“Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: it is your greatest asset. Be vulnerable: quake and shake in your boots with it. the new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things can only come to you when you are vulnerable, i.e. open.”
― Stephen Russell, Barefoot Doctor’s Guide to the Tao: A Spiritual Handbook for the Urban Warrior
To be in a state of purity free of attachment in this world would leave one very vulnerable to others not in this state, but is reaching for vulnerability a method to obtain this state?
I like the quote though because it suggests that one should not be afraid to be open and allow.
That’s a good question. I think that’s something that doesn’t really have a concrete answer because it depends on the person’s mind – habits, personality traits, etc, as a whole rather than just the vulnerability in itself.
But, if you are able to show vulnerabilities – and be vulnerable, it shows that your ego has less of a grip on you, and in that sense there are less obstructions your ego might bring in the process. As much of the “path” to a state of higher awareness has a lot to do with letting go of what you know to be real and indeed leaving yourself open. Fear will only be a hindrance (which is usually what is fueling the ego to come into play), and it’s one almost everyone (if not everyone) faces in some form in the process.
And I’m not sure being in a state of higher awareness would leave you vulnerable to others not in that state, because at that point you have transcended your own desires and are equipped to deal with those who haven’t. It is about transcending it into something that loses its hold on you. It is a little bit like my anxiety – before I had conquered my anxiety, being around people that had it or even talking about it could knock it back into effect for me, even if I wasn’t already in an anxious state. But now, I have learned how to deal with it in a more permanent way anytime it comes – it is almost like I don’t have it, because having it now is no big deal and I can see through it. So external influences hardly have any effect on me like they did before.