Suspending the fix

Why addressing our urge to interfere is our first stop

If we’re serious about zero-bypassing, the first order of business for most of us will be an interruption of sorts. If we look more closely, most of our attempts at ‘inner work’ are actually subtle acts of aggression. We notice (or sometimes don’t even notice, as the case may be) a tension in the solar plexus or a sudden narrowing of our field of vision, and the ego immediately goes to work. It categorises the sensation as ‘anxiety’ or ‘stress’, or in any case decides it is a problem to be solved. And begins its search for a tool to make it go away.

If we’ve been doing this work for a while, perhaps we do consciously notice these things happening. If not on the fly, then at least later, on our meditation cushion, or when reflecting back. Then we might try to breathe into it, reframe a certain thought, or otherwise ‘release’ the energy. (If you read my book Aspects of You, you recognize this as ‘neutralising the charge’.) But however we do it and whatever we call it, in our haste to fi…