The principle of no change in consciousness without a behavior change, in my experience, points to the tendency for human beings to collude with conditioning when an insight drops in. “Oh, now I see…and I’ll be a different person from now on, just by seeing.” Too often, insights fade, old habits reassert themselves, and nothing “real” happens in the process of ending suffering. Thank goodness for recording and listening, but even then, recorded insights can get “lost” and remain as un”real”ized potentials. Behaviors must change.
A line from the Guide in an email class response seems to stand out in neon capital letters, providing a clue: “Changing behavior is easier than conditioned mind would have us believe.” Bingo! A moment of grace! As I look at this, I see that the behaviors that erode insights and lead toward suffering and “feeling bad” are accompanied by conversations in my head about “how hard it is to change______” and “maybe someday I’ll be able to_____” and “I guess I’m just not that evolved yet” and “I can’t stop______.”
I now see how believing conditioning’s lies about changing behaviors keeps a small, self-serving identity in place. Of course change would never happen as long as conditioning had a say in the process; of course the status quo would be maintained. “I” is totally invested in keeping consciousness limited and in promoting the behaviors that erode/prevent insight. Life is constant change, and when aligned with Life, change happens. There’s no need for an “I” to change anything!
And so, what behavior(s) would need to change in order to anchor this insight? I watched for habitual patterns, and an opportunity that “I” had dismissed initially as “not for me” came back into awareness. It was way outside of ego’s comfort zone, would demand going against karmic patterns that supported key identities, and provided the perfect place to say “yes” where I had always said no. Now I’m saying yes, watching for identification when “no” arises, and experiencing Life beyond karma.
Gassho,
Ramita