Always and Already

I ran across this phrase “always and already” in a book by one of my favorite spiritual teachers/writers Adyashanti. The phrase filled me with reassurance. We are always and already enlightened. We are always and already existing in Oneness. We are always and already cherished by the Beloved. We are always and already empowered. We are always and already perfect. We are always and already eternal.

All of our searching for peace, truth, transcendence, whatever, is based on the premise that we are in some way lacking, that somewhere out there is a person or book or class or technique or something that will show us the way to reach our imagined destination. If we haven’t reached it, then we just haven’t found the right resource. Or, in our darkest thoughts, we fear we are so fundamentally flawed that we will never reach it.

Indeed, it might seem arrogant to even consider that we would “qualify” for such lofty attainment. As someone asked me once, “Who am I to be enlightened?” Pause and consider what underlies a question like this. How have we been conditioned by family, religion, community, politics, education, and culture to believe that we are unworthy of the birthright of perfection bestowed not selectively but universally on all creation?

As we look around us at so much suffering in the world, we seek solutions in the very systems that created the suffering in the first place. I do not mean to dismiss or disparage all the heroic efforts to ease the pain of others. But while we engage in that worthwhile endeavor, can we at the same time ease the pain within ourselves? Can we begin to look at our conditioning without judgment and with curiosity? Can we begin to explore what messages have been embedded in our individual and collective psyches and question whether those messages are necessarily true? Can we consider, even for a moment, what it would be like to bless and release those messages that do not serve us? And to allow into that space the assurance that we are always and already blessed by the natural goodness of the universe?

To the person who asked, “Who am I to be enlightened?” I responded, “Who are you not to be?” We are always and already showered with grace, imbued with wisdom, embraced by love. It has never been otherwise, and never will be.

This is the heart of spiritual awakening: to realize that what we have always yearned for is the very thing, in our deepest source, that we have always been. ~Adyashanti