Purification is a term bandied about in yoga.
Purify what? Sometimes taken to be physical purification, in yoga purification always includes the mind. Stop the flow of thinking, eliminate sensing and feeling in order to transcend this messy existence.
Might it be a more useful goal to “clarify” our consciousness and perceptions? If we can clarify our minds we can see what is actually presenting in all layers of consciousness and life.
Clarification, rather than purification, implies being able to perceive accurately. If we are speaking of yoga, we are speaking of seeing the full range of life, from its source through all of its manifest forms, and back again to the source.
What do we need to “purify” in order to see life as it actually is? Might we loose a lot if we tried to purify the manifest field of creation? Is there really something here that should not be here? Who determined that?
The ocean doesn’t say, “If only I could only get rid of all this messy seaweed, all these annoying fish, and disturbing waves then I could get down to being the ocean.”
Messiness just is. Creation is messy. Life as we know it is a messy proposition.
What if we embrace the messiness? What if that is the game? What if the messy expression of life lived in form is not to be solved, but rather to be known, witnessed, and then to be skillfully acted upon?
To see life as it actually is, is freedom. Not to be bound by preconceptions, wishing and hoping for it all to be different. Life is rich with radiance and muck. As human beings we are required to live in the whole thing.
What we can do is do the best we can. Act from love and integrity. Do our own good work. Be kind and take responsibility for our own perceptions and actions.
Life is messy. And that is where we live. It’s difficult for all of us and that is the challenge. What to do? What is the most skillful action in a complex situation?
Do your best. I will do mine.
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