Radical Vulnerability

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.”

― Khalil Gibran

Over the course of our evolution as human beings, it has generally been beneficial to avoid pain at all costs. The signal center within your body communicates with you when damage has occurred and we take note of what damaged us so that we can avoid it in the future.

Sounds pretty easy right? Enjoy as many good things as you can before you kick the proverbial bucket and avoid all the uncomfortable things for as long as possible.

Now as we all know, life contains PLENTY of unavoidable, uncomfortable things. At minimum, about fifty percent of this mysterious, cosmic happening we call life is essentially bleeding.

Following our primordial blueprint regarding pain would amount to running away from pain for half of your life. Half of it spent in aversion to a natural, inevitable, and necessary feeling.

Just because it doesn't feel good at that moment.

Returning to the quote, it's clear that Gibran is trying to get us to see that the bitter potion is actually something that is NECESSARY for our healing. Which means that bitter potion can't be avoided if we hope to heal.

Seriously. If you don't feel your way through it, you can't heal from it. Ever heard the phrase "The only way out is through." ? It's true.

Now like most things, actually committing to this process of feeling one's way through pain is easier said than done. It is much more easily conceptualized than actualized, but it is ABSOLUTELY worth it.

Why? I thought you'd never ask.

The last part of the Gibran quote states that we should trust the inner physician and drink the remedy in silence and tranquility.

The operative word here is Trust. Do you trust that your next breath will be converted into the proper gases to provide you with another one? Do you trust that your skin cells will repair a paper cut? How about your heart to continue beating? Do you trust that your next drive home on the freeway will be successful?

Almost unquestionably right?

Now I'm fully aware that not all things in life are this way. Some things in life require a process of cultivation in order to end up with Trust as the end result of the alchemy. Despite that, the process remains the same, you eventually stop struggling and you trust that you'll heal with some space and peace.

And eventually you do. But that's not all.

You also come to know the haven of inner silence and stillness. You come to know that your presence is the only thing you'll ever need to harmonize with your present experience. The rest happens automatically.

That's right. Automatically. Just like you don't actually know how you move your hands or how you're reading this, you just do. Your healing is no different. There's only one requirement.

Receptivity.

Or what I call Radical Vulnerability. What this means is that you hold the same space for your happiness as you do your sadness.

You hold the same space for your victories as you do your failings.

You hold the same space for your pain as you do your pleasure.

You treat each feeling like a divine invitation to deeper presence, because that is exactly what they are.

If you accept these invitations, you might find yourself seeing a subtle, but permanent beauty in the totality of your experiences...not just the "good" ones.

You might find yourself beginning to understand what is meant when one says Everything is Everything.

You might find yourself overflowing with true knowledge of Self and thus "Others".

You might even get a slight suspicion that this cosmic dance is working in your favor.

All because you decided to Trust the inner physician and drink the remedy.

All because you decided to live 100% of your life, not 50.

Doesn't that sound like fun?