Learning Discernment

"When I am in doubt whether I should wait or act, I should usually wait. Patience and tranquility are guideposts along my path that I am learning how to see."

No matter how many times I think to myself, it is much better for me to wait rather than act, I find myself acting.  There is always a good excuse, of course.  In fact, there is always a good spiritual excuse of why I should act.  The list usually includes me not acting because of fear or that I am not acting from my Spirit.  In other words, I should act because it is going against the ego.

It really does come down to discernment.  I discern that such and such action is "spiritual" because it is coming from my Higher Self, and so I act.  However, the reality is that my judgment is clouded, because I am not allowing enough time to pass in order for me to think clearly.  When I am in doubt whether I should wait or act, I should usually wait. Patience and tranquility are guideposts along my path that I am learning how to see.

The higher truth is that it is better for me to wait.  The higher the attachment I have to an object, the longer I should wait.  The other realization is that attachment is to the ego like a duck is to water.  I really cannot separate the two.  I am realizing that attachment should be expected if I reside in the domain of my ego.  It still comes down to constant ego sacrifice.  Patience is indeed a quality of Spirit and expediency is not.

This is a topic for another article, but I am discovering that intention matters little if an action is taken that has high attachment.  In other words, intending to not be attached to an action is trumped by the reality that an action is attached.  Here is an example.  If my stomach is filled with food and I do not intend my next bite to be attached to food, my actions show that I am attached to food.  I am already full, so why am I eating food?

Here, the higher truth is to be grounded in reality and to analyze the results of an action before taking it. I need to discern if action itself broadcasts attachment to anything. If it does, then there may be a better course of action.

This is not to say that there is a wrong or right action but to act consciously, weighing the action against the intention.   Accept the action and it's consequences immediately, receive any nourishment through learning any lessons and allow future actions to be informed by this newfound knowledge.