To be "invulnerable", one must be vulnerable.
Absolute invulnerability is impossible. But becoming closer to invulnerability means to become closer to vulnerability. Like all things, they move hand in hand. You cannot achieve one without the other.
Nurturing both sides is a difficult and complex process, especially to start with. Like all things, in the big picture, the two stages are most difficult, 1) to start, 2) to continue. First and foremost, one should not think of vulnerability as weakness. Many people understand this in theory, but in application to their day to day lives and day to day perception, genuinely believing this is a very different reality. Fake it till you make it, yes, I agree with this largely. However, at the forefront, we need suffering. Suffering that puts us to the point where we are left with no choice but to make a choice.
As humans in this society, we often deflect things without realising. To protect the ego, to protect the 'vulnerable', we try to fabricate what we imagine and aspire to be 'invulnerable'. This is part of the journey too, yet many don't go much further than this. Going back to suffering, when you are dropped to the lowest points (this is relative), over and over again, you are forced to be sincere. You cannot keep your guard up anymore. The mask you are wearing melts away. It's in moments like this, when vulnerability may just manifest. If you are full of energy and in good spirits or in your habitual, "comfortable" state, your mask/your guard may come back up quickly. But left in a state of absolute vulnerability with seemingly nothing left to give, that is when you can be real. When two people are in this state, we may begin to achieve sincere learning, sincere connections and understanding. These moments are rare. I believe these moments can be cultivated by a combination of two "opposites": broadly, meditation and sheer struggle. Interpret this how you will. Meditation, through collective endurance of deep breathing and silence. Sheer struggle through pushing your absolute limits, most often involving physical movement. Both are striving for a similar goal, for that endorphin rush, for that feeling of peace. Both require the eventual elimination of the ego. Going back to the first parts of this entry, I believe you need both. And this is a discussion of different angles and different planes, which is very abstract. There is duality in all things. The boring, the exciting. The angry, the numb. The poor, the rich. The black, the white. And between both sides, lies the middle path. A hardened, sensible and calm oscillation of peace and sincerity.
We all have our separate journeys. Every single thing that exists on this planet has its own very unique journey. I feel humbled by my experiences in life and meeting many people over my so far, short yet fleeting, naive life. As always these days, I don't believe I am a teacher or a mentor or a guide. As the more I know, the less I know, I stand by George Bernard Shaw's quote yet again, "I'm not a teacher: only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead - ahead of myself as well as you."
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