. . . . . .a big change I could not describe. What I could be sure of,

was this new event was a feeling, not a thought.

 

The power of Constancy had been proved to me and I recommend

it unreservedly to all who show interest. There is much more to it

than I can report here, ( though there is a summary of Constancy later on).

 

However, there are two aspects that need some more description. . . .

 

Even before I woke up in that garage, I had seen that feelings were

layered, that even mundane everyday feelings are vibrantly connected

to deeper feelings. After that garage, I persistently experienced the

deeper feelings as . . ."arriving". The boundary between what I thought

was "me" and "not me" had become . . . . . . tenuous. This feeling of

being insubstantial took some getting used to.

 

I mention this, only because of a strange side-effect. If you take

Constancy this far, the issue of responsibility arises. For better or

worse, you will find that you are unable to say "it's not my fault".

you will need these golden words from Saadi of Shiraz:

 

"Make no friends with an elephant keeper

if you have no room for an elephant".

 

But what if you take on an elephant keeper, not realising that

elephants are involved? Or you take on an elephant keeper when

he has no elephants, but he gets one later? In the former, it is simple,

we must make room for the elephant, you cannot deny responsibility

retrospectively. In the latter, the person's situation has changed,

when this happens, they "come to the door" again, it is then your

choice to accept them and their new elephant, or not. Saadi's words

can help us see where we are. Have we accepted all the elephants in

our past, are we dealing now with the legacy of some half-hearted

commitment? If this is the case, it is crucial to make room, in good faith,

for all the elephants you have taken on in the past. There can be no peace

or moving on till this is done - even where you have taken on an

elephant unknowingly, or were tricked into it, or just simply as a result

of some accident.

 

Where you find yourself looking after an elephant not of your choosing,

and especially where this has happened despite your clear intentions,

then although this can be vastly difficult, full acceptance must take place in

the same way.

 

Saadi's words go even deeper.

How much room have you got for elephants?

You may desperately want to take on an elephant, but it can be a disaster to

underestimate how much room you have. It is no exaggeration to say that

the road to hell is paved with good intentions, this is an exact description

of human ignorance. It is very hard to say no, to appear cruel even, to earn

the disapproval or even hatred of others by being clear. Fortunately,

compassion is a very complex feeling, and there are ways to say no with

compassion. We can say no, without rejection, or to be more exact, we

can learn to say no without judgment. This is a great skill, and comes

only after constancy has taken deep and lasting root.

 

I mentioned two things that need more description.

The second is on the next page.