This seeing can be internal. Who am I? What are my deepest desires? What are my unconscious habits? The questions abound. Some say our purpose in life is to uncover who we really are. It is in this finding of ourself that we can find freedom. And it is in this freedom that our suffering lessens.
On the surface, it seems to me, the purpose of life being to find yourself sounds awfully selfish. However, with more thought, I find that it means to live with more truth. In so doing, you can express yourself honestly without fear of not being genuine and also without fear of what the response will be. You know who you truly who you are so you can express your authentic self.
The more you know yourself perhaps less time needs to be spent in self-discovery. This may be why people report being happier as they age. You express yourself with less fear because you have learned to accept who you are. You are also more free to put energy in the second part of my title, love.
One meditation teacher writes, "Our full attention is our deepest expression of love."
Seeing can also be external. Do we see what is happening around us? The social and political times of late have been scary and sad but also exciting in their potential. We are seeing so much of what has been hidden. Yes, we are seeing racism, sexism, and bigotry and under that we are seeing fear. And how will we answer that?
Just like when we see parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable, it is in giving these issues attention and love that we can evolve. When you have something inside of you that you don't like, have you ever found hating it more to make things better? No, it is in loving attention that things change. This isn't something that happens quickly. Very few are enlightened to the point that there is no more work to be done. We may go to church or meditate on a cushion or take a walk in the woods but over and over again we witness and then we forgive and we love and we grow.
So, too, in our world we face these ugly truths. And, as it is with ourselves, we give notice and care to these longstanding problems. This leads to a path towards growth and change. It has been said by all the great leaders that love is the answer. These outside problems like racism and sexism are complex but if we see them, just as we see our own inner depths, we can work on them and we can little by little grow together.
We can find ourselves in each other.
And in giving ourselves love and each other the same we will find freedom. And in freedom we will find peace.
