An Even Greater Light

An Even Greater Light

Even in the greatest darkness there is an even greater light. This truly helpful Wisdom came to me years ago. It was truly helpful because it gave me HOPE. Sometimes if we cling to the present moment because it’s so good we fear it might disappear, we miss out on what the “next” present moment has to share. So, we can lose hope because hope is present. While using The Pause Practice, I heard “PAUSE is a Present Hope.” I love that! Rather than hope being a vague wishful thinking, I saw that hope is a clear, certain, current state of being inspiring joy.

I haven’t usually seen myself as a person who practices hope, not real hope anyway. Yes, I might hope something bad didn’t happen, but I’d say that was more like trusting that if I worried enough a good thing might happen. Or I might hope for this or hope for that as if invoking magic which didn’t seem connected to reality and therefore was meaningless and unreliable.

Now, hope is distinctly different for me. Hope is not so much a thought or a feeling. Hope is what comes when I release my worries, fears, desires, anxieties and seeking perfection – this is the “Step Back” move of The Pause Practice, “I am willing to get out of my own way” and then say “Yes” to what is behind the veil of my own way or my self. By “self” I mean self-absorption or as we call it in PAUSE, “the me-character.” The self we humans fall into like an out of sight puddle on a sunny day….whoa, where did that come from!

How can one experience True Hope in these dark times? What I am experiencing is that the stance of “YES” creates hope. Yes, that’s it. When I am willing to get out of my own way, and trust my “Yes” to what is present behind the veil of darkness. Suddenly, I also now have a completely differently experience of what it is to practice trust. I thought I was trusting, but really what I was doing was relying upon my “self” for helpful answers that it does not have access to! I have been trusting that which is untrustworthy – this disconnected, dispirited self. That’s not even trust, that’s clinging. There is a difference. Now as I say “Yes”, I naturally relax into a place of trusting that which truly can be trusted – the greater light even in the appearance of the greatest darkness. Wow, I have dealt with “trust issues” my whole life. Now I see why. I wasn’t truly trusting. I was clinging. True trust is freedom.

Trust is not at all what I imagined trust to be! When I say “Yes” to Light even though I may feel darkness is consuming me or the world, I can begin to experience what it truly is to trust and the joy that comes with trusting “Yes.”

Here’s the bottom line:  “YES”IS A PRESENT HOPE. Hmm, I guess that means The Pause Practices are a YES! Even in the greatest darkness there is a Greater Light. Say “Yes.”