Embrace suffering, and you transform your relationship with what causes you to suffer, as well as your relationship with suffering itself.
AdyashantiRead
Inherent in the impulse to be free, is insecurity. The impulse to be free comes from outside of the mind, and because of this, it makes the mind feel very insecure. Most spiritual seekers move away from this insecurity by seeking and striving for a distant spiritual goal. That's how they avoid feeling insecure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The desire for freedom often stems from insecurity, leading people to pursue distant spiritual goals to escape their feelings of unease.
This quote highlights the paradox of the human desire for freedom as it is deeply intertwined with feelings of insecurity. Adyashanti suggests that many spiritual seekers chase after distant goals in an attempt to evade their inner insecurities, indicating that the desire for liberation can actually stem from a place of discomfort rather than true fulfillment.
Themes
FreedomInsecuritySpiritualitySelf-DiscoveryGoal-Setting
In practice
Example use cases
During a meditation workshop, a speaker might use this quote to illustrate the internal conflict between seeking liberation and confronting insecurity.
More from Adyashanti
All quotes →If we do not live and manifest in our lives what we realize in our deepest moments of revelation, then we are living a split life.
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Awareness isn’t something we own; awareness isn’t something we possess. Awareness is actually what we are.
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The willingness to not bypass illusion is very important. We come to nirvana by way of samsara. We come to see the true nature of things by seeing through the illusory nature of things. We don't come to nirvana by avoiding samsara. We don't come to clarity by avoiding confusion.
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Our illusions-the beliefs we hold on to-are the very doorways to our freedom. We simply have to enter through them without grasping or pushing away. We must not believe them, but we must not run away from them either. We need to see each moment of apparent bondage as an invitation to freedom. Then it becomes an act of love, an act of compassion, to stop running away.
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Let go of all ideas and images in your mind, they come and go and aren’t even generated by you. So why pay so much attention to your imagination when reality is for the realizing right now?
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