Here’s a spiritual practice pro-tip that came up in a conversation with someone recently….
If you are faced with two mutually exclusive, bad choices, that’s a sign that you’re perceiving from within conditioned mind.
Life as it is is not dualistic. Dualism is an invention of the human mind. We see things dualistically, from an either/or perspective, because we impose that framework upon the world we live in. We do this because it has helped us to survive as animals on this planet. There is no real either / or, though. In reality, there is always an array of choices before us, and more possibility than we can ever perceive. We have to be present and clear, however, in order to see the possibilities and identify the choices. We have to be able to see apart from the survival system, in other words, in order to free ourselves from the limitations imposed by our dualistic assumptions. That takes practice, but it most certainly can be done.
In reality there are never are just too bad choices. There is always some way that works, some path forward that leads to ‘the place that is the best and most compassionate for all.’ Now, that’s not the same as to say there is always a way in which ego gets what it wants. That’s not the case at all. If we are in alignment with Life, very frequently ego gets exactly the opposite of what it believes that it desires. That’s okay, though. We’re the happiest when we are not serving ego’ imaginary needs. It’s also frequently the case that our choices do not carry us to the perfection that we idealize. That’s okay, too. Life does not conform to the sort of perfection that we imagine from our limited point of view. The actual perfection is much bigger than that. It’s necessary to transcend our self-centeredness to see that perfection. It’s there, though, if we know where and how to look.
And so if you feel you are facing two mutually exclusive, bad choices, look again. Open your mind to possibility, and a way forward will show itself to you.
In peace and gratitude,
David