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Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, January 22, 2010
Life Is Different Expressions Of One Source
The other day I was talking with a friend about seeing the reality of life. Later she sent an email, which said, "For me the challenge is knowing the truth and being that truth. Can't hear it too often."
Apparently there's some confusion there. We don't have to be the truth because we already are. It's not as though there's truth and something other than truth. No, there's only truth. Or we could call it "what is". It's not separate from us and we don't have to be it. We, and everything else, already are it.
Think of it this way: What we see around us is actually just one source expressing itself in many forms. It's like sunshine striking a crystal, which sends rays of differing colors all around a room, for instance. The colors appear different but they're really all sunlight, expressing in different forms. One source, many forms.
Knowing that that one source of everything is all there is we can simply relax into our true nature of pure "being/awareness". The "me" we think we are is simply another expression of that one source, and that source is living as a frog, a tree, a you and a me. That means we don't have to try to control life.
Instead, we can witness life flowing moment by moment in one harmonious pattern. We don't need to understand the pattern or try to figure out why it is the way it is. How much energy do you spend trying to figure out why the sun comes up in the east every day? You need spend no more energy trying to figure out life, or worse, suffering because it doesn't go your way.
By simply knowing that the same energy that keeps the stars in place and your heart beating is all there is, what could there possibly be left to do but just be?
Apparently there's some confusion there. We don't have to be the truth because we already are. It's not as though there's truth and something other than truth. No, there's only truth. Or we could call it "what is". It's not separate from us and we don't have to be it. We, and everything else, already are it.
Think of it this way: What we see around us is actually just one source expressing itself in many forms. It's like sunshine striking a crystal, which sends rays of differing colors all around a room, for instance. The colors appear different but they're really all sunlight, expressing in different forms. One source, many forms.
Knowing that that one source of everything is all there is we can simply relax into our true nature of pure "being/awareness". The "me" we think we are is simply another expression of that one source, and that source is living as a frog, a tree, a you and a me. That means we don't have to try to control life.
Instead, we can witness life flowing moment by moment in one harmonious pattern. We don't need to understand the pattern or try to figure out why it is the way it is. How much energy do you spend trying to figure out why the sun comes up in the east every day? You need spend no more energy trying to figure out life, or worse, suffering because it doesn't go your way.
By simply knowing that the same energy that keeps the stars in place and your heart beating is all there is, what could there possibly be left to do but just be?
Friday, January 15, 2010
Nature Is Being You And Me
Maybe the main reason I've always loved nature is that it's so genuine and authentic. That may seem like a strange statement but have you ever noticed that nature is just what it is? It's beautiful sometimes, stormy and violent at others. But always it just is.
Nature isn't trying to impress anyone. It has no pretenses. It doesn't try to impose anything on anyone or make something change. It's simply natural life happening, moment by moment. Where did it come from? What started it? Does it matter?
But nature isn't just the forests, the desert and the oceans. Life is nature. It just is and who knows why. Does it have a purpose? It appears not to need one. And where do we, as humans, fit into this scene? Clearly, we're also nature. We're not independent beings. Without some life force "we" don't exist. I was at the bedside when my late wife died, and later my dad. One moment there was life and the next moment no life. The same eyes were in those bodies but they could no longer see. Same body but no longer able to move. Even our language acknowledges that. After death we don't say, "Joan was moved." We say, "The body was moved." We know there's no "Joan" there.
But the fact is, there was never a "Joan" in that body. We assume because there's a body and thoughts that there's a person. But that's an idea we've made up. The body functions without a "me". So does the so-called mind. Thoughts appear all by themselves.
Clearly we're not separate from nature. Nature is being the trees in the forests, the rivers and ocean. And it's being a Joan or a Chuck as well. When we see that, we're home free. "We" have no control over life; it just happens. Like everything in life, we're being lived. Knowing that, we can just be -- not needing anything to change, not being upset because they should be different. Without our opinions, interpretations and judgments what's left? Just a quiet contentment with life as it is. It's called peace. That's our true nature.
Nature isn't trying to impress anyone. It has no pretenses. It doesn't try to impose anything on anyone or make something change. It's simply natural life happening, moment by moment. Where did it come from? What started it? Does it matter?
But nature isn't just the forests, the desert and the oceans. Life is nature. It just is and who knows why. Does it have a purpose? It appears not to need one. And where do we, as humans, fit into this scene? Clearly, we're also nature. We're not independent beings. Without some life force "we" don't exist. I was at the bedside when my late wife died, and later my dad. One moment there was life and the next moment no life. The same eyes were in those bodies but they could no longer see. Same body but no longer able to move. Even our language acknowledges that. After death we don't say, "Joan was moved." We say, "The body was moved." We know there's no "Joan" there.
But the fact is, there was never a "Joan" in that body. We assume because there's a body and thoughts that there's a person. But that's an idea we've made up. The body functions without a "me". So does the so-called mind. Thoughts appear all by themselves.
Clearly we're not separate from nature. Nature is being the trees in the forests, the rivers and ocean. And it's being a Joan or a Chuck as well. When we see that, we're home free. "We" have no control over life; it just happens. Like everything in life, we're being lived. Knowing that, we can just be -- not needing anything to change, not being upset because they should be different. Without our opinions, interpretations and judgments what's left? Just a quiet contentment with life as it is. It's called peace. That's our true nature.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Peace: When There Is No Seeking
When you really think about it hasn't your whole life been about striving, searching, seeking in some way? It's constant tension, moment after moment of struggle... sometimes subtle and sometimes right in your face. Almost constantly we're seeking someone's approval or we're seeking the next event or person or thing in life. We think: When I get this I'll be happy. And we're right: We get it and we are happy -- for a brief time. Then it's back to the old rat race again, trying to get the next thing.
We don't notice that our happiness doesn't come from getting what we wanted. It comes from not striving for a short time, until the newness wears off. Without seeking there's peace. That's our nature. But then we're back to the stress of striving again.
When we see life as it is we realize that it's just doing what it does, without our input. We get what we get exactly when we need it. So the seeking can stop. We begin to see that life just moves -- effortlessly, including moving as us. It's all just the One, showing up in the form of universes, planets, earth, mountains, water, people, animals -- all of it. Who knows why it moves as it does? In a way it's like eternity. No mind can fathom eternity. Or space. No edges, no beginning or end. No starting, no stopping -- ever. Who knows what that is?
Knowing that Life is just happening, we can stop the search, relax, and just be. What could be happier and more peaceful than just being, without an agenda, without needing to get somewhere, without wanting to have or be something more?
We don't notice that our happiness doesn't come from getting what we wanted. It comes from not striving for a short time, until the newness wears off. Without seeking there's peace. That's our nature. But then we're back to the stress of striving again.
When we see life as it is we realize that it's just doing what it does, without our input. We get what we get exactly when we need it. So the seeking can stop. We begin to see that life just moves -- effortlessly, including moving as us. It's all just the One, showing up in the form of universes, planets, earth, mountains, water, people, animals -- all of it. Who knows why it moves as it does? In a way it's like eternity. No mind can fathom eternity. Or space. No edges, no beginning or end. No starting, no stopping -- ever. Who knows what that is?
Knowing that Life is just happening, we can stop the search, relax, and just be. What could be happier and more peaceful than just being, without an agenda, without needing to get somewhere, without wanting to have or be something more?
Monday, January 11, 2010
Do You Want Security In Life?
Most of us want security in life. We want to know that things are stable and we want to know what's going to happen next. But people who realize the reality of life live peacefully as they know fully that they don't know what's going to happen next. They live in a "don't know" world.
Why? Because they see that that's what's happening anyway, so they just go with it. They realize they're not in charge, and in fact there is no "me" who could be in charge. Life is happening. It's just the nature of life to happen. And we're part of that happening. So it's not even accurate for me to say we can just go with the flow. We're really part of the flow, whether we like it or not. So freedom is actually just seeing that. When you see that, the game of struggle and suffering is over.
Have you noticed that just about the time you think you've got everything in place the way you want it something changes? You lose your job. Or you get an injury or illness. Or someone close to you leaves or dies. Life changes. That's what life is -- change. Without change it would be static and dead. Instead, it's fresh, and alive with change every single moment.
When you see that the awareness that witnesses your thoughts and actions is always free, you can just live in that pure awareness, not knowing or really even caring about what's going to happen next, but just watching. The awareness you are is like a mirror. It sees and reflects everything but isn't affected in any way by the dynamic movements of life. In being simply present it finds fascination with it all. So it's all pleasure. And it's all contentment and a quiet, inner joy.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Are You In Control?
How much control do you have over your life? Think of all the things you don't control: You don't control your heartbeat, your eye blinks, your breathing, digestion, wound healing... and the list goes on.
So what do you control? Well, you might say, I control my actions. Do you? When you talk are you controlling the hand movements that go along with your words, even when you're on the phone and your listener can't see your hands? Why would you bother to accent and help explain with your hands? Or... do you control your movements when you walk? Do you give orders to which muscles and ligaments activate for you to take each step? Or does walking merely happen as you stroll along, talking to a friend, for instance?Oh, but thoughts: "Yes, I control my thoughts." Really? Can you stop them when you want to? Do you turn them on when you wake up? Or do they just come? My thoughts just show up, don't yours? Have you ever noticed that sometimes you find yourself just humming a tune? Did you ask for it to show up or did it just appear out of nowhere? And come to think of it, do you decide to think about a certain thing? If so, what or who decided to decide that?
We don't control our birth. We don't control our death. We don't control the moment we fall asleep or wake up (unless by artificial means). When we look closely we might begin to see that we're not in control of our life. So who or what is?
Maybe it's the same force or power or intelligent energy that seems to express itself as the universe, the planets, and all the objects that appear in our world. Maybe we're simply another one of those objects. Maybe, like trees that grow new leaves in the spring without their approval or consent, we're simply being lived. If that might be true, how content do you think you'd be if you simply watched life unfold, without an opinion of how it should be. Is it possible that life isn't about "should"or "ought" but just about "what is"?
Monday, December 21, 2009
Presence Is Not Something "You" Do
In my last entry I talked about being present. That could sound like a prescription, like something to do. But it's not about doing. It's only about seeing. Once you investigate thoroughly and see that all life is just what's happening, and that there's an intelligence and an energy that is constantly unfolding, there's nothing to do and really, no one to do it. Everything is just the One in different forms. So presence is just being as every form is being. That's it.
Just Be And You're Happy
Do you remember times when you've been so engrossed in something that you've totally lost track of time, of yourself, and even of the world? You may have been mesmerized by a sunset. Or you've been deeply engaged in a fascinating project. In those times, for a few moments or even minutes, you're simply present, with no thought of yourself at all. In those moments "you" don't exist.
That's what being awake to life really is. You're not thinking of the past, you're not thinking of the future, you simply are. You're just being. That's full-on living because you're just being in that moment, the only time life exists. After all, there's no such thing as past or present except for a thought. They don't exist.
What exists -- the only thing that exists -- is this, right here and right now. Just is-ness. In being with what is there's total peace, total happiness, It's also total love, seeing life just as it is, without judgment, interpretation or opinion. When you don't want anything you feel at ease, relaxed, content. And isn't that what people are seeking with all that striving for more, bigger, better?
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