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.

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?

Spirituality Is Practical

Sometimes people get involved in seeking what they consider to be a deeply spiritual life by looking for nirvana or some constant state of bliss. That's way off the mark. The true life of reality is practical; it doesn't take you off into some other world. Circumstances don't change. It may sound too common and ordinary. But to think the so-called spiritual life is something special keeps people in the seeking mode for years - years of frustration.

If living a life of clarity doesn't bring contentment, peace, happiness, then what's all the hullabaloo about? One of the most respected East Indian gurus of the last century was a man named Nisargadatta Maharaj, who was a very common man, living an everyday life. When he was asked what it was like to live an awakened life he said it was basically just living a "life with no problems". Doesn't sound very "spiritual" does it? And not being anything special is what makes seeing life clearly so special.

Posted via email from A Happy, Peaceful Life - Your Choice