To Praise or Not To Praise

In the comments section the other day, an interesting idea was brought up, something I’d never considered before until I said it: not actually praising things.

Before the mind tries to turn this into a hard and fast rule to transcend the mind or reach enlightenment by stopping praising things despite the fact that praising things actually feels really good, let’s get really clear about exactly what’s being said.

“Thou shalt not praise!”

Oh boy…

The context of this statement is that you’re seeing it from outside the context of good OR bad. It’s just the One. There’s immense love and appreciation for it, but no judgment, positive or negative.

Something is good or bad. Is it really? Do you know for sure? Do you know absolutely FOR SURE that that’s true?

Look at the Truth of what is, not towards the mental perception of what is and the judgments about the perception.

I just watched an Adyashanti video.. it’s like soothing music to my soul. In this video I stumbled upon, he actually brings up this topic as well and it was cool to get an additional perspective. Let’s let him bring us some additional clarity.

He points out that when you awaken, it’s not that you feel good about yourself. You just feel irrelevant. What’s relevent is what is. Beingness. I am’ness. Not “me’ness.” and it really doesn’t matter if “you” feel good or bad, for these are just states that exist within awareness.  You are what is, not what feels good or bad.

Thus you’re neither attached to nor resistant to the good or the bad of the world. The suffering or the bliss. There’s just unity with what is and the awareness of the essence of what is, which we can call Love.

Love supports and uplifts all of life, enourages others who need encouragement, yet doesn’t judge in any way.

It’s the presence of that which has no opposite for it is All That Is. It’s literally just what is, not what’s good or bad.

How I feel about myself is simply how I feel about my idea about myself, and your idea about yourself is what falls away.

There’s only one thing better than “I’m bad” or “I’m good” and that’s “I am.”

-Adyashanti

“I am” is the greatest thing ever.. and everything is.

When we focus on something being better or worse, we miss the most obvious thing that’s sitting right in front of us: It just is.

Nevertheless, there’s nothing wrong with good or bad. Let’s not vilify them or demonize them.

The mind likes to use anything as proof that there’s something wrong…

So, labeling things as good or bad…

As Adya points out at the very end of the last video, “duality is the mind taking refuge in a safe place, but this isn’t about a safe place. This is about the Truth.”