Reality. Shechina. Selfitude. Actualization. Presence within Eternity. Endurance. Active Will. Day-to-Day. Long Haul.
This is so rich, I hardly know where to begin. Here goes… As these two sefirot started swirling through my mind, the first thing that arose was Acceptance. How did I get there?Reality.
Malchut can be understood as the physical manifestation or Actualization of Divine thought. Reality. Acceptance is another thing our holy books teach us. The Buddhists say that desire brings suffering. The Torah tells us: Don’t Steal! Don’t covet! Love the other as you love yourself. The “Big Book”, the sacred text of the recovery community says: “…and acceptance is the answer to all of my problems today.”
When I first started learning about the spiritual principle of acceptance, I got scared. I had it confused with resignation, complacency. It ain’t. Acceptance gives me what I need to move forward in my life. Fighting Reality tends to be a losing proposition.
Let’s take our current Reality. Would I Ike it to change? Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Side note - I intended just one ! Oddly enough, just at that moment, my keyboard froze and that was the result. I think I’ll leave it like that.) However, I can’t be effective in the changing of our current Reality if I don’t accept certain things. I need to wash my hands constantly. I need to go through buckets of moisturizer so that my skin doesn’t just fall off. I need to respect distancing protocols, even though I want to go to all of my friends‘ homes and just embrace them for 6 hours straight. If I do these things, I have a good chance of staying well, and contributing to the possibility of the change we would all love to see.
In a state of acceptance, rolling with the Manifest Reality, I can Endure. Endurance doesn’t feel like a struggle because I am not fighting. It’s the fighting that really wears me out. In fact, Endurance no longer feels like Endurance. Which brings me back to my post from the other day. (If you missed it, see Day 25.)
Far from my initial fear of what acceptance would mean, it turns out that there is Victory in acceptance. There it is again - Divine paradox. That never gets old.
G8d, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can,
And the wisdom to know the differnce.