The spiritual teacher, pragmatist Byron Katie writes in Loving What Is, “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.”
I am still grappling with this spiritual principle of acceptance. For some reason I feel it is too passive a response to the world, and does not account for the call to battle injustice and struggle for what is right. On the other hand I can see the ill affects within me of clinging to false identity and ego that causes unnecessary suffering. The illusion that I should be in more control of my life sets up so much disappointment, angst, fear, and discontent. Control is an illusion, so in that sense I can see the profound spiritual insight of Katie’s that we just need to “Love what is”
This raises the question of how strategic one should really be about their life. Is a beautiful vocation born of planning and striving toward a goal or simply accepting and fully embracing what comes to us?
If Virtue is the mean between extremes, then perhaps the virtue or art of discernment is the balance between actively seeking the good, and just letting it come to us, and being transformed by loving what is. The planning out and thinking forward is balanced by the waiting for doors to open and circumstances to confirm before stepping through.