Weekly Inner Work from Inner Frontier: Through Thick and Thin

Inner Frontier
Fourth Way Spiritual Practice

Inner Work

For the week of March 8, 2010

Through Thick and Thin

If we only practice our inner work when all is well in our personal world, or when it’s convenient, we miss far too many opportunities. Life brings unexpected and unwanted difficulties, as well as expected and wanted engagements. External demands on our attention may leave us little inner bandwidth to spare. Or perhaps we have had a disappointment and are slightly depressed. Maybe we are ill, didn’t sleep well, ate too much or too little, had an argument, received an insult, rushing because we are late, overloaded with busyness, tasks, information, and errands — in short, living in this twenty-first century world. ¬¬In any given moment, we can and too often do take one of these many apparent impediments as a reason not to practice, as a reason to forgo the work of presence, or not to meditate. Moreover, there are always difficulties and distractions in the way of inner work. Even in our quiet moments, our thoughts and emotions can draw us into identification and away from the opportunity of presence.

So the great imperative, the secret to making our way along the spiritual path, the basic enabling factor of the inward service of presence and prayer, is to keep at our practice come what may, to be wary of and not to accept the myriad excuses our mind offers up. Naturally, our presence practice may be stronger in some moments and weaker in others. But in the midst of difficulties or distractions, even weak practice is far better than no presence at all. Weak practice in difficult moments can be even more valuable than strong practice in quiet moments. Persisting with inner work in less-than-optimal conditions strengthens our will, sharpens our intention, awakens our determination, and reinforces our commitment.

Indeed the impediments to practice challenge us to rise to meet them. By repeatedly facing up to the challenge of practicing presence in seemingly inopportune moments, we raise the level of our inner work. Venturing to awaken in the midst of the sometimes roiling waters of our life spurs us to try harder, to practice more intelligently and more heartfully, to create presence where it is most needed.

Now none of this implies that all practice is solely a matter of effort and directed attention. We can very simply open to being present in demanding situations. Even without spare attention, we can to some degree open to our own presence. It need not be an either-or choice between inner work and external engagement. That is the secret of spiritual practice in ordinary life. We can simultaneously be both present inwardly and engaged outwardly, in parallel and mutually supportive processes. We enter our life wholeheartedly, embracing and thereby transforming the would-be obstacles. That way we maintain a conscious, though perhaps tenuous, connection to a deeper world.

And the more we practice the more presence comes back to remind us in our absence. So for today, and for every day this coming week, practice presence through thick and thin. Whenever during your day, you remember about the inner work of presence, come back into yourself right in that moment, sense your body, feel your emotions, know your mind, and be here. Nothing else, inner or outer, need stop you from that, because presence need not interfere with whatever else you need or want to do.