Accepting life as it is does not mean no action will follow. But our actions no longer emerge from resistance.

Adyshanti explains the problem with actions that arise from resistance

as soon as we say something shouldn’t be happening, we’ve locked ourselves into an extremely narrow mindset with very few options. When we really see that what is simply is – neither good, nor bad – then all options are open to us. We can then respond to life in a wise and loving way. It doesn’t mean we just say to ourselves, “What is, is,” and we do nothing. When we see and stay with what is, it actually opens up creative responses, new ways of seeing and engaging with “what is,” which aren’t based on separation or denial or trying to control, but instead are sourced in the human heart – in love, compassion, and wisdom. Adyashanti. Falling Into Grace: Insights On The End Of Suffering. Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, 2011, 44

When we reject, judge, or condemn, we are unable to see clearly. Life-giving changes do not come from judgement, rejection, resistance, rebellion, or condemnation. These qualities only create more violence.

When we start with acceptance of what is, there is a greater likelihood we will be less driven by our own egoic needs, wants, demands, and unconscious automatic reactions. So we will make choices in response to the realities of the situation as it is, rather than being driven and blinded by our own reactive, self-serving emotions.

Acceptance of the realities of life as they are does not cause us to become doormats to circumstance. But, starting from a stance of openness and acceptance, does mean that the actions we take will be generated from a different place within ourselves.

Acceptance enables us to join Jesus in the fundamental action of the Christian life. Faced with the horrific injustice of his own arrest, fake trial, and eventual execution, Jesus responded saying to God,

‘not what I want but what you want.’ (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus encouraged his followers to start with radical acceptance saying,

I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. (Matthew 5:39-41)

Adyashanti describes what he calls “enlightened action” saying,

Enlightened action doesn’t arise from absolutes. It comes from wholeness moving through you. You can’t say what wholeness is going to do. It might do one thing through one person, and another thing through another person. It might move through the Dalai Lama and cause him to say, “We will not fight the Chinese,” but it could move through another enlightened being who says, “We’re not going to let the Chinese in here, because they’re going to massacre people.” It could have gone either way with an enlightened being — at least, in my view. Of course, that’s more ambiguity than most people are comfortable with.

“Who Hears This Sound? Adyashanti On Waking Up From The Dream Of ‘Me’” The Sun Interview with Luc Saunders and Sy Safransky  December 2007 | issue 384 http://thesunmagazine.org/issues/384/who_hears_this_sound?print=all

When we start from acceptance, we lay down our own agendas and open to the deeper reality of God’s presence in the situation in which we find ourselves no matter how difficult that situation may be. We stop demanding that life change to meet our needs or measure up to our expectations.

Acceptance enables us to see more clearly. We stop separating ourselves from what is going on. We recognize that we are connected to all of life. As Richard Rohr says, “Everything belongs.”

We no longer divide people into good guys and bad guys, or circumstances into those we like and those we find distasteful. We begin to see life as whole.

The person we perceive as difficult is not our enemy but our brother or sister. The circumstance we resist is simply what is happening at the moment.

Jesus instructed his followers saying,

‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  (Luke 6:37)

When we view ourselves, others, and the world without judgement or condemnation, compassion emerges and we become free to respond with genuine love and creative care. Acceptance opens us to deeper truth and greater wisdom.

This shift in perspective allows us to view our circumstances from within, rather than merely staying trapped on the surface reacting to external circumstances where life appears so changeable and fragmented.

Acceptance of what is enables life-giving change because it opens us to the presence and power of compassion at the centre of our being. This is the only stance from which truly liberating behaviour can flow.

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cute call to acceptance posted on my daughter’s FB timeline: http://picklebums.com/2014/04/24/surrender-day/