I had no idea what I was getting into. Back in October, I arrived at an island retreat called Hollyhock, to take what I thought was a five-day course on Buddhism. I didn’t know we would spend those days in uninterrupted mindfulness, without speaking, and that we’d spend about six to eight hours a day in formal meditation.

After the initial welcome at the main hall, our teacher led my group up the pat to our meditation hut in the forest. On the way there, he stopped us and told us to look up. It was a still and clear night, much darker than we city dwelling visitors were accustomed to. I had never seen stars like that.

“Please be aware,” he said, as we all stared silently, “that you are seeing.”

He repeated himself. I was transfixed on the stars, but I remember thinking, “Well, duh,” when his comment registered. Of course I’m aware I’m seeing. How can you see without being aware of it?

His comment echoed again in my head a moment later, and I realized what he meant. For the first time, I recognized that I was normally only aware of what I was seeing, and had taken for granted that I was seeing at all. My awareness had become preoccupied with the content of existence, not the fact of existence itself. Suddenly, it struck me as so peculiar that there was stuff out there to see at all, and especially peculiar that there was something present — me, evidently — to see it. I don’t know why it had never occurred to me there was anything odd, or at least curious, about this arrangement.

In that instant, the stars became more real, more imposing, though I can’t say their appearance changed. It was something like admiring a photograph of a tree, and then realizing you were looking at a real tree. This experience definitely had an effect on me, but I didn’t grasp its relevance right away.

Sitting lessons

A day later I would. Our group was sitting in a warm, circular hut in the woods, in total silence, the evening of the second day.

Sitting for hours is tough work. The idea is to simply watch what’s happening, and there is quite a bit going on. Without the regular distractions of music or traffic or television, you can’t help but notice how much the body and the mind are really up to.

Your awareness fills with the chaos of dozens of sensations happening at once: the aching of your knees, the pressure of your bum on the cushion, the rising and falling of the breath, itches, tingles, weird digestive processes you never paid much attention to.

And thoughts! They come out in full force. They’re loud and pushy, and they just won’t stop coming.

There’s so much going on it’s hard to stay aware of it. You easily lose yourself in the stuff that’s happening. Suddenly you find you’re in the midst of an imaginary argument loosely based on a real argument you had a week ago with your friend. Your mind is saying what it wishes it said then.

Then you snap out of it. Whoops. Stay aware. You return your attention to the breath. For a moment or two, you’re fully with it.

Then your knee-ache gets more demanding, so you direct your attention to the feeling to try and observe it. You’ve been sitting too long on a hard surface, and the knee is tightening up. You know it will throb later, like it did after last session. You notice the intention to adjust your position, and flinch as you almost do it automatically. But you know you should stay put. You think about getting a good meditation cushion when you get home. You also make a mental note to remember to keep the thermostat down, it’s getting hot in here…

…and like that, you’re lost again. You return the attention to the breath, vowing again to stay aware.

After not too much of this you can’t help but notice all these feelings and thoughts are constantly coming and going, and it never stops. Whatever arises seems to come into your awareness from nowhere, and it changes a bit in its texture in intensity as you watch it. Then it eventually recedes, or gets crowded out by something else, until you can’t detect it anymore. It leaves no trace, and by then there’s a new thought or a new feeling, or many, and you forget about it.

During an hour-long meditation session, a whole load of weird stuff parades across your awareness. It’s just a big, maddening show with no plot, and this insidious tendency to keep changing its form.

From my week of meditating in Hollyhock, I learned two major realities about life:

#1: Your whole experience in life is a only a constantly changing arrangement of thoughts and sensations. There are unlimited forms it can take and all forms are constantly giving way to new ones. Whatever it is at any given time is just a combination of the five senses and thought.

#2: It is incredibly easy to get lost in the details of all those things, which makes you forget #1.

All of life seems to be just a constant turnover of “stuff,” in this way. As Winston Churchill said, “Life is just one damn thing after another.”

When you sit with your eyes closed, this is very apparent. It’s like you’re watching all sorts of things happening on a blank screen: thoughts, bodily feelings, sounds, emotions, and it’s so busy you forget you’re watching it. There is so much chatter, particularly from the mind, that it’s really hard to sit and watch it at all. It really makes you want to get up and read a magazine, or grab a beer.

But now and then, you catch a space between the thoughts and sensations, even if it’s really brief. You actually see (or sense, somehow) the blank “screen” on which all of this stuff is projected. It doesn’t take too many meditation sessions to get a glimpse of it. So you know it’s there.

And it makes sense. You can’t watch a movie without a screen. You can’t have “things” without some space for them to happen in.

What is the screen?

It’s pretty clear that this combination of sense perceptions and thoughts is constantly rotating, constantly turning over, constantly giving way to other things, throughout your entire 70- or 80-year existence in life. It’s just one big moving scene, not unlike a movie, only that it’s three dimensional and it includes tastes, smells, feelings and thoughts, in addition to sights and sounds.

But the space in which all the action happens — and the fact that there is a space in which all those things happen — does not change. It’s always there. It is the only constant in life. It is the only part of your experience that is present all the way through from birth to death.

Think about it… there is no thing that stays the same throughout your life. Even if you look down at your body, can you honestly say it is really the same body you had 10, 20 or 30 years ago? We all know that the cells that make up the body are renewing themselves constantly, and you have to admit you don’t look like you did ten years ago. Sorry.

Clearly your body is a thing too, coming and going throughout your life. You can call it yours, and you are in charge of it, but it isn’t exactly you. Which is a good thing, because clearly it’s just passing by, and going downhill for most of the ride. In this sense it’s no different in any fundamental way than a car that drives by you on the street, or a loud sound that comes out of nowhere, and fades. The only real difference between them is how fast they come and go.

Thoughts are things too. They have no mass or visible features, but they arise just like other sensations. They have a form. They have details, therefore they are things. If you sit and pay attention to them, they arise in very much the same way as aches, tingles, sounds and tactile sensations do.

All things — all forms — whether we’re talking about thoughts, sensations in your body, the bark of your neighbor’s dog, or a bird flying by the window, all arise in awareness, in a boundless space. There has to be space for these things to exist. This space has no form of its own.

Think for a moment about the stars out in space again. The stars have form: they have color, they emit heat, they have size and shape and mass. They do stuff, and eventually they change into other forms, red giants, black holes, supernovas. They are contained by space, which is empty.

It seems like a paradox. Space isn’t a thing, it’s an absence of things. It’s no thing at all. But it is there. It is real. You can perceive it; you can be aware of it. But your mind can understand it only in terms of what it is not. The stars occur within that space. If there was no space for them to happen in, they could not exist.

But the space itself has no features at all. Yet it persists, and its presence is 100% necessary for the existence of all things.

Life is full of things, but it is more than things. It’s space too. Space permeates every corner of life, because no things can exist where there is no space. That means it permeates your body. As we talked about previously, if you could keep zooming in on your body, you would see cells, then molecules, then atoms, and eventually empty space.

Who you really are

So if life is just impermanent things arising and fleeting in space, what are you?

The conventional way of thinking of yourself is as a body, with a mind attached to it somehow. But experience shows us that both the body and the mind change completely, many times over throughout life.

The only constant in life is the space in which all those things happen. It’s the same emptiness from which thoughts emerge, the emptiness in which stars sit and burn, the emptiness that accommodates everything you’ve ever seen, heard, or touched. Every sensation, every perception, every thought, comes and goes. The space in which they happen is featureless, boundless, has no taste, smell, or texture of its own. It looks like nothing. Like space. It is timeless and imperishable, which you could describe (if you happen to like the word) as immortal.

So who are you, in the Big Picture?

You are the screen.

You are the empty, 3-dimensional screen on which this greatest of all shows is projected. You are the space in which all of this happens.

When you consult spiritual or religious sources about what you are, the answers are remarkably consistent. Ancient and contemporary sages seem to agree, and the answer to that question is always something like, “You are awareness,” or “You are consciousness,” or “You are emptiness.”

My experiences, both in and out of meditation, lead me to the same conclusion. Sitting there watching what happens, I can’t help but notice that only the background to all that “stuff” — the space in which that stuff exists — is constant throughout my life, so what else could I be? How could I be any of the fleeting, changing, arbitrary things I have been aware of?

It is clear to me now what is meant by “You are awareness,” though it was once just a cool-sounding concept. I’m not trying to convince you of this, only suggest that you might discover the same thing (perhaps you already have) and in the mean time you might want to look into it for yourself.

(Him: David from Raptitude.com here has never ceased to amaze me with his clarity in writing. Because of how clear he can express upon a subject, people can accept and understand more easily even some of the most sophisticated subjects we have on philosophy/spirituality/personal development. If you’d like to read more of what he writes, please kindly visit: http://www.Raptitude.com.)

The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough
to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do.

- Steve Jobs

-=-Additional Quotes-=-

“Every man dies, but not every man really lives.” — Mel Gibson from Braveheart

“Nature is about balance. All the world comes in pairs: yin and yang, right and wrong, men and women. What’s pleasure without pain?” — Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

“For just one night let’s not be co-workers. Let’s be co-people.” — Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

“It’s not about the paycheck, it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day.” — Kevin Kline in Dave

“Whatever you fear most has no power over you. It is the fear that has the power.” — George Clooney in The Men Who Stare At Goats

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” — Dr. Seuss author of Cat in Hat

“We can’t retract the decisions we’ve made. We can only affect the decisions we’re going to make from here.” — Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen

“Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people have got to have their faith rewarded.” — Christian Bale in The Dark Knight

“We’re going to live like we’re telling the best story in the whole world. Are you ready?” — Rachel Weisz in The Brothers Bloom

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

~ Ernest Hemingway

For a long time I didn’t feel like I had a lot of people to relate to.  Being shy, I didn’t find myself in a lot of conversations with people I didn’t know, and when I did, I was uncomfortable.  Bonds did form, deep ones sometimes, but it was always a product of circumstance.  I made friends with people I was in class with or worked with, because some interaction is bound to happen in those places.  But to actually form a relationship without the help of circumstances was something I had never experienced.

I’ve shed much of my shyness through deliberately speaking up more and other forms of comfort-zone-pushing, but I eventually made a discovery that really opened the floodgates for me.  I see the potential for connection in just about everyone now; I no longer feel bound by differences of age, interests, cultures, or opinions.

The secret to connecting with people is this:

Always try to understand what people really mean when they speak.

It doesn’t sound like a huge revelation.  Many of you are probably thinking that you already do that anyway.  But chances are you don’t, at least not very well.  Certainly we know what the other person is saying, but most of the time, we don’t particularly care for the topic, or if we do, our minds are already busy forming a response.  Sometimes we take the liberty of finishing the person’s sentence, or even beginning one of our own before they finish.  This is fairly normal behavior, at least in my culture, and as such, it isn’t considered terribly rude in most circles.

Next time you’re out, try watching an exchange between two people.  In most conversations I witness, each person appears to clearly hold his own opinions as being of primary importance, and the other’s as being worth considerably less, though each might pretend otherwise.  It’s not that we’re arrogant, it’s just human nature.  Each person is usually waiting for their turn to talk, perhaps tossing in some polite remarks and nods so as not to appear rude.

However, things do flow more smoothly when one person’s opinion matches the other’s.  That’s when real listening happens without any effort, and conversation is unhindered.  But because of this human tendency to revere our own opinions, many people find they can only really connect with people who carry similar views.  With friends and family, we’ve already established some common ground, so it’s easy to really communicate with them.

But that leaves only a small segment of the population with which we have the potential to connect.  Most people will hold no interest for us.  I think part of the problem is that we think that the other person’s message is what they say.

What they say, in terms of what words come out of their mouth, is just a tiny fraction of what they are communicating.  The real message is not what they say.  The real message is why. Where are these words coming from? That why is what tells us who they are and what they value.

The speaker is rarely just trying to relay basic information to you.  Almost always, they are speaking up because there is some visceral desire to express what they are feeling right now.  Speech is always triggered by a passion, a worry, a judgment, a realization, or some other internal encounter with an emotion of some kind.  If your friend suddenly brings up her job, it isn’t because she wants you to be well-informed about her situation at work, it’s because her job is on her mind and she wants to get it out of her mind. Respect that need and she will not only be grateful, but suddenly she’ll be much more likely to take an interest in what’s on your mind.

If you want to connect with people, make this your social mantra:

Always let the speaker be the star.

Whatever their performance is, whether it’s a story about something their kid is doing in school, a trip to Europe they’re planning, a complaint about what so-and-so said to them earlier — be the most respectful audience you can be.  The chair they are sitting in, the doorway they are standing in, wherever they are — that’s their stage, their pulpit.  Let them say their piece, no matter what you think of the story, or what you would do in their place.

Really, really listen to what they say, and recognize that they are saying what they’re saying because it is important to them.  In every single thing every person says, they reveal what they value.  When you can get a glimpse of what people value, you can see the humanity in them.  And that is how humans connect: by understanding each other’s values.  You don’t have to share those values, though you’ll certainly find you share something with everyone.

I am not into hunting.  I have no interest in shooting a deer or a goose for fun.  But I do know some who do, and in my more conscious moments, I can genuinely appreciate everything a friend tells me about hunting.  The specifics of his anecdotes are not so important; it’s the glint of excitement in his eyes, and more importantly, the enthusiasm that swells in him when he realizes somebody is actually being receptive to his story.  I reserve my judgments; there’s no need to batter anyone over the head with my own stances.  There would be no communication at all if I did that.  Judgments just get in the way and do neither party any good.

To simply know what it feels like to hold something dear, and understand that we all know that feeling — that means you can understand anybody.  But only if you genuinely make a point of seeing where they’re coming from.  Our failing is that we’re usually much more concerned with being understood than with understanding.  Those who reverse those two priorities are very effective communicators and will never have a shortage of friends.

The Barrier

Distraction, in some form, is what typically prevents understanding.  Distraction is letting your attention wander from the other person’s performance.  It could be captured by what they’re wearing, a TV screen, a book in your hands, anything around you.  But the most common place for it to go is into your own (the listener’s) thoughts.  Most people are distracted by what they themselves would like to say.  Sometimes they want to respond before the person is finished, other times they simply have their own opinion locked and loaded to fire off as soon as there is a break in the dialogue.

Forget what you want to say, just drop all thoughts about yourself and your interests, and let them speak their mind.  Think of it this way: when you are listening, the most important thing in the world is to figure out where the other person is coming from.  Make it your entire purpose on earth — for the thirty-seven seconds it takes for them to tell their little story — to understand what feelings are behind what they say.  If, when they stop speaking, you still don’t understand where they’re coming from, ask a question.

All it takes is putting your own interests on hold until they are able to get their point across to you.

The habit of really listening to what someone is saying is a rare one.  And the people who do it can connect with anyone.  I’ve understood the value of being a good listener for a long time, but I didn’t really know what it meant to be one.  I know now: it means to cherish other people’s desire to express themselves more than your own desire to express yourself. Really, just completely defer your interests for as long as it takes for you to understand them.

That idea might scare some people.  Surely our own opinions are important too!

Relax.  You don’t have to worry about being understood, and here’s why: when you make a point of dumping your own thoughts to make room for understanding, people are so grateful that you are trying to see their perspective, they’ll be happy to listen to you afterward.  By then, what they wanted to say is no longer on their mind, so then they won’t be distracted by it while you are speaking.

In other words, take turns understanding each other, but insist on going first. Let the other person have the privilege of being the first one to be understood.  The biggest distraction to understanding someone else is self-importance.  Needing to say something means you have to be thinking about it, and thinking about it means you have very little mental capacity left for empathy.  Free up yours, and it will free up theirs.

Imagine what the world would be like if everyone did this.

That’s all anyone wants, to be understood.  Give it to them.  Give the greatest of all gifts, every time you have the opportunity.  Unless the building is on fire, give yourself permission to let the speaker be the center of your universe, just for a minute.  It won’t hurt, I promise.  Forget what you were going to say.  Forget how you might wish to respond.  You can do that all later.  Abandon everything else in the world for the few seconds it takes to let the other person finish their thought.

At first, you will probably experience some angst at the thought of abandoning what you were going to say.  Drop it anyway, and see if your life suffers.  (It won’t.)  So what if you didn’t get to make the wisecrack you had saved up?  So what if you don’t get to tell them about your upcoming trip to Europe?

Once you resolve to let all that baggage go, it’s actually a tremendous relief.  It’s like dropping an armload of textbooks you’ve had held against your chest.  You  no longer have to struggle to keep track of your thoughts.  You can safely let them all go.  Let them drift away, unfinished and unfollowed.  99% of them never needed to be said anyway.  And don’t worry, the truly important thoughts will be persistent enough to come back to you when nobody else is speaking.  You will get your chance to make yourself understood, just don’t try to be first in line.

There is such a strong compulsion to make our own opinion known, that even the most courteous among us will often practically ignore what the person says, or even interrupt them.  Most of the time the hurried remarks we do make are just little indulgences, self-important grabs at approval or admiration.

I know that I personally have a history of saying things for the sole purpose of sounding clever, or arousing the fondness of others.  I built my whole identity on looking smart, for years and years.  I didn’t know who I was without that approval, so I was constantly digging for it.  It’s really just a bad habit, to grab at the little ego boosts those self-indulgent remarks provide.  I would even call it an addiction, but that’s a whole other post.  For now let’s just say many of us are very strongly drawn to seeking approval by pointing out certain things or telling certain stories, and it impedes understanding others considerably.

The truth is, your opinions probably aren’t that important.  And neither are the other person’s.  Opinions will come and go, they speak mostly to our emotional state at the time we declare them.  There is usually very little logic behind them, just feelings.  And that’s okay.  There is a brilliant Zen saying:  Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions. This is not a prescription for dismissing what the other person is saying, only for cherishing the human being behind the words, rather than the back-and-forth play of semantics and mental positions.

I’ll be the first to say I’m really not all that good at this yet.  I’ve been getting better and better at relating to people, but old habits do indeed die hard.  But I now understand clearly where I went wrong so often, and I know what to do instead.  The specific concept of letting others be the star only came to me fairly recently, and I’m astounded at the results so far.  My friends and family suddenly became ten times more interesting, not to mention strangers, clients, clerks and passers-by.  I no longer have that bubble of angst growing inside me when someone else is speaking, because I know I can safely drop whatever I was going to say.  More and more I get to witness that wonderful sense of gratitude that washes over people when someone makes a genuine effort to understand them.

And when you do get your chance to speak, their eyes will be glued to you, and you’ll probably have the best audience you ever had.

(Him: David, the author from Raptitude.com is amazing at delivering very educational content. His articles seem to cover two major subjects: philosophy & spirituality which when combined, becomes personal development. Make no mistake – he’s not just a writer. This man’s language, thoughts & intentions are as clear as one can read through words. They hold water. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Once again, it’s http://www.Raptitude.com.)

To hear Stallone’s story gives my blood even more confidence, energy and motivation in fulfilling my goal.

What do you think?

I hope you’ll find its message to be inspirational:

As people say, find the balance. The only thing they didn’t say is that the balance has to be entirely, equally spread, because that’d be pretty unproductive for many. When I devote just enough time, attention or effort to each part of my life that my entire life heightens in positivity, that’s where the balance is for me. The same applies to learning. I keep an open mind and learn what I observe is able to make me a better person. What doesn’t contribute to my wellbeing, I either lay it far away or turn it into a positive source of wisdom regardless.

This article below describes who we are is more than the separate identities we think we are. It talks about how everything is an illusion. But look – if you are an illusion person, and you disturb an illusion dog, you’ll still experience an illusion bite. So just understand what the article is talking about. And allow that understanding to be with you. There is no need to force that understanding into your daily life. I guess the point is when we can grasp what this article is trying to express, life will just be lighter in general. May you find it to be a pretty cool piece to read.)

On “This” and “That”

‘That which you already are, pure awareness’ – Sogyal Rinpoche

‘Awareness of awareness – the first factor of enlightenment’ – The Buddha

‘Effortless Choiceless Awareness is our Real State’ – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Overcome fear… by seeing what’s Here!

Let go of all fear and anxiety, for awareness is always present as you are effortlessly, and choicelessly, aware of your thoughts and sensations. This awareness is a constant subjective presence, whereas these thoughts and sensations (mind/body) are ephemeral objects coming and going within this awareness. Therefore this awareness is the deepest level of our being, the unchanging presence that we intuitively feel we are, and have always been, that which has never been absent and has witnessed the pantomime of our lives. This very awareness, the home which we have never left, and can in fact never leave, is the very peace and security that we seek.

Forget about church… Just give up the search!

To enjoy this peace and absolute security we do not need any dogma, belief systems, rituals or practices. All that is necessary is to abandon the external search for this. We must stop ‘seeking for love in all the wrong places’; just recognize, and totally relax into, that pure awareness that we already are.

No need for a prayer mat… Already you are That!

For this to occur there is no need to appeal to any external ‘deity’, for this awareness is itself the ‘hidden treasure’, the Absolute Reality lauded by all religions, and is always present at the deeper (and surface) level of our being. At the deeper level as That in which thoughts/sensations (mind/body) appear/disappear, come and go, arise and subside; and at the surface level as this very awareness of these thoughts/sensations.

No Me, No you! There’s nothing to do…

In reality there is no separate individual entity (me or you) we are both just expressions of the same pure awareness, and there’s nothing we need to do to achieve enlightenment as we are already ‘That’, i.e. awareness is already present.

Nobody, No mind! There’s nothing to find…

There is, in reality, nobody, i.e. separate individual; and no entity called the mind which is just a flow of ephemeral thoughts and images. There is also nothing to find in that we cannot lose that pure awareness that, in essence, we always are; we just need to stop overlooking this.

No effort, No sweat! There’s nothing to get…

There is no need to make any effort to achieve enlightenment, just stop and turn your attention to that pure awareness that you already are. You cannot ‘get’ this as you already ‘are’ this!

Wow! There’s only Now…

In reality there is always only now as the past has already gone and the future is yet to be. If you see ‘what is’ in the ‘now’ with no reference to past (including acquired knowledge or imaginary ‘individual self’) or future, then everything seems much more vivid and alive (Wow!) than when filtered through the mind and its opinions, judgments, attitudes and ‘knowledge’.

Cheer! There’s only Here…

Also you are always ‘Here’, at any given moment, and can only see ‘what is’ here (and now). What you think is going on anywhere else is only speculation, which will take you away from the direct experience of ‘here and now’.

How? Just Here and Now!

How to be ‘enlightened’ (i.e. unburdened) and at peace? Just be totally here in the present moment and see ‘what is’ (here and now) with no reference to the past, future, mind, or what might be happening anywhere else.

Just This! That’s Bliss….

This seeing ‘what is’ with a still mind, from pure awareness, is Bliss. The other name for Brahman (The Absolute) is Satchitananda which can be translated as: ‘What is’, the awareness of ‘What is’, the Bliss of the awareness of ‘What is’.

Just Cease! That’s Peace…

Just cease identifying with the mind (and all of its activity to get anywhere, or attain anything) and the result is instant peace.

Just Being! That’s freeing…….

Just ‘Being’ moment to moment , with no reference to past/future or any illusory separate ‘self’, is in itself totally freeing…

Accept what is … Then feel the kiss!

Always accept ‘what is’ at the present moment with no resistance and life becomes more enjoyable as the mind stills. This does not mean that we cannot plan to change things, only that we need to accept ‘what is Now’ as it is already here and therefore cannot be changed. This lack of resistance liberates tremendous energy, and relaxation, allowing us to ‘feel the kiss’, and wonder, of Reality.

Live life with no ‘story’… Then all reveals its glory!

If you live life with no personal ‘story’ then the mind stills and everything in manifestation appears more vivid and alive, i.e. more glorious…

Each moment is enough… The end of all (mind) Stuff!

If you check you will find that Pure Awareness never needs anything to change and is complete whatever is happening. In this ‘each moment is enough’ and no mind activity is necessary to change, or seek for, anything.

This is an amended and expanded version of chapter six from Beyond the Separate Self which aims to provide a framework for direct investigation of our moment-to-moment experience. When fully accomplished this reveals that we truly are ‘pure awareness’ at the deepest level of our being. The book is available at: http://nonduality.com/btss.htm

When a person finds something he truly believes in, sometimes it is so immense, so vast, so expansive, that it can hardly be put into complete words.

It is only unfortunate that most people have never delved into this strong level of intensity before. If they do, work in general will be inspiring, exciting, and anticipated. Life in general would be filled with passion, love and exceptionality.

Why don’t they?

There are three reasons: Fear, Selfishness & Ignorance.

They fear how great they would become, and in return how big their responsibilities would be. They are selfish, so they control others and dim down the lights in people’s passion to fulfill their own agendas. They are ignorant, as pain has never taught them lessons on appreciating life the way it should be appreciated.

The ones who are aware pushed through despite these obstacles, because they know there is a worthy cause in what they’re doing.

Eventually their actions shined through the surface of people’s eyes, and successfully touched the minds, hearts and blood in people with their passion.

Where can we learn more about this?

You basically live without having to put effort into worrying.

Instead, you stay at peace with it.

Perhaps not even at peace. You just live. Without focusing your energy into overthinking thoughts that create negative feelings.

In the past few months, I learned yet a lot more lessons about being a human.

Through making mistakes, through experiencing bad feelings constantly, through the comfort of friends and family, I was finally able to take another step in living life better.

Sometimes, I wonder how much of life I have picked up on the way, instead of being taught of them properly on my way growing up.

I lacked knowledge and real life encounters.

Partly because I was brought up in a purely Christian family, and have been conditioned with thoughts of not being too involved with the world.

This caused me to turn into a very bland, devout person, who gets nothing he wants, and gets in the way of having the things he wants.

Trust me, life turns out much better when we can enter it with an opened mind.

After all, how much of what we truly believe, is real?

Concepts fall and shatter away with the slightest of shaking from reality.

Ideas prove themselves to carry much less weight as they are experimented for effectiveness in the real world.

Thoughts turn out to be fleeting nothingness that happens only within one self.

I eventually learned how important it is to be grounded with the real world.

It helps one to see the world for what it truly is.

It lets you see reality, clearly.

And of course, all of us appreciate a real diamond more than a plastic one duplicated after the real one in essence after all, don’t we?

So many of times, we worry so much about something we’ve done, we haven’t done, or will do.

But until they do happen, none of those images or feelings we conjure in the mind means anything.

In fact, as we embrace life with a more positive attitude – it not only affects us well, its infectious quality pulls others into a better place as well.

I have to admit, I kept holding on to worries because I thought they’d help me in life.

But as I grow to learn from experiences, they do more harm than good.

And you can measure their effects distinctly from how it changes your interaction with people, your affect on reality, and almost every avenue of your life literally.

It does a lot more harm than good – perhaps I could go as far as to say they do only harm.

Worry exists in us for good reasons, to prevent us from making mistakes that’ll harm us.

But as we mature, there is little reason in having to keep them within our minds.

It’s like taking off your leg from the brakes as you accelerate.

There is no point to press on the brakes when you know there is  a straight road to drive and you can maneuver through them.

If you can’t, practicing with a calm mind than a scared, worried or fearful one surely does help more as well, doesn’t it?

A life without grasping to worries can propel a human being to great heights.

Especially when one has strong, positive & considerate goals to aim for.

As we understand this, many more problems that exist day to day can also shy away by themselves.

I realized life leads a plot of its own with every each of our lives.

As much as we want to control it, put it into a rigid grasp, when the time comes nothing we do actually makes much difference.

Life happens anyway.

I don’t mean to advocate irresponsibility.

The main message here is, we could always live life without worries.

And this way of life can enhance our quality of experience a lot more.

It could make us much happier in general.

Then all that needs to take place, is our honesty, our genuine expressions, and our effort in making things better.

It can be done.

Why not start now and see what differences it makes?

What’s done is done.

What needs to be done now can be done now.

What you’re going to do in the future is of no relations to your worries right now, if you can make as much good decisions as you can now.

Let it happen.

Let it flow.

Let it your create the magic you’ve been wanting to see.

Talk soon.

See conscious spirituality/non-duality has always taught similar things.

Sometimes, they are expressed differently, other times the same.

After reading this article, I thought, “Might as well – it is expressed to the extreme, in a way that may not be accepted by most people’s minds. But considering how it can alter a person’s state for the better in certain situations (interpret the piece however you want), I’m sharing it here.”

Some of you after reading will think, “Hey I got something out of this.”

While others, “Man, this is over the top.”

I think either way is fine.

Seen through spiritual spectacles, this is great.

Seen through a materialistic pair, and this may seem mad.

Question is, is there a correctness that stands between them?

Enjoy:

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Author: Robert Adams

Think of the things that have happened to you in your life now. You appear to be getting older and older. Things come into your life, as it appears. You try to exchange wrong for right, good for bad. Yet you refuse to acknowledge that this too is a dream. You want to continue playing the game. You want to play hide and seek by believing there is a God somewhere, and if you find this God, all your problems will be over. So you keep searching.

You can never find your reality by searching.

Reality is where it’s always been, right where you are at this moment. It is you.

There is not reality and you. You are not in the body of God; God is not in you. For there is no you. There is no body. There is no God. You are perfect pure awareness just as you are now.

There is really no thing you have to do. You simply have to wake up. Why will you not awaken now? Even while I’m talking to you, many of you are thinking, thinking, thinking. Can’t you see by now, that this is what is holding you back from your freedom, from your bliss, from your joy? It is your thoughts.

Where did your thoughts come from? They really didn’t come from anywhere, for they do not even exist. Yet unfortunately most of us believe that thoughts exist, for we are bombarded by them day and night.

So sages come along and invent methods, means, in order to obliterate the thoughts. Meditation was invented for that purpose. Self-enquiry, all of these yogic exercises, pranayama, mantras, kriya, they’re really used to stop your thoughts from blossoming, to keep your mind from thinking.. All of these procedures are to make your mind quiescent, quiet, still. If you’re able to do this without the methods, then you would be realized. You would be your self. You would be liberated. But you refuse to do this. You want a teacher to give you methods to wake you up.

But I say to you, wake up now. Awake. The methods will keep you back because you get stuck with the methods. But it makes no difference what I say. You are still going to identify with the world, with conditions, with your body, with your mind. We therefore have to think of a way, the quickest way for you to awaken. Of all the methods I, know, self-enquiry is the fastest if you are mature enough to be able to handle it. You begin to understand that the I is only a thought; it is an idea called the I-thought. It is the I-thought that dominates your existence. True?

How many times have you said “I” today? “I” am going to hear Robert. “I” am going to eat breakfast. “I” am going to take a nap. “I” don’t think I feel too good. “I” feel great. “I” need this. “I” need that. The first person pronoun I, dominates your entire existence.

Yet it has been known by Sages, if you were only able to annihilate the I, destroy it, kill it, you would be free. The I is attached to all of your thoughts. Therefore, begin to follow the I to its source. I have to tell you in truth and in reality, there is no I and there is no source, but you will not believe me. You want to play with I. You therefore follow the I to the Source, and when the I has been dissolved into the source, you become free.

You do this of course by enquiring “to whom do these thoughts come?” Or, whatever is disturbing you, you enquire “to whom do they come? Who is experiencing this? Who is going through this? Who thinks they are human? Who feels depressed? Who feels discouraged? Who feels there is a difference between birth and death? – I do.” Can’t you see now, that if you get rid of the I, all those feelings, depression, and worry would disappear?

So you ask, “Who am I? Where did this I come from?” You never answer that question. When thoughts come to you, you enquire “To whom do they come? To me? I think these thoughts. Who am I?” You do not answer. As you continue to do this process, you find that your mind is becoming quieter and quieter. The confusion stops. You begin to feel happier and happier. You are no longer reacting to person, place or thing. You become spontaneous in everything you do.

You live in the now, but you’re not doing that. It’s doing you. In other words you have not decided, “I’m going to be spontaneous from now on. I’m going to live in the now.” As you are aware, how many times have you tried that without avail? You can’t make up your mind that you’re going to be spiritual, that you’re going to be consciousness, that you are absolute reality. How many times have you tried to do that, and the first thing that comes into your life, you become upset? You react. Something bothers you. Or something good comes into your life and you become elated. You react in a positive way. They’re both impostors.

Remember you’re not trying to change bad into good. You want to transcend everything, and become absolutely free. See how you’re thinking? Your mind won’t stay still, will it? Whose mind is it that won’t stay still? Do you really have a mind? Are you the mind? Who told you this? There is no mind, there is no body, there are no thoughts. Accept this if you want to. All it can do for you, is liberate you. We listen to the birds, we see the beautiful trees. Who sees? Who listens? Why, I do. You’re caught in the trap again. For many of you believe, if I behold the beauty of the world, that’s good. It’s better than beholding death, I suppose.

But the world is an illusion. It is not real. The so called beauty is here today and gone tomorrow. Change is the only permanent thing of the relative world. Everything changes continuously.

Therefore as you go through the vicissitudes of life, and you get rid of your dogmatic thinking, you open your heart, you begin to feel something different. You begin to loosen up.

The first thing to understand is that everything that has transpired in your life has been necessary. No matter how it looks. No matter what has happened. Everything has been necessary.

The second thing to understand is, everything has been preordained. In other words, everything was supposed to happen the way it happened. There were no mistakes.

The third thing to understand is that the first two things are a pack of lies. For these things don’t even exist in reality. Everything is preordained, as long as you believe you are the body. Everything is karmic, as long as you identify with the world and believe you are the doer.

(Him: Watched the movie “Inception” by Christopher Nolan? Perhaps this piece can appear more understandable if you connect the subject of ‘I’ to a dream main character. As real as the dream character is to you, it is just a dream character. It doesn’t exist. We think the characters have a body, mind, emotions and can be happy, sad, fearful, etc. but they really are just played out automatically in a dream. It seems like it has a sense of ‘I’ to its body.  But does it really own that ‘I’? Or is it played out somewhere else?)

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“Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
- Eckhart Tolle, from A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

Now I’m not sure what conclusion can be gotten from this video that I’m going to share with you.

But I’m sort of relieved someone revealed this in public, at least.

What do consciousness, free will & neural activity have in common?

Find out here:

I’ve written a post which touched on this subject in the past.

If you’re interested in reading it, kindly click on this following link: http://www.hislatestwords.com/2009/10/29/47-human-experience-chemical-reactions/

My guess is, great people like Johnny mostly don’t do things because of mental concepts conditioned from the outside. He doesn’t care how he was perceived on the surface – he was only interested in acting to his best, expressing himself as a character to the fullest, and being genuine. More can be learned about how great people are great, the poem below for example can be invaluable in that sense to the reader who can read between the lines.)

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The Passionate Professional
By Clyde E. Gumbs

Born into a world
With expectations ready-made
A culture and society
Where I am told to make the grade

To have a good and worthy life
Is what I’m always told to seek
Find good work and a vocation
Is what I always hear them speak

But what is the point of work in life
How can I know what I should choose
What can I now profess to be
Where in the end I will not lose

Get good education and good training
Protect my status in all ways
Money I make also important
I hear these things so many days

Focus on benefits some will tell me
And all the perks offered to some
Focus on how I feel about my tasks
So days can be easy as they come

Others may say work is a sacrifice
A burden I am compelled to bear
It’s what I must do in life to make it
Whether or not I feel it’s fair

Some say it’s about my natural aptitude
And the good things that I can do
Some say it’s about what I have studied
And what I did and what I knew

But none of this can really help me
As through the wilderness I roam
At best it offers hopeless hope
But can never really get me home

But I was not born for validation
Or for what my ego says I need
I was not born to prove I’m worthy
I was not born to live in greed

I was not born to live from fear
Or to prove that I can survive
Not born for what is hard or easy
Or to be flattered while alive

I was born for blessed purpose
Reflected in all I do and be
I was born to fulfill purpose
I was born to fulfill destiny

I was born to be inspired
Blessing all alive and yet to be
An instrumentality of purpose
A gift to all humanity

I was born to profess passion
Inspired passion plain to see
Born to contribute all I am
Born to be merely what is me

I was born for self-expression
Not just to make it and survive
I was born for contribution
Merely because I am alive

I am inspired talents and intentions
Divine gifts designed to flow through me
The conduit for eternal blessings
The Passionate Professional that is me

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

My opinions never matter
It matters not what I may think
Whenever stuck in contemplation
Deeper and deeper I do sink

How can I ever know for certain
What in life do I really control
Is there any true protection
Are answers found in a black hole

So many times it seems so hopeless
No matter what I say or do
So many times fear has consumed me
When illusion dominates my view

There is a place so deep within me
Where a voice cries out to be heard
And when in silence I do listen
Trust is the only spoken word

In a world of pure confusion
What could there ever be to trust
A world so filled with disappointment
A world of danger and disgust

But what if nothing need be certain
Nothing that needed be known
What if I needed no protection
No circumstance I could not own

What if my life was just a journey
With destination I needn’t see
What if my life was for a purpose
And that purpose was my destiny

What if I need only trust my spirit
What if I need only trust my soul
Despite what seems like imperfection
What if I was truly whole

Until I face my final challenge
Until my body turns to dust
No matter what will ever happen
I need do nothing more than trust

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

There are times I have felt as if I was given the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle representing the life I was born to live. This might seem to be an exciting opportunity to experience my life coming together as an unfolding accomplishment. Unfortunately, I also have felt as if I was given the pieces of the puzzle, but not the box that it came in with a picture representing the assembled puzzle. Imagine the task of putting together a jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces while lacking a clear sense of what it was intended to look like. Welcome to the experience of my life.

I have always thought that I must have been born for some purpose. In fact, I have always thought that I was born for some inspired and inspiring purpose. The issue, for me, was what was the purpose that I was born to fulfill. Most of my life has represented a quest for the fulfillment of my purpose and potential without any clear sense of what that purpose and potential were intended to be.

Like so many others, I was told that if I had a good education, then I would be on track to fulfill the purpose and potential of my life. Despite undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees from one of the great institutions of higher learning in the world, I still lacked clarity about what my true purpose and potential were. I even lacked clarity about where to go to find clarity.

Like so many others, I was told that if I had a good job, then I would be on track to fulfill the purpose and potential of my life. Despite working successfully in the highest realms of business, I still lacked clarity about what my true purpose and potential were.

Like so many others, I was told that if I had a spouse and children, then I would be on track to fulfill the purpose and potential of my life. Despite having a devoted spouse and wonderful children, I still lacked clarity about what my true purpose and potential were.

Like so many others, I was told that if I had a strong religious background, then I would be on track to fulfill the purpose and potential of my life. Despite growing up in the culture of Christianity, attending Sunday School as a child, attending church as an adult, listening to countless sermons, singing countless hymns, and reading countless scriptural passages, I still lacked clarity about what my true purpose and potential were.

Finally, like even so many others, I was told that if I did things to help people, especially those less fortunate than myself, then I would be on track to fulfill the purpose and potential of my life. Despite countless acts of kindness, generosity and charity; I still lacked clarity about what my true purpose and potential were.

To my overwhelming disappointment, I found myself in the darkness experiencing myself as a soul lost in the wilderness despite having a “good life,” having a “better and more positive life” than most people, and having done so many of the “right things” that I had been told to do. What I didn’t have was an inspired and inspiring life and a life with a clear and compelling sense of purpose and destiny. What I didn’t have was “my life.” What I had was the life I was told I should live, not the life I was born to live.

After so many years of striving for “success,” I gave up. I gave up seeking to be a better person with a better life. I gave up seeking to be the person that people thought I should be with the life they thought I should have. Out of a sense of hopeless frustration, resignation and despair I gave up my attachment to the life I had. All that remained were questions. What was the life I was born to have? Who was the person I was born to be? What was the purpose of my lifetime? What was my destiny?

From beyond any place I knew to look and beyond any place that I had ever seen, arose a vision of a world where people are inspired, inspiring and passionately living the lives they were born to live. Imagine a world where people are unleashed to be all that they are born to be. Imagine a world where people are at peace and honor the dignity of nature and humanity. Imagine a world where love and joy and miracles abound. Imagine a world where people have a compelling sense of purpose and destiny.

That is the grandest vision that I have ever imagined. That is the vision I was offered when I gave up my attachment to the life I had. That is the vision that I am willing to give my life to fulfill. A life lived fulfilling that vision is certainly a life worth living. A life lived fulfilling that vision is certainly the life I was born to live.

Imagine if I can be a demonstration of what everyone is born to be. Imagine if my lifetime can be lived as an offering to the miracle of what life can be for all humanity. Imagine if my every failure can show others and myself the way to greater opportunity. Imagine if out of pointlessness and hopelessness I can light people’s path to victory. Imagine if I can be an instrumentality of purpose aligned with, and sourced by, the universe and all divinity. Imagine if I can rise each day with such a compelling sense of purpose and destiny. Imagine if all that takes is merely being the person that I am and was always born to be. Imagine that.

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

Moment after moment and day after day people experience life. If you ask them what they seek they may say many things. Although there may be some people who say they are content with themselves and their lives just the way they are, most people will tell you they seek to be a better person with a better life. If only they were more intelligent, more knowledgeable, more attractive, more physically fit, healthier, more skillful and more focused. If only they had more money, more status, a better home, better cars, and all of the best stuff of life.

They may believe that the way to the “promised land” requires devotion to being good, better, right and positive as contrasted with being bad, worse, wrong and negative. This reflects the common societal view of life through the contexts of good versus bad, better versus worse, right versus wrong, and positive versus negative. They may believe that they are more good, more right, more positive and better than they were in the past. They may also believe that there are more good things, more of the right things, more positive things and better things in their lives than there were in the past.

Unfortunately, despite what appears to be demonstrable improvement, they find that either they never quite accomplish what they seek or that when they accomplish what they sought it wasn’t as fulfilling as they had expected. Naturally this can be a very frustrating, disappointing and uninspiring experience.

What if people gave up their quests for better lives? What if people gave up their quests to be better people? What if people merely sought to live the lives they were born to live? What if people merely sought to be the people they were born to be? What if people were born for inspired and inspiring purposes? What if people were born to live inspired and inspiring lives? What if the opportunity of a person’s life was to evolve in fulfillment of the purposes they were born for? What if all this took was a new level of awareness?

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

When I look back upon this spiritual journey that I call my life, I am amazed at how difficult I made things. I was born into a family with many hard earned and inspiring accomplishments. My parents were intelligent, well-informed, and hard working. They were also successful entrepreneurs and passionate community servants. My siblings similarly have used their gifts and talents for the benefit of our family and the communities where they have lived. I never doubted that I had been blessed with a wonderful family and would have a great opportunity to live a fulfilling life.

My challenge was to identify what it would take to have a fulfilling life. I hoped that I had been born for some great purpose, even though I had no idea what it might be. I knew what I liked to do. I knew what people thought I did well. I knew what people thought I should do and expected of me. I was always encouraged to do “good” things, “positive’ things, “better” things, and of course the “right” things.

Despite many noteworthy achievements along the way, for decades and decades, I experienced a recurring sense of frustration, boredom, failure and disillusionment, which, at times, led to indulgence, escapism, recklessness and wreckage.  Inevitably, the indulgence, escapism, recklessness and wreckage led to shame, humiliation, guilt, despair and resignation.  To my great surprise and as if by an act of divine grace, despite the shame, humiliation, guilt, despair and resignation, I was still alive and still standing.  Despite it all, a new day would dawn, and a new opportunity for redemption and to live a fulfilling life always remained.

Ultimately, what became very clear to me was that focusing on what other people or even I expected me to be or do did not create a fulfilling life. Similarly, focusing on my own or others judgments about what was “good,” “positive,” “better” and “right” did not create a fulfilling life either. What was not clear to me was that there was a simple, if not initially obvious, alternative. What fundamentally different way was there to look at life other than: good versus bad, positive versus negative, and better versus worse? For most of my life, I had never thought to ask myself that question.  It never occurred to me until one day when I realized that my heart’s desire was to have an inspired and inspiring life. I desired a life where I could fulfill the purpose I was born for and my potential inside that purpose. My true desire was to be able to live with a compelling sense of purpose and destiny. I had never been clear about that before and had never lived with the clarity of that intention.

I was not concerned about whether an inspired and inspiring life was a good, positive, or better life. I was concerned instead about living a life where I fulfilled my purpose, potential and destiny. I was not concerned about what others considered to be the right life for me. I was concerned instead about being the person I was born to be living the life I was born to live.

From that perspective, I could see very plainly and simply that there were only two fundamentally different ways that I could experience and relate to life. In any moment, I was either, “inspired, on purpose and authentic” or “uninspired, off purpose and inauthentic” By inspired, I mean “in spirit,” spiritually connected, and in spiritual alignment. By on purpose, I mean in alignment with the purpose I was born for. By authentic, I mean being the person I was born to be fulfilling the purpose I was born for.

Imagine if living an inspired and inspiring life fulfilling my purpose and potential was my birthright. Imagine if all that required of me was to be nothing more than the person I was born to be. What a revelation!

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

There appears to be an insatiable appetite for self-improvement. Many people seek to be better people with better lives. Many people seek something or someone to motivate them. Many people seek useful advice, tips and techniques. Although some of these people may believe they have become better people with better lives, despite this apparent achievement they seldom experience fulfillment and in many cases experience frustration, disappointment and emptiness.

There is an alternative to this self-improvement/motivation/advice orientation that focuses on self-awareness instead of self-improvement, transformation instead of motivation, and illumination instead of advice.

Self-improvement approaches are rooted in the context of judgment (i.e. good/bad, right/wrong, better/worse, positive/negative). Implicit in the concept of self-improvement is that if a person can be “more good,” “more right,” “more better,” and “more positive”, then those achievements will provide the person’s greatest opportunity to experience a fulfilling life. Unfortunately, people find that although they may be “more good” than they were in the past, they still experience themselves as not being “good” enough to experience fulfillment. Although they may be “more right” than they were in the past, they still experience themselves as not being “right” enough to experience fulfillment. Although they may be “more better” than they were in the past, they still experience themselves as not being “better” enough to experience fulfillment. Furthermore, although they may be “more positive” than they were in the past, they still experience themselves as not being “positive” enough to experience fulfillment. In other words, they have an experience similar to being a dog chasing its tail.

Self-awareness approaches, on the other hand, are premised on the concept that lack of awareness leads to inauthentic behavior (i.e. behavior that is inconsistent with the person’s true or inspired self). This inauthentic behavior is a barrier to full effectiveness, full self-expression, and having an inspired and fulfilling experience of life. Accordingly, with awareness, a fulfilling experience of life is possible immediately, while without awareness it may never be.

The essential difference in these two approaches is that self-improvement implies that a person needs to be better than they are and self-awareness implies that a person needs to be who they really are.

Motivational approaches are premised on the observation that people are prone to react to external stimulation and that it is possible to offer externally induced stimulation that can cause people to alter their behavior. Accordingly, if the “right” stimulus is offered, the “right” behavior should occur. The nature of this approach has it be dependent upon external stimuli to produce behavior that would not otherwise occur. Therefore, if you remove the stimuli, the alteration in behavior may cease. Furthermore, over time, that same stimuli may cease to cause that alteration of behavior and new stimuli may be required.

Transformational approaches are predicated on the premise that how a person behaves is a function of the way they are viewing life. Since the person’s viewpoint (i.e. mindset) is generally transparent to them (i.e. not readily seen), they may demonstrate little power in altering their viewpoint in ways that would lead to profound shifts in effectiveness and the experience of fulfillment. Transformational approaches are not focused on behavioral change, but are focused on impacting the viewpoint that is informing the behavior.

The essential difference between these approaches is that motivation approaches rely on the source of behavior being external while transformation approaches rely on the source of behavior being internal.

Advice oriented approaches are forms of self-improvement premised on the value of receiving tips, techniques, suggestions, and/or guidance, from some form of authority, that offers “a good or better way.” These approaches are naturally subject to the same pitfalls as other self-improvement approaches in that they are also improvement driven. Additionally, they are only as useful as the quality of the advice and the person’s willingness to take the advice and apply it correctly.

Illumination oriented approaches offer access to self-awareness. As with the self-awareness approaches, the value of illumination is predicated on the impact that occurs out of people seeing what they haven’t been seeing that is at the source of inauthentic behavior.

Advice oriented practitioners offer a “good or better way,” whereas illumination oriented practitioners offer the opportunity to “see” your way to personal effectiveness and fulfillment.

(Source: http://www.inspireddestiny.com)

It carries words of great weight.

Hope you’ll find it to be a good watch:

This ‘deeper level’ is always present, for it is within this that the body/mind appear, and can be readily discovered by direct investigation into one’s moment to moment experience:

1. Consider the following statement: ‘Life, for each of us, is just a series of moment-to-moment experiences’. These experiences start when we are born and continue until we die, rushing headlong after each other, so that they seem to merge into a whole that we call ‘my life’. However, if we stop to look we can readily see that, for each of us, every moment is just an experience.

2. Any moment of experience has only three elements: thoughts (including all mental images), sensations (everything sensed by the body and its sense organs) and awareness of these thoughts and sensations. Emotions and feelings are a combination of thought and sensation.

3. Thoughts and sensations are ephemeral, that is they come and go, and are objects, i.e. ‘things’ that are perceived.

4. Awareness is the constant subject, the ‘perceiver’ of thoughts and sensations and that which is always present. Even during sleep there is awareness of dreams and of the quality of that sleep; and there is also awareness of sensations; if a sensation becomes strong enough, such as a sound or uncomfortable sensation, one will wake up.

5. All thoughts and sensations appear in awareness, exist in awareness, and subside back into awareness. Before any particular thought or sensation there is effortless awareness of ‘what is’: the sum of all thoughts and sensations occurring at any given instant. During the thought or sensation in question there is effortless awareness of it within ‘what is’. Then when it has gone there is still effortless awareness of ‘what is’.

6. So the body/mind is experienced as a flow of ephemeral objects appearing in this awareness, the ever present subject. For each of us any external object or thing is experienced as a combination of thought and sensation, i.e. you may see it, touch it, know what it is called, and so on. The point is that for us to be aware of anything, real or imaginary, requires thought about and/or sensation of that thing and it is awareness of these thoughts and sensations that constitutes our experience.

7. Therefore this awareness is the constant substratum in which all things appear to arise, exist and subside. In addition, all living things rely on awareness of their environment to exist and their behaviour is directly affected by this. At the level of living cells and above this is self-evident, but it has been shown that even electrons change their behaviour when (aware of) being observed! Thus this awareness exists at a deeper level than body/mind (and matter/energy[1]) and we are this awareness!

8. This does not mean that at a surface level we are not the mind and body, for they arise in, are perceived by and subside back into awareness, which is the deepest and most fundamental level of our being. However, if we choose to identify with this deepest level – awareness – (the perceiver) rather than the surface level, mind/body (the perceived), then thoughts and sensations are seen for what they truly are, just ephemeral objects which come and go, leaving awareness itself totally unaffected.[2]

This awareness is always present, for without it we would not be aware of our own thoughts and sensations. Once we see this, and can identify with this deeper level of awareness, then it can be readily realised that ‘each moment is enough, or perfect, in itself’, for awareness just witnesses ‘what is’ at any given moment without wishing to achieve or change anything. Then this ‘each moment is enough’ becomes a powerful tool to overcome boredom, insomnia, mental restlessness, mind created suffering etc… For awareness itself is never afflicted by these problems, and identification with this gives perfect peace for awareness is always still and silent, which is perfect peace.

I have found that ‘each moment is enough’, and identification with this deeper level, is a marvellous way to overcome boredom whilst on long flights, as the time seems to pass miraculously and boredom completely vanishes for awareness itself is never bored. In fact boredom is a property of the mind caused by it judging every moment and seeking to change ‘what is’ to suit its own preferences, whereas awareness itself is always content and at peace.

This ‘each moment is enough’ is also a great way to overcome insomnia, for once the mind identifies with awareness it stops worrying about sleeplessness. When this occurs sleep automatically takes over if the mind is tired, and if not the peace provided by identifying with awareness provides refreshment and relaxation.

So for me ‘each moment is enough’, which implies identification with the pure awareness that one already is at the deepest level, is the fundamental secret. This leaves one ‘wanting no thing’ and ‘being nothing’ for awareness is not a thing, but is the constant conscious field of subjectivity which sees, or witnesses, everything appearing in it.

In fact ‘each moment is enough’ can be a ‘magic bullet’ to remove all mental anxiety and agitation. If these do occur then they too can be a wake up call to the fact that we have stopped identifying at the deeper level and are back at the surface level of body/mind.

Dear readers,

I apologize for not having been writing to you much.

It didn’t motivate me to write something which its conclusion I still haven’t satisfactorily come about, so I have been holding off from writing a post.

However, that’s about to change.

For I may have something beneficial to share with you today.

I have, in the past few weeks, been involved in a sales development role.

This job has provided me an opportunity to talk to many, many people a day, thus allowing me to view the world and the characteristics of its people more clearly.

And I realized – sometimes, spirituality can be too spiritual.

Non-duality can be too non-dual.

The key to grasping what’s right can only be done by one being grounded in his or her maturity.

As I have come to observed, I may have involved myself too much in the spiritual sense, without knowing that what I’ve invested my time into was purely on one little side of what the world offers.

Why do some people seem so out of line to you in terms of their sense of reality?

How can some believe so strongly an ideology is true that their lives seem to revolve entirely around it, while others can discard the same ideology without so much as giving it a closer glance?

It’s not that one is right, or another’s wrong.

From my observations, it’s because many people, too many people, didn’t realize that they have listened or watched too attentively to the chatter or images they’ve construed in their minds.

Simply said – because people paid too much attention to the illusion that they hold in their minds – that often times reflect no direct consequences on the world they are living in right now.

Or if it does reflect anything when one base his or her life entirely in the mind, often it reflects in less admirable behaviors that gets expressed externally in reality (rarely with any positive results in return as one can usually observe).

In the past few weeks, I have come to terms on this:

That the internal mind and the external world are two different worlds, unless action has taken place.

Don’t take me wrong, I don’t mean to talk down on any teachings that have been taught on how the mind affects reality.

I’m just attempting to, for once, be mature enough to see through the fog and into the facts.

Goals and dreams aren’t bad things.

It’s only when one devotes his or her thinking to those thoughts that negative consequences surface.

Thoughts aren’t bad things either.

It’s only when one actively involve in the creation of it that confusion, fear, and many other negative emotions happen.

Eventually, I realized that the most respectable, most successful, most admired legends of the world who have accomplished great things do indeed function differently from the rest of the world.

The way they live is truly different, so ‘strange’ (genius) that it makes sense that most people never accepted that there is such a way to live their lives.

I realized that these outstanding personalities do live, think, and have dreams like all of us.

But the difference is:

They never actively push themselves to ‘mentalizing’ thoughts.

In other words, they don’t create unecessary chatters, don’t create dreamy scenes in their minds, and so on.

Instead, what they do is very simple:

They have an immense ability to focus.

If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought that the word ‘focus’ means pushing myself hard in a direction while disregarding all distractions along the way when the word is expressed by someone.

But today, the word ‘focus’ carries or indicates something much, much more, simple, for me.

And it’s just this:

That nothing else exists within your attention, other than deep observance and engagement.

I can go on writing and explaining about this, but I believe that I should trust in my readers’ maturity as well.

Some things aren’t meant to be described in detail, as reading it and experiencing it means entirely different things.

Maturity.

It is truly important, if anything written here is to be correctly or clearly apprehended.

So how can you put this ideology into practice?

How could you perhaps have a taste at seeing through the eyes of true excellence?

How can you adopt this focus?

I don’t have a custom advice for everyone, but here’s something that I hope you can benefit from:

In the next few days, try committing yourself to doing this.

1. If you have a chatter in your brain, don’t allow it to continue – speak it out.
2. If scenes, stories or images appear in your mind, let it silent down and if you want, you can calmly talk about it.
3. The key is, no matter what, don’t allow the mind to get wild silently & internally inside of you.

Hear those words coming out of your mouth, and realize that the sound you hear is what’s real in the external world.

While all of us can imagine different things in our minds, what we sense on the outside is what’s feasible.

Then, once you have finished the talking, and have rested your lips, allow the focus to stay.

And if or when the thoughts distract you from your focus, speak it again.

Discuss it until you’re satisfied that the case is close, your mind is left with nothing, and you can be at peace with the presence of now.

Until you can observe everything with true focus.

Whatever it may be, allow yourself to learn from yourself.

Allow yourself to accept yourself.

Because let’s face the fact – our minds can ignore what’s before us, who we see in the mirror, or how the actual world appears.

But it would falter in attempt of exchanging a fantasy of the mind with reality.

I’m not asking you to accept reality, or to embrace it as the only thing that counts.

That never crossed my mind.

What I attempt to share with you, is the focus.

In which I hope, when you have grasped it, can improve your life so much for the better.

Thanks for reading.

I curse myself for not being rich enough, so that I could distribute his words to the world.

I curse myself for being so unaware, of life’s greatest lessons when they presented themselves before me countless of times in life.

I bought a book titled “Tuesdays with Morrie” two days ago.

If I was rich enough, I would buy every person in this world a copy of this book.

Similar to Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” – only more passionate, and carry more advices that the hour long lecture could contain, Morrie Schwartz – a sociology professor who embraced life on his deathbed, shared his greatest advices on living life with his student Mitch Albom.

Mitch Albom eventually written “Tuesdays with Morrie”, sharing his professor’s final ‘thesis’ with him, about what matters most to a person who knows his days are numbered, and the greatest points most of us have missed while going through our daily ordeals.

I only hope I could be eloquent enough to state how precious this book could be to you.

But no words can describe better, Morrie’s final days of being the teacher he is, than his advices which came straight from his examplary actions before he died.

I could go on writing every word I could muster from my brains about his teachings, but my heart aches knowing that I’ll never be able to accomplish a good job delivering his words to you.

I had only one way.

To let you know, that “Tuesdays with Morrie” exists on almost any major book store, and I sincerely hope you would buy it over any other books you’re considering next.

One of the biggest takeaways, and one of the most vivid picture I had in mind from reading “Tuesdays with Morrie” – is to realize that when I’m lying on the bed at old age, barely able to move my sunken, helpless body…

What I would want most,

Is to have many, many people who love me stay or visit my bedside, allowing me to still love them, and be loved in return, knowing that my final days are the brightest, truest, most giving – even if they may be most helpless, days of my life.

Just like Morrie.

For, what do all other things in the world matter to you, if you were to bring none of them with you, and had to be alone through your last days, not being able to wipe your own ass, not being able enough to toughen up for the next ordeal, not having anyone to accompany you in the darkness of your own room?

Anything I would say would only sound brash, forgive me.

I couldn’t do it as well as Morrie, who was able to put the harshest situations of life into a genuine perspective of kind, touching, and lasting lessons that anyone who listens to him would remember, if not for a long time, for life.

Too young, too naive, too egoistic, I couldn’t yet fully live out Morrie’s example, and this aches me.

But the least I can do is point you to that $7.50 book on the book shelf, give you my promise that it’ll be a book worth reading – no matter who you are – and nod solemnly in the direction of it earnestly expressing, “get it”.

I only hope I was rich enough, so I could buy every person in this world Morrie’s precious advices for free.

So that we could all know how to live a full life.

And die knowing that we had had a meaningful one.

A truly, meaningful one.

So to know who you are beyond concepts embrace the “not knowing” in yourself.   And then you’re getting closer to the essence of who you are.  Let’s see if you can get a limited understanding of what this not knowing is…thoughts subside for a moment but the strange thing is there is something that is still present there.  I say something but it’s not something, but language is limited because language is about the world of things.  Thoughts subside and there’s something even when you’re not thinking, you’re actually present. And even if you were not perceiving at that time…you could say, ‘yes I’m present because there’s sense perception happening.’  Even if you close you eyes and even if you put ear-plugs in or there’s total silence.  We can even try it now.  You close your eyes.  All visual sense perception have become obliterated.  And there’s no noise going on either.  So before you were aware of visual perceptions and you are aware of this voice and now there’s neither visual perceptions nor auditory perceptions for a moment.

What’s left?

You are still there.  The amazing thing is even without reminding yourself about your past or your future, your present life situation or your name or looking at your body, there is something that is still present.  You know that, but it is not differentiated.  It doesn’t have a history, what is still present.  It has no past and no future to it.

You can’t really say much about it.  You can’t define it further because it is what Buddhists call empty.  It’s emptiness.  It’s formlessness.  It is formless consciousness.   If you find that in yourself and it’s always there underneath the movement of form which is thinking and emotions and even sense perceptions.  Underneath, it is always there.   If you find that, even the most unprofitable life, people who have messed their whole life up, has become redeemed because you have found the one thing that really matters, yourself.

Of course you can’t stay there indefinitely in that space.  At some point the world of form  returns.  But what is possible is not to lose connectedness with that dimension.  In other words and this is the ultimate spiritual practice until it becomes a natural way to live. In the background you can sense that spaciousness still even while you’re perceiving things.

Let’s go there again very briefly, close your eyes.  No more visual perception.  No more sounds. What’s left?  A sense, there may be some thoughts left, but if you’re very alert, the alertness will obliterate the thoughts, too.  So there are no thoughts left in that alertness.  Alert!

What’s left.  Can’t define it, but you are still there in that formless simple presence, you are actually being the essence of yourself.  And it is that which gives you your sense of identity.  Even when you associate your sense of identity with your life history and memories.  That your memories get mixed up with the essential sense of beingness that is the formless empty space in yourself.  That is the primordial “I,” the timeless “I.”

And that is your identity.  In the unawakened unenlightenend state that primordial consciousness, formless consciousness, gets mixed up with the memory of who you are.  And so you get a diluted version of who you are and you think you are your past history, your memories and your ambitions and your fears.  But if you disentangle your sense of beingness, which is the essential sense of identity, if you disentangle that from thought and we’re doing it here, if you disentangle your sense of identity from thought, what is left then you can actually experience…I’m saying you experience it but that’s not right because language created-subject object divisions…you experience yourself as the subject, the subject experiences itself, the subject experiences itself as formless consciousness.  It is that which is the very foundation for your identity.  The preciousness that you are.

The preciousness that everybody feels, there is something there that is so wonderful.  It’s “I,” but it gets mixed up with form and then people get some form identity.

So it’s vital to disentangle consciousness and form which usually are mixed up together.  And once you’ve disentangled it you may want to do that quite often.  But ultimately it’s living a normal life without losing that awareness of the essential formlessness of who you are in the background even while you’re perceiving forms. You are looking at the flowers, you’re looking at other human beings, you’re dealing with things without losing yourself in the forms anymore, because you still have in the background an awareness of the formlessness.  In fact the awareness is the formless in the background. No matter where you go you are essentially a field of formless consciousness experiencing the things of this world. And the field of formless consciousness is also experiencing the person.

-=-=-=-

(Source: Eckhart Tolle, April 2010 Webcast)

I wouldn’t say I’m ‘enlightened’ as public media has labeled the term to be, but I’d probably say I know what it is.

And even how one is supposed to ‘get’ it.

Best of all, how one is supposed to be able to ‘get’ it Now.

But in the end, it would all be for nothing.

And why is this?

Because enlightenment is not a stage in which – after you’ve accomplished something – you arrive in.

In fact, the biggest misconception about enlightenment is that it’s something to ‘get’ to, to ‘do’, to ‘attain’.

I believe anyone who’ve done enough spiritual practice would agree…

That in the end, enlightenment is only about this, right here and now.

That’s all there is to it.

No meaning.

No difference.

No judgment.

The world doesn’t change after you understand enlightenment.

In fact, it stays the way it is.

Being enlightened just means you’ve understood what enlightenment means, and then choose to have peace with that understanding.

In short, to be at ease with this, here and now.

Or you could just say, in everyday terms, be patient, at ease, and OK with how things go.

Unfortunately, life ain’t easy, for many of us.

Sometimes it gives us great highs, and most of us would think that life’s amazing and it’s incredible to be alive after those moments.

But more often than not, it hits us right where it aches, and makes us dread this suffering-laden life.

In those times, many of us would choose to drown ourselves in the pain.

That’s why Zen advocates Zazen (sitting meditation).

What is Zazen all about in the end?

People say it’s a practice to silence the mind, so you can gain more clarity in life.

That’s one.

According to Zen Buddhism however, the biggest lesson to learn from Zazen, is to just do Zazen.

Some may think doing Zazen may actually lead them to ‘enlightenment’.

Unfortunately, anyone who’ve done enough Zazen knows that you don’t get anything from the meditation other than clarity of mind, and aches throughout your body.

But it is the enduring through those aches while you’re practicing Zazen that you can get the full purpose of it.

It’s to remind people, that during hard times, you just do Zazen anyway.

That when life isn’t great, you just do Zazen (keep living on) anyway.

A little discipline is involved.

I lied.

A lot of discipline is probably involved.

The world will never change.

What changes, ever, is our perception about it.

Enlightenment is a way of being present with this, right here and now.

What benefits does it bring you?

It just eases life for sufferers.

And… just perhaps, you may gain some knowledge and valuable wisdom, about life, because of your new-found clarity with what Is.

What’s after that?

You just keep doing ‘Zazen’.

Philip F. Harris
March 21, 2010

Is science beginning to verify ancient mystical truths? Here are two events as reported in Scientific American that, to me, show that continued discoveries in quantum physics leave little doubt as to the answer.

“PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers have demonstrated a device that can pick up single quanta of mechanical vibration similar to those that shake molecules during chemical reactions, and have shown that the device itself, which is the width of a hair, acts as if it exists in two places at once—a “quantum weirdness” feat that so far had only been observed at the scale of molecules.

“This is a milestone,” says Wojciech Zurek, a theorist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “It confirms what many of us believe, but some continue to resist—that our universe is ‘quantum to the core’.”

Physicists have long known that, following the laws of quantum mechanics, objects at the scale of atoms or smaller can exist in multiple simultaneous states. For example, a single electron can move along multiple different paths or an atom can be placed in two different places, simultaneously. This so-called superposition of states should in principle apply to larger objects, as well… As to how the day-to-day reality of objects that we observe, such as furniture and fruit, emerges from such a different and exotic quantum world, that remains a mystery.”

In another story written by Geoff Brumfiel we see that, “A team of scientists has succeeded in putting an object large enough to be visible to the naked eye into a mixed quantum state of moving and not moving.

Andrew Cleland at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his team cooled a tiny metal paddle until it reached its quantum mechanical “ground state”– the lowest-energy state permitted by quantum mechanics. They then used the weird rules of quantum mechanics to simultaneously set the paddle moving while leaving it standing still. The experiment shows that the principles of quantum mechanics can apply to everyday objects as well as as atomic-scale particles.

The work is simultaneously being published online today in Nature and presented today at the American Physical Society’s meeting in Portland, Oregon.

According to quantum theory, particles act as waves rather than point masses on very small scales. This has dozens of bizarre consequences: it is impossible to know a particle’s exact position and velocity through space, yet it is possible for the same particle to be doing two contradictory things simultaneously. Through a phenomenon known as “superposition” a particle can be moving and stationary at the same time–at least until an outside force acts on it. Then it instantly chooses one of the two contradictory positions.

But although the rules of quantum mechanics seem to apply at small scales, nobody has seen evidence of them on a large scale, where outside influences can more easily destroy fragile quantum states. “No one has shown to date that if you take a big object, with trillions of atoms in it, that quantum mechanics applies to its motion,” Cleland says.”

There is no obvious reason why the rules of quantum mechanics shouldn’t apply to large objects.

“It’s wonderful,” says Hailin Wang, a physicist at the University of Oregon in Eugene who has been working on a rival technique for putting an oscillator into the ground state. The work shows that the laws of quantum mechanics hold up as expected on a large scale. “It’s good for physics for sure,” Wang says.

So if trillions of atoms can be put into a quantum state, why don’t we see double-decker buses simultaneously stopping and going? Cleland says he believes size does matter: the larger an object, the easier it is for outside forces to disrupt its quantum state.

So what´s the big deal? Mystics have long held to several fundamental maxims. The macrocosm, large, and the microcosm, infinitely small, are one: what applies to one, applies to the other. Mystics have said that we create our own reality; form follows thought; what we seek is what we find; like attracts like; our focus is our reality; reality is merely our thoughts made manifest and we can alter that reality with thought; and we are all one.

Until now, many scientists simply shunned much of what was happening on the quantum scale and felt that it just did not matter with regard to the larger world in which we live. The mentioned experiments would seem to point in the direction that they are wrong. What we hold as laws of the physical world are not immutable and only reflect our current state of awareness. Almost every day, some basic scientific law is found to be false. We have seen that if we seek to measure electrons as particles, we get particles. But, if we seek to measure electrons as waves, we get waves. Science is finding that things can be in different places at the same time and can be opposite and alike at the same time. They have shown that what is done to one atom can affect an atom at an infinite distance at the same time. Words like quantum entanglement and superposition may not be just unusual phenomena at the sub-atomic level but can be observed at the larger scale. What may be happening is that as human awareness expands, granted at the moment through the use of new equipment, we are beginning to observe a closer version of reality–one that can change with a thought. When we are only aware of things at the gross level, then we only perceive what appears to be true at that level. But when we look closer at the detail, a whole new world and sets of laws emerge. These are the same laws that mystics intuited in ancient days when they were not under the mental restrictions of scientific, religious, political or even social dogma.

This is why I cannot accept some of the basic premises of author Sam Harris. While I applaud his fight against religious dogma, he is actually creating a new dogma based upon science and reason. But as we see, science and reason are also suspect as they are ever changing and never creating a true picture of the inner workings of the universe. They find what they seek. But if your search is based upon preconceived notions and false science, you have merely done what all movements do; collapse under their own biased philosophy. They create laws where there are none.

Many seers and prophets tell of two possible futures for humanity: one in which dogma leads to destruction and one where spiritual enlightenment leads to a world of balance and harmony. Nostradamus, the Mayans, the Hopi, biblical seers, Newton, DaVinci and others tried to tell us that we cannot rely upon our physical senses, science or religion to guide our thoughts and actions. They tell us that there is something deeper, something spiritual, that we must remember if we are to control the future of our evolution. Those working on the quantum physics scale are beginning to ´get it.´ Given enough time, if there is enough time, they will lead us full circle back to ancient truths that were discovered without the microscope or the Bible. If there is to be a “Great Awakening” by 2012, it will be necessary to shed all of the old ways of thinking and embrace a new reality that we consciously create and founded on the ancient universal principles that include: what we due to the least of our brethren, including all species, we do to us and, what we do to others, we do to ourselves.

-=-=-=-

(Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/147271)

I got into a long-drawn argument with one side of my parent.

One of those that some might perhaps regret over for a long time.

I know it is preventable. And as someone who preaches nonduality, my actions could even prove to be hypocritic. Isn’t everything perfect in its own way, so there shouldn’t be anything that I should fight against?

All I knew was, I was not going to be bound.

I was not going to stay patient anymore with circumstances pressuring me down.

Because I deserve to get real as well.

The problem is I have the intelligence to see through the problems in every situation.

I can identify what’s wrong, and what should be absolutely done in every moment.

Most of the times, people just chose to let the bad situations go.

Let them go as they are because, ‘we’ don’t want to mess things up.

‘We’ don’t want to be seen as the bad guys, the problem-makers, or the abnormal kind.

But as this character, I can not be satisfied seeing things worsen without doing anything to change it.

That’s why the arguments had to happen sometimes, all for a better future.

###

In the end, despite the ‘scars’ edged on my body as a result of my struggle in the journey of life, my heart will be alive because I’ve done what I truly deem as right.

I’m going to keep hanging on with my actions until things are headed in the direction where my eyes are set upon.

No matter what happens as a result, it is what it is.

What’s most important is only having myself walk the way that I truly want to walk on.

###

For the very last time -

I’ve decided to abandon formal university education.

And will continue to learn only what is practical for this real life.

In the end, I couldn’t turn a blind eye towards what is right and wrong for me.

To me on a battlefield, theories about swordfight will benefit one very little.

The practice of lifting up a sword to either save or kill on the otherhand, that’s far more valuable.

As such, I’m going to exchange my formal education with a career.

Even if it means that my future job prospects may be bleak.

###

Age 21 this year, I hereby swear myself off all imposterisation.

And would fight against all consequences to remain as much as possible a man of his truest intent.

Fighting in this case, then prove not to be against my own teachings of not struggling after all.

For I feel so much freer as a result.

Especially when compared to one whose genuine expressions are buried by the emotional & psychological baggages that he/she gathered in life – never able to break free, because nothing was ever done to change the circumstances.

For happiness, the fight for one’s own freedom is crucial.

And I will never give up.

I am working full time at Stanford and I write and do a lot else too, Recently I found myself feeling uncomfortably cramped – like there was just too much to do and not enough time or space to do it. Familiar to anyone? It seems to naturally come with a kind of enthusiasm for life. My reading pile was overflowing. My to do list was overwhelming.

The usual responses (for me) are rebellion, which means doing nothing but relaxing in my spare time, or dropping some projects or becoming more efficient with my projects. Earlier in my life I was a GTD (David Allen’s system) person, enabling me to handle overload moments systematically. His system has great tools for getting organized.

But there is something significantly different now. There is some new perspective. The moments of discomfort are being welcomed, and are seeming very interesting.

I heard myself saying to a friend this week that “life is a game”, and since then I’ve been pondering how that doesn’t quite say it for me. It’s not about winning a game. Not really. It’s more like “life is an art form” that you and I create with everyone else, without ever knowing about a final product. So if I get to play the disorganized, overwhelmed person today, that’s fine too, and then I get to respond to that in innumerable ways. There appears now to be a wide expanse of possible responses to playing that role today. I know the Advaita folks say there is no choice, and that is true from a certain perspective, but I’m talking about a down-to-earth, what-are we-doing-with-our-lives perspective. Its as if I’m no longer required to respond (make a choice) according to my history, and neither am I frozen into inaction. I am now able to take up the tools that I bring thanks to my history, and see what can be created with this life, and what can’t and have it be fine either way.

There is a continuing exploration of what this seeming constriction is pointing to and a lack of assumption that the process is anything but perfect. It feels like life is just showing me something it wants me to see, by bringing this experience into my worldly life. And I get to use this incredible tool (the mind) to work with it on that level and see what happens.

Hoping March goes well for all of you and that this lovely California springtime we are having out here spreads to all in the best possible timing. May your high water run smooth this spring!

Blessings,
Alice

(To find out more about Alice Gardner and/or her work, please visit: http://www.wideawakeliving.com)