One Thing
There is only one thing that needs to happen. Consciously be who you already are.
You Are Not Your Mind
It is always a useful activity to keep in awareness the recognition that you are not your mind. If there is any constant “task” in the spiritual life it seems to be this. Human life, by it’s very nature, continually works to bring us into identification with our minds. It is this identification which brings about the sense of separation, aloneness and unhappiness that many of us struggle with on a regular basis.
Whenever there is an impulse to highlight differences between yourself and others, come into the awareness that it is your own mind that is initiating that impulse. Those impulses frequently arise during times we need an “ego boost.” For us to have a strong sense of individual existence, our mind needs to outline those things that seemingly make us different from everyone else. The differences may manifest as political, religious, regional or national. Some will find division in racial, sexual orientation or physical characteristics. In extreme examples, we will create an arch enemy to make ourselves even more superior. In every case, however, the differences are created and exploited by the mind to give the ego a more powerful sense of individuality.
When your mind activates to convince you that you are a being separate from the rest of the individuals {who are almost always more ignorant or inferior) it is displaying the same imperfection it is condemning in the others. Yes, we all seem to be different. We express the appearance of being individuals and, from the human experience, it is easy to convince ourselves this appearance is reality. In fact, we could say human existence is very much all about living the illusionary life of separation. But it is possible for us to do so while also keeping the truth in our consciousness. When dealing with those who live unconsciously chained to a belief of separation, it may even becomes necessary to occasionally act as if we are so. However, to look beyond appearance to the truth of being is the challenge of the spiritual life.
When the impulse arises to magnify differences in others, use the opportunity to look even deeper at the truth. Differences are mind-created and mind-exploited. Tomorrow we may have different beliefs than we have today and the differences we thought we saw yesterday will simply dissolve. Boundaries move, flags change and physical appearance is temporary. Recognize your mind and mental activity are not permanent. See that which is permanent and you will see others as they are in truth. Like a mirror, you will behold yourself.
Does Awareness Come From The Brain?
Q: Isn’t consciousness/awareness produced in the brain?
A: That which the brain produces constantly moves and changes. Over the course of your life, everything under the domain of the brain, including the brain itself, transforms. Comparing your life form at 2 years to you at 22 years and 42 and even 82, will reveal a life form drastically different. All of us look in the mirror and see a different person than we saw as a child. Even the thoughts that our brain/mind produces are not the same as those we thought when we were younger. Sometimes our thoughts can even change completely in a matter of hours. Our awareness, however, has never changed. While the objects of our awareness have changed many times since, the awareness itself is constant. When we think about our awareness in our youth, it seems no different than our awareness now. It feels ageless. Timeless. Unaffected by change or circumstances. How can a brain which is constantly changing and continually manufacturing movement and transformation, produce something that never changes?
Meditation Is Doing Nothing
In meditation, I am not attempting to “do” anything. There is no striving or desiring to make anything happen, nor is there an expectation of anything happening. Meditation is only an alignment of myself to what is. It is becoming aware of the truth of “nowness.” When pausing for meditation, I am allowing the illusionary veil of unawareness to dissolve so I can be aware of what really is. That “is-ness” is reality whether I am conscious of it or not, so there is no need to change anything, add to anything or make anything happen. The reality is, I couldn’t do any of those things anyway. I have no idea how. So aligning my awareness to what is in life is the only thing I can possibly “do.” And that is true meditation.
Protection From The Storms
Image by roshanjoshi from Pixabay
A few years ago I was watching a documentary about the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. You may recall, there was a tremendous loss of human lives and property in that tsunami. To witness the destruction being captured ”live” on video, gave a sense of immediacy to the tragedy. I felt as if I, too, was there with many of the survivors, barricaded in an upper-floor house or hotel, hoping the sea of death and destruction wouldn’t swell any higher and sweep us away.
I was struck in particular by one scene of the video. Dark, muddy water flowed through the streets of a small village, taking everything in its path that wasn’t anchored to the ground. Houses crumbled, cars were tossed around like toy boats, and human beings, unlucky enough to not find higher ground, were hurled about in the debris-filled, ocean soup. A man and woman, thrashed about in the black water, hung on to a broken tree, and frantically searched for something more stable to cling to that would possibly rescue them from impending doom.
While the man and woman clung for their lives, I was soon aware of two birds that landed on a power line directly above the chaos. The juxtaposition of the two scenes hit me hard. The two birds, apparently deciding to take a break from their flight to relax, were oblivious to the heart-wrenching display of struggle and survival that was being played out directly below them. They surveyed the picture, determined there was no threat to them, and continued their peaceful pause. Meanwhile, human tragedy continued to take its toll beneath them.
I’ve never been able to shake the image of those two birds or to forget the idea that, in the midst of every human tragedy, there is an atmosphere of rest if we know where to search. Sometimes that rest is in the deepest of the ocean during a hurricane or it’s in the highest altitude during a tornado. And while those physical locations may provide for us some protection, there is also a spiritual dimension that ensures peace during any storm, tragedy, or catastrophe. We may not be as fortunate to be the birds on the wire, with physical distance from the calamity but we still have that spiritual location of peace and protection we carry within us wherever we go, even if it is in the heat of the battle or in the heart of the destruction.
This spiritual center of peace within us is our true Being. Because it is who we are, we can never be removed from it. It is our secure foundation to hold to when we are being tossed about by life’s waves. When we become aware of this center of our Being on a regular basis, we begin to realize that it is never touched, moved, or injured in any way during any condition, even if our body is maimed or destroyed. We begin frequently to reside in the awareness of this spiritual location ”above the earth’s calamities,” similar to the two birds in the tsunami. We anchor ourselves in this place of deep joy and peace, untouched by sickness, tragedy, or annihilation and, in doing so, we see manifested our true life of happiness, peace, and love.
