A Secret Tone

Accept Your Imperfection

We are all unique – we are all unrepeatable, incomparable masterpieces of existence. If existence has so much respect for us, who are we to question ourselves? But of course we do it all the time. And that is how we make our lives miserable.

Acceptance, as I understand, is not resignation. It is enjoying, celebrating ourselves and others as the utterly unique, and imperfect, beings that we are.

The only difference between Buddha and you is, you don’t say okay to yourself and Buddha has said an absolute okay to himself – that is the only difference. You are continuously trying to improve yourself, and Buddha is not trying to improve himself. Incompletion is the way life is. You are trying to become perfect and Buddha has accepted his imperfections. That is the only difference. So Buddha doesn’t have any problems. When you accept your imperfection, from where can the problem come? When whatsoever happens you say ‘It is okay’, then from where can the problem come? When you accept limitations, then from where can the problem come? The problem arises out of your non-acceptance. You cannot accept the way you are, hence the problem. Buddha has accepted the way he is, and that very moment all problems disappeared. That very moment all worries disappeared. Not that he became perfect, but he started enjoying his imperfections.

Problems only exist in the mind

Situations are there, problems are your interpretations of situations…. Situations are existential, problems exist only in your psychology.

It takes courage to question and look at a problem from a different perspective, it is much easier to stay in an unconscious complaint about it. It also takes courage to accept the reality of a situation and its inherent solution – it is usually not what the ego wants to see and hear.

And, we are very attached to our problems – in a way they are part of our identity. Who would we be without our problems? But the rewards of dropping this unconscious identification are immediate. The deep inner relaxation that comes with acceptance and understanding brings space and new eyes to see everything afresh. To see that life is simple and easy when you go with the flow, when you stop fighting for things to be different from what they are.

You will have to relax from the circumference

Total relaxation is the ultimate. That’s the moment when one becomes a buddha. That is the moment of realization, enlightenment, christ-consciousness. You cannot be totally relaxed right now. At the innermost core a tension will persist.

But start relaxing. Start from the circumference – that’s where we are, and we can start only from where we are. Relax the circumference of your being – relax your body, relax your behavior, relax your acts. Walk in a relaxed way, eat in a relaxed way, talk, listen in a relaxed way. Slow down every process. Don’t be in a hurry and don’t be in haste. Move as if all eternity is available to you – in fact, it is available to you. We are here from the beginning and we are going to be here to the very end, if there is a beginning and there is an end. In fact, there is no beginning and no end. We have always been here and we will be here always. Forms go on changing, but not the substance; garments go on changing, but not the soul.