then, in healing ourselves, is about going through and not running away. We must learn to face our difficulties so we can discover their origin inside us and correct ourselves.

An age-old mistaken belief

One of the most important things for us to correct is the misunderstanding that we have the option to either take refuge from our problems—to run away from them—or make our way through them. In fact, we remain locked in the cycles of dying and being reborn, of struggling with pain and conflict—spiritually and psychologically as well as physically—exactly because we think we can make this choice. Due to this age-old belief, we hang onto the illusion that we can avoid going through our troubles. We mistakenly believe that hiding and taking refuge will do us any good. When we avoid any problem and instead take refuge, we experience momentary relief. But this is an illusion of a very serious nature. Because crisis will inevitably come later. But by then we won’t connect the conflict with its source, making our struggles hurt even more.

How to access new resources

If we decide to face our troubles by saying, “I will go through this. I won’t hide from my problems,” something new happens. Resources from within our own soul become immediately available to us. When we’re hiding, these inner resources also remain in hiding. Then we feel weak and don’t believe in ourselves and our ability to access our own inner source of power. We don’t realize the potential for strength and inspiration that will come once we decide to go through and ask for help—instead of take refuge. We can ask in meditation for these resources to become available to us. This will awaken a sense of trust that our conscious ego is not alone. That our ego mind is not the only resource we have for dealing with an issue. It’s not important whether we make mistakes along the way. What matters is that we simply want to do the best we can. The struggle itself is what counts. It’s our searching for answers that reconciles our fragments and allows us to grow into wholeness. The blessing and strength that arises from our willingness to heal ourselves is beyond words.

Adapted from The Guide Speaks, Volume Two: Chaos & Crisis