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Acceptance

YishaiYishai Veteran
edited July 2011 in Philosophy
I was thinking about this: acceptance can bring happiness/peace in all situations. Acceptance is accepting things for what they are for life to be as it is. I wouldn't say "everything is as it should be" because that suggests there is a certain expectation of things to be a certain way. So, everything just is as it is.

Is there a delusion in that thinking, dangers, shortcomings?

Just thinking.

Comments

  • BonsaiDougBonsaiDoug Simply, on the path. Veteran
    Acceptance is accepting things for what they are for life to be as it is.
    Acceptance is one of the keys to the first of the Eight-fold Path: Right View. Seeing things un-distorted by prejudices. Not agreeing blindly, but rather viewing things by applying Buddhist principles. A very practical approach to daily life.

    Just MVHO - your mileage may vary. ;)
  • KarmaDondrupTashiKarmaDondrupTashi
    Yes. The tricky part is how to realize that acceptance as it is.
  • Still_WatersStill_Waters
    I think that perhaps it's a bit unrealistic to expect acceptance to bring happiness in all situations. If you've got that notion in the back of your head, it may actually work against acceptance, since acceptance includes being honest about what you're feeling and accepting it, not rejecting it. Just being with it.

    It's natural in painful situations to feel some measure of emotional pain. Acceptance doesn't involve a replacement of those painful feelings with happy feelings, it involves making peace with those painful feelings, so they don't overwhelm you. My experience of acceptance is that it puts you in a mental and emotional place from where you can function skillfully and maintain a certain inner poise, even when you've just learned that your spouse has been seriously injured in a car accident, or you've just been laid off that job you had for the last ten years, or whatever your personal tragedy happens to be.

    Incidentally, when this subject comes up, often the question arises "how can I accept world hunger, animal experimentation, etc. etc.?" Acceptance isn't the same thing as agreement or passive inaction. When you deal with things from a place of acceptance instead of a place of rejection, you free yourself to act with compassion and genuine concern for everyone involved, instead of with hatred or bitterness.

    Alan

  • YishaiYishai Veteran
    @Still_waters

    A thoughtful reply. Acceptance brings peace of mind which we can use to be skillful in our life :) Thanks.
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    when you come from acceptance then you can deal with all the problem of the world.
    when you come from fear, then you're only picking sides and probably going to perpetuate all the problems of the world.

    i am against starving children. (negative)
    i am for the feed of children who are starving. (positive)

    the first one is based on fear.
    the second one is based on acceptance.

    sure one could just say it's all semantics. but it is very subtle and important. we're talking about a whole different state of consciousness. gandhi was never against the british but he was for the better treatment of his people.

    okay onto acceptance. acceptance is contentment. contentment is is accepting what is right now. not tomorrow, not later, not if it get this or if condition A meets condition B. contentment is unconditionally being okay with right now.

    now from this neutral/positive stance one can act in the world. this is where compassion spontaneously arises. this is where everything gets done, but "we" need to get out of the way.
  • Still_WatersStill_Waters
    i am against starving children. (negative)
    i am for the feed of children who are starving. (positive)

    the first one is based on fear.
    the second one is based on acceptance.
    Very nice example.
    acceptance is contentment. contentment is is accepting what is right now. not tomorrow, not later, not if it get this or if condition A meets condition B. contentment is unconditionally being okay with right now.
    I don't know that I would equate acceptance with contentment. In the real world, is there anyone who would be content to have a loved one seriously ill or injured? I could accept it, but I wouldn't be content with it. I would be concerned and worried. Acceptance, as I see it, is when we can take a deep breath and say to ourselves: "Okay, I can deal with this. I may not be happy with it, but I can deal with it, however it turns out."

    Acceptance is unconditionally being okay with right now. But being okay isn't the same as being content.

    Alan



  • KarmaDondrupTashiKarmaDondrupTashi
    Acceptance doesn't mean being a doormat.
  • Still_WatersStill_Waters
    Acceptance doesn't mean being a doormat.
    I wholeheartedly agree.
  • chariramacharirama Veteran
    ... I wouldn't say "everything is as it should be" because that suggests there is a certain expectation of things to be a certain way. So, everything just is as it is...
    I like that much better
  • skullchinskullchin Veteran
    Acceptance doesn't mean being a doormat.
    Agreed! A common misunderstanding of acceptance is that acceptance == approval.

    "If I accept things the way the are it means I agree with it." This simply is not true.
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