Dear So-and-so,

Go With Whatever Clicks

The perennial nondual teaching is always fresh. At this present moment, one goes with whatever “clicks.” If something doesn’t click, it may in the future.

If the word “samskara” doesn’t click right now, then set it off to the side. The central point: you set aside whatever doesn’t presently click and you go with whatever does.

The Inner Child Is “Clicking”

Since one separate self, the inner child, is clicking right now, go with it. Listen to it. Open to it. Sure, love it.

Also, open to another separate self: namely, whatever has tended to run away from, e.g., opening to and loving the inner child. What is this? See it. Open to it. Listen to it. Sure, love it.

The inner child is just the character “on center stage” right now. There will be others. Don’t worry about that. Just open to and love each one in turn. Carry on diligently, even-keeledly.

You can be proactive here. Going back to an ur-memory (“trauma”) can be helpful, but that isn’t always necessary. If you simply ask in deep quiet:  “Can I call to mind any vivid experiences on whose behalf the inner child was activated?,” then you can open to each vivid experience in turn. If you want to call one such experience “trauma,” fine, go ahead. But know that there were other experiences, perhaps quite vivid also, after that.

That said, I wouldn’t get fixated on trying to find traumatic “originary events.” Some memories might arise, but they may not. In other words, be careful with “hunting for originary traumatic events” as that can be a wild goose chase and, as such, can turn into a subtle kind of spiritual materialism.

Don’t add more theories (thoughts) to practice. Remember: the teaching is a pointer, just a pointer so that one can be very clear, spacious and open. Nothing more, nothing less.

Ergo, instead of hunting for traumas, just open completely to, e.g., the inner child whenever and wherever it’s been activated.

This isn’t hard: any number of lingering hurts (experiences) occur on an everyday basis, and some of these lingering hurts–maybe a good number, at present count, for you–point back to the re-activation of the inner child. OK, great. Here it is: open to it. Be spacious. If one memory stands out, then open to the sense of the inner child that’s being activated right now. But don’t worry if no memories are recalled. Just stay with the inner child, the sense of it, whenever and wherever it’s been activated.

Very easy. No problem. Just quiet, steady openness.