Acceptance is a surrendered state of allowance. Allow all to be as it is. Do not stand for or against what is presenting itself in the moment. Each moment brings the needed balance to the huge karmic wheel. Receive what is being offered. This precept acts like a karmic cleanser.
Life unfolds. As it is unfolding, you, generally speaking, either like it, or do not like it. When you practice “accept everything”, you learn to view all things as positive, all things as potential deepening into the possibility of spiritual liberation. There are no exceptions to this rule. Liberation is a state of mind, heart and soul. Acceptance is not the control or manipulation of outer circumstances. It allows all circumstances to unfold as they are. It is not partial. Acceptance is impartial, unbiased, equitable and non-discriminating to all aspects of what is present. It embraces the whole. To embody this awareness is to align your consciousness with the consciousness of God. God consciousness is absolute, whole, unified and undifferentiated.
If good luck comes, accept it. If bad luck comes, accept it. Our vision is too small to view the workings of the Great Circle of Life, which holds within it, the karmic accountancy of all that has happened and only time will tell the whole story. It is futile to judge inconveniences and “misfortunes” or on the other side, to invest great energy into things that are apparently fortunate, but may not be in the end.
A proverb goes something like this:
A farmer used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck? Maybe yes, maybe no”. A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, “Good luck? Maybe yes, maybe no”.
Then, when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck? Maybe yes, maybe no.”
Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and recruited every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg, they left him alone….
You get the point. The wiser thing then, is to practice acceptance, taking all things in stride, whether they originally appear good or bad. You can strike a comfortable balance when you accept what you are given and gracefully make the best of the circumstances.
Everything that seems on the surface to be difficult or challenging may be a blessing in disguise. And everything that seems to be easy may represent an unforeseen challenge on some other level. Most people think that a lot of money would solve all of their problems. However, I once new a woman who was extremely wealthy. Her greatest fear was that her husband would die and she would not be taken care of in the custom she was used to. Her great blessing of abundant wealth had become her biggest source of worry and fear. She lived in a constant fear, that she would lose all of her money and she was incapable of imagining a life without resplendent wealth. So, we are wise when we accept everything gracefully and make no assumptions about what is good fortune and what is misfortune. Be thankful that all things turn out for the greater good, by being willing to accept everything. By cultivating acceptance of all circumstances in life, faith takes root in the heart. As faith grows stronger, the transformation of non-acceptance into acceptance brings the ability to trust the nature and order of the great cycle of life.