Radical Welcoming

One of the hallmark components of my work with others is a practice of Radical Welcoming. “Radical” is my tongue in cheek way of pointing to the tendency in these times, due to social conditioning, an over-dependence on mental activity, egoic self-preservation and whatever else, to not simply welcome What Is. To welcome What Is, as It Is, can feel very radical. Here are a few musings around this Radical Welcoming …

What would this moment be
without a running narrative about this moment?  

Notice that any narrative about “this moment” is actually just thoughts which point to more thoughts (memory). Notice that memory-thoughts are an attempt to grasp What Is, but at best, the mind must always be a step behind This present moment experiencing. (To even name this present moment experience as “now” is an attempt to capture and conceptualize the ineffable! Can you sense into that?) Awareness is the only Knower of This, as It Is. You - The You that is You, can experience This Moment just fine without the need for thoughts that describe it. Take a look in your own direct experience - your own knowing of This Moment. Along with the narrative, can you sense a belief that to narrate what is happening, is to control it or steer it in some way? This reinforces a sense of a separate self. What a beautiful relief it is to notice that this narrative is impotent in the face of Reality and can never truly touch it.

Can this moment simply be as it is,
free and unbound by thoughts of the future?

Again, an idea of having control over the future by thinking about it gives rise to and reinforces a sense of a separate personal self. Notice that this happens in the constantly shifting realm of thought. Where do these thoughts come from? Is there actually a thinker, or is there just thinking happening? Is there a future that exists “out there somewhere” as its own reality which is being effected by this thinking? To let go of the idea of directing the future and be fully present with This, as It Is, takes a deep trust, but brings a richness and depth to experience that is beyond measure in comparison.

How might this moment be experienced
if it weren’t denied in any way?

This one is inherently more nebulous and shadowy. Another human tendency is to “turn away” from This present moment experience when it doesn’t fit our image of how things should be, or how we should be, or when it doesn’t feel safe. On one level, I actually think of denial as a human super power. Indeed, as a failsafe for our fragile psyches, denial is important in the face of traumatic events. When the nervous system hits its maximum capacity, this super power kicks in and experience is filed away to be processed another day. This use of denial is natural and is not a problem. This is especially true if we later consciously bring awareness to these past events held in our systems, so we might bring them to resolution. However, it’s when our experience doesn’t fit our self-image or how we think the world should be, and so ignore what’s here, that we abuse our super power and miss out on the sweetness of What Is.

How would it be to see
the objects that are appearing in your experience
without the burden of labels, or stories or judgments of the past?

Experiencing, for example, the visual field, as story and label-free, has the power to deliver a deeper level of intimacy with reality. Our conditioning would even have us believe that “the label is the thing.” While, yes, the concept of a label delivers its own experience, we should resolve this tendency to mistake the label for our actual experience as soon as it’s recognized. When we drop the labels, our experience becomes more naked and real … more vivid. Further, without stories of past associations and judgments super imposed over our visual experience, it is free to be as it is, silent and present, and more easily fully welcomed. We get to experience reality in its simplicity, which can be such a relief to the nervous system.

These are just a few of the ways that Radical Welcoming brings an experience of Present-Moment-Experiencing (PME) and so, well-being, into our lives. Twice a month in the Alchemy Circle, my no-cost Now Space group experience, I like to begin by guiding those of us who have gathered into this state of PME. It’s from this more natural state that we welcome What Is in each moment with a growing curiosity around what will happen next!