Wide open

How wide are we willing to open our hearts?

"Openness is bodily openness, muscular relaxation, heart openness as opposed to hiding behind some emotional wall, and spiritual openness, which is actually feeling so fully into the moment that there's no separation between you and the entire moment." ~ David Deida

I love hearing other voices speaking truth in new ways. It's encouraging and exciting, as if you could stare at the same picture all day, every day, and it would never cease to be compelling, that there would always be something new to discover. When we truly open our hearts wide, this is what we discover, we find that that which is Absolute, though not a 'thing' at all, is infinitely compelling. Unendingly compelling. Ceaselessly new.

But our hearts are often closed and we find life boring and mediocre, with moments of potential bliss and satisfaction sprinkled throughout. We figure there's some 'thing' out there that we're captivated by and just need to find it, to make it our own, to give ourselves fully to it. Why? Because we're scared of the kind of reckless abandon to life that all great spiritual teachings point.

We want to find God in a particular moment or a particular place or circumstance or relationship. We want to open our hearts only when we need to, only when we can be absolutely sure that we're going to receive something what we desire. We want to be open to love on our terms, on our conditions. And that is one reason why God and love seem so elusive at times. Because the reality is that they are here, right now, in every moment, no matter what this particular moment holds.

It's not just about being 'open', as some kind of post-modern idealism, but learning how to open ourselves more fully to the divine, that we will birth Spirit into this world in all that we say and do. It's not an openness that says, "Do what you feel like," but an openness that surrenders our small little selves to something unimaginably greater.

Being open is scary business for the ego. It can hurt like hell! In fact, many times it might seem like Hell would be a more attractive option! And when we do experience genuine moments of openness we often close up again rather quickly because we begin to realize what this kind of position to life might mean something pretty serious. It might just mean never turning away from anything! That's terrifying when we've been conditioned to pursue comfort, pleasure, and security. We build walls to keep reality out of our hearts because reality seems too painful at times, more than we can possibly bear. And it IS more than our egos can bear but certainly not more than our deepest Self. Spirit can bear anything because Spirit is in everything.

One might say that our spiritual work is to make the choice to open our hearts, to bear whatever comes our way - within us and without - and to use our unique self in this world to consciously express love more fully, with greater and greater depth and clarity. Our spiritual work is not simply to find God in this world but to BE God in this world.

Not for the faint of heart.

So what could it possibly look like to live life with a heart so wide open?

I guess you'll have to see for yourself...