The Inward Journey

Rumi stated

“The wound is where the light enters you”

In this article, I would like to discuss how this statement can be used to help us take the inward journey. The term going inward has become somewhat of a cliched saying in spiritual circles. At the risk of sounding cynical the term is bandied about by armies of seekers. Yes, we know that what is sought is inside us and that we have to look inwards and yet even with this knowledge, so many continue to seek outwardly while masquerading to themselves and others that they are on an inward journey. So, they are supposedly on a journey when in fact not a single step has been taken. And as ideas and teachers of self-realisation become more mainstream, why are so few waking up.

Honesty

The first point I’d like to put forward is that of honesty. If you really want to go inwards first get honest with yourself. Exactly why are you undertaking your spiritual practice. Is it because you enjoy seeking or the sense of purpose it gives you or the community it provides? Why exactly are you trying to wake up. I remember myself wanting to be enlightened as I felt that was the cure all to my problems. It was when I got honest with myself that I wanted to know what the teachers I had met knew that as I have stated so much of my seeking dissipated. After all, if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t there to do seva or fake humility. I wanted to know what the teacher knew, and that thought was freeing.

Your task is not to seek for love,

“but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it”

Trajectory

Which brings me to my second point. Are you a true and sincere seeker or are you spiritually bypassing? Spiritual bypassing is defined as

"Tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks" (wikipedia)

I believed, like many, that enlightenment would lead to unending bliss and a resolution of my problems. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The truth of the matter was that I was avoiding grieving over the loss of my father and the break up of a relationship as well as depression. Had I indeed just faced my unresolved issues I wonder if I would have even pursued enlightenment.

I remember an incident with my first teacher who told me to get a job. I didn’t fully understand then the wisdom of such a simple statement and instead by sitting with other students in the school, I convinced myself my teacher meant I had to work for the school and further its aims and teachings. When the teacher returned a year later and asked if was working. I replied no. It was only recently that I realised that had I taken that simple instruction that my life would have taken a different trajectory.

The Wound Is Where The Light Enters

This leads to my final point and an explanation of the above words of Rumi. The quote states the wound is where the light enters. Sometimes the wound can be a relationship breakdown, financial worries, weight issues or any manner of issues which plague us during our lives. Our conditioning has made us turn away from the pain that comes from these issues but isn’t this indeed the wound that offers us an opportunity to go inwards. The light enters and illuminates for us a path to who we truly are. In this light what we are not is seen through and the pain if we would accept it is transformative. Burning away the false idols of our conditioned beliefs. We are then able to able resolve our issues as we face them bravely and see they are not real. That the stories we have told ourselves are not real. That we are the answer to what is sought. To quote Rumi again:

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it”

This is what it means to go inwards. To shed the stories, traumas and ideas we have covered ourselves up with. The masks we so skilfully change as we travel through life. In going inwards and meeting honestly, bravely and authentically these barriers we may conclude our search with the knowing that we are what we have always sought and the blessing is that even as we travelled inwards regardless of what happened we carried the answer with us because the answer is us.