Acceptance in Spiritual Beliefs

I don't assign events outside of myself to "divine will" because that perspective is quite a judgment for a human to try and make "This is all divine will..." or "This is divine will and this is not" is going too far. Even given personal spiritual experiences, all we can say is that this/these are the "aspects" of the divine that we have been shown... To judge the divine in terms of what we've been blessed to understand is limited.

I look at acceptance simply (although, while the concept is simple, practicing it is extremely difficult): There are things in life that we can change... first understand which once we SHOULD change, then understand which ones we CAN change, and then change them.

There are things in life that we can't change... So in the words of Wen-Tzu, worrying over them is like crying into a river during a drought, trying to prevent it from drying up. A wise woman who is one of my teachers' favorite prayer, the serenity prayer, also comes to mind!

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

-TaoSandwich

[Amilius777]

I think people get a little caught up on "divine will" because they can sense the whole medieval feelings behind the word.

Divine will is actually the activity of the Divine, within and around us. A higher and transcendent consciousness at work even if we are not totally attuned to It, because the Divine consciousness wants us to be happy and liberated.

The light and dark in nature is something we must accept. Ourselves or our brother may have the dark as well. There is a 'dark side of everything" in the world. If there was no external darkness around us we would never appreciate the goodness in all things nor have a chance to see what is dark and what is good.

The Universe gives us a choice to either live by the ways of goodness and light or to be agents of the dark side. I don't care if you call it Satan, lucifer, the devil, what have you; that is the Dark Side of the universe. It is a powerful force that has it's purpose. The purpose is to separate what is good, light, love, and God from what is NOT God, good, light, and love. So that we have knowledge of it. But deep down the darkness is not entirely separated from the Light/God/Love. The dark power is actually still a part of this great Chain of Being and Consciousness. It is just on a lower, unevolved level which eternally exists along with the Higher, Divine forces.

[Chr1stian]

Originally Posted by dreamextremes

What are your thoughts on acceptance? Accepting all that is in regard to spirituality and divine will? Accepting light and dark as of equal importance and necessity in this universe?

I have my own thoughts on accepting the nature of this universe yet I do not completely understand the idea of accepting all the good and the bad. I believe that even from the worst circumstances, there is always the possibility of much good to come, depending upon one's reaction to the bad. There are always lessons to be learned too.

But I do not personally believe in merely accepting the dark side of nature. Or perhaps it is that "accepting" is not the most appropriate word to use? I just feel there is a problem in discussing this matter and using that word, because then some people take this concept and believe that bad things which happen are meant to be "accepted" as part of a divine plan. In "accepting" this, I feel some mistakenly believe that action against the bad things which occur is to go against accepting things as they happen.

Please share your thoughts! Thanks.

Hi dreamextremes, I agree with you. I can accept many things, differing opinions and preferences etc. But I cannot accept injustice, corruption and the exploitation of others. We have been given the capacity to act. I believe it is our moral duty to resist harm being caused to others, and I also believe this is part of the divine plan (however you wish to define it).
By resisting wrong we not only help others but also ourselves because we gain more courage and confidence to resist wrong in the future. I also believe that helping others is as important, if not more important, than practices such as meditation or prayer for achieving spiritual enlightenment.
To just accept 'the bad things' as a part of the divine plan is an excuse for inaction or worse yet fear. I believe the lesson we are here to learn is that we have the capacity to improve ourselves and humanity.

I am not implying that I have resisted all the 'the bad things' I have encountered in my life, but I believe I am getting better at it. I am bound my conscience. I know right and I know wrong. And I try to do the right thing.