The original source of all tension is 'becoming'. One is always trying to be something; no one is at ease with himself as he is. The being is not accepted, the being is denied, and something else is taken as an ideal to become. So the basic tension is always between that which you are and that which you long to become.
Tension means that you are not pleased with what you are, and you long to be what you are not. Tension is created between these two. What you desire to become is irrelevant. If you want to become wealthy, famous, powerful, or even if you want to be free, liberated, divine, immortal, even if you long for salvation, moksha, then too the tension will be there.
Anything that is desired as something to be fulfilled in the future, against you as you are, creates tension. The more impossible the ideal is, the more tension there is bound to be. So a person who is a materialist is ordinarily not so tense as one who is spiritual, because the spiritual person is longing for the impossible, for the far-off. The distance is so great that only a great tension can fill the gap.
Tension means a gap between what you are and what you want to be. If the gap is great, the tension will be great. If the gap is small, the tension will be small. And if there is no gap at all, it means you are satisfied with what you are. In other words, you do not long to be anything other than what you are. Then your mind exists in the moment. There is nothing to be tense about; you are at ease with yourself. You are in the Tao.
To me, if there is no gap you are in the dharma. The gap can have many layers. If the longing is physical, the tension will be physical. When you seek a particular body, a particular shape – if you long for something other than what you are on a physical level – then there is tension in your physical body.
If you have a particular type of mind and you want to change it, transform it – if you want to be more clever, more intelligent – then mental tension is created. Only if we accept ourselves totally is there no tension. This total acceptance is the miracle, the only miracle.
To find a person who has accepted himself totally is the only surprising thing.
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