This is something well known, and used, in many approaches: seeing barriers as gateways.

Something appears as a block or hindrance, and - when explored further - turns out to be the gateway into exactly that which it appeared to block. It guides us into and reveals what it temporarily obscured.

As usual, this happens on the emptiness and form sides, and in the form side from direct seeing of the form, and then from exploring its content.

Whatever arises can be recognized as void itself, or as an expression of Big Mind, for instance through the headless experiments, or in the Big Mind process through the transcendent voices.

We can see a thought, triggering drama and stress when believed in, as just a thought, with no inherent substance to it.

And we can explore the content itself, using the block or problem as a pointer to the richness and freedom it is temporarily obscuring.

The Work is maybe the clearest example, in how it reveals the peace on the other side of the belief, when what is already more true for us is noticed (including the truth in its reversals). Another way to explore the content is through different forms of journeying. In for instance Process Work, symptoms are used as an access point into the underlying process, allowing it to unfold more fully and consciously. There are also many other forms of explorations and inquiry into the content which works in the same general way, using the block as a gateway.

So blocks becomes pointers, guides, and also that which brings a contrast in experience which allows for more differentiation, and they even allow us to find more appreciation for the block itself and what it revealed beyond itself.

I have mentioned this before, and the previous post reminded me of it again… the gifts of blocks and resistance.

As awful as resistance can be, in terms of the stress and sometimes suffering created from it, it also has some great gifts.

One of the main ones is that it allows for an exploration of Spirit (in its form and emptiness aspects) one piece at a time, filtered in space and time into mostly manageable portions.

Resistance slows down the process, allowing for a more detailed and thorough exploration of each without it drowning in the immensity of the whole. In some ways, it functions as a magnifying glass, allowing for one piece of the terrain to be explored, in detail, at a time. It holds us in place for a while, inviting a more thorough exploration of that particular area of the landscape.

Our personality certainly does not like resistance and its effects, at least not right away. But with time, there can be a great deal of appreciation and gratitude even for resistance and blocks, for these and other reasons.

(Resistance here refers to resistance to experience, which comes from a belief in a story, which in turn creates a sense of I and Other, seeing of some experiences as undesirable, and then resistance to them, which then leads to a sense of drama, stress and sometimes suffering… which is just about all it creates. Spirit refers to all of Existence, in its form and emptiness aspects, including our daily human experiences.)