One of the key features of taoist philosophy
is an awareness of the duality inherent in
all things, as well as the unity that that
lies hidden in the background. From this
perspective, every coin has two sides, and
suffering is seen to arise when we identify
ourselves with one pole whilst rejecting the
other. Somehow, if we can find a way to
embrace both the good and the bad in any
given situation, a resolution will occur. A
sense of wholeness is restored.
I was reminded of this at the end of a
retreat last year, when we were reflecting on
the week’s events. One of the participants
said, “I’ve realized that what I thought
were my weaknesses are in fact my
strengths.” That sentence stopped me in
my tracks and has stayed with me to this day.
(Thanks, Fergus!).
During one of the workshops I gave recently
in Cairo, someone shared how developing
cancer had been the turning point in her
life, something for which she was now
eternally grateful. A second person spoke up
and shared a similar experience, with a
similar conclusion. It was, they agreed, the
best thing that could have happened to them.
A few days ago I opened my email box and
found a newsletter from Byron Katie, which
contained a report on her workshop which took
place last year in Tel Aviv. A Jewish man who
had been attacked and stabbed in his youth by
a group of Arab youngsters realized, with
Katie’s help, that the near-death experience
he went through as a result of the assault
was in fact the defining moment of his life.
He would, he said, go through the whole
ordeal again if he had to, in order to have
that single experience.
As you read this, you might be tempted to
conclude that hindsight is a wonderful thing,
which of course it is. But consider for a
moment how it would be if the wisdom of
hindsight were available to you in the
present time, rather than in the future.
Supposing you could access that wise
perspective now, and any time you needed to.
Think what a difference that would make.
If my client work has taught me one thing
over the past couple of years, it is that we
do have the capacity to shift perspective in
any given moment, irrespective of the
situation we find ourselves in. We tend to
think dualistically - health is good, disease
is bad - but we remain connected to a greater
whole, and when we open ourselves to that
larger field of awareness, something shifts.
We get it. On the outside, nothing has
changed. On the inside, everything is different.
The only clue I can offer as to where to go
to find this insight, is to listen to the
body rather than the mind. Somewhere, deep
inside, we know this stuff. We just forget it
sometimes, that's all.
