We identify with our thinking mind / self-talk far more than most of us realize. Our society reinforces this idea that we can solve every challenge with our reductive, linear thinking. This is like confidently attempting to fix computer software problems with a trusty old hammer & screwdriver. The more we foolishly argue with reality & remain alienated from our true self, the more we suffer. This is the BULK of human suffering, and is completely AVOIDABLE.
“We are here to find that dimension within ourselves that is deeper than thought.” Eckhart Tolle
“Learning
to stop thinking sounds a bit paradoxical because usually learning
involves thinking. So it’s more like unlearning, because we are
conditioned to think continuously. A lot of the time, thinking is not
only unnecessary, but also destructive. It cuts you off from the depth
of being, of who you are beyond the thinker. The most dreadful
limitation for a human being is to know him or herself only as the
thinker, with its opinions, beliefs, reactions, and whatever else the
mind continuously comes up with. And that cuts you off from that vast dimension of consciousness that is there beyond thinking – not separate from thinking, it makes thinking possible, but it’s deeper
than that. And here as we meditate, which is probably not the right
word, because it sounds as if we were ‘doing’ something, but we’re not
‘doing’ anything. We’re not ‘doing’ a meditation. But we’re here to realize that, beyond doing, there’s another dimension more vital, that we could call ‘being.’
And
to sense that in yourself, there needs to be at least a gap in the
stream of thinking. Even a few seconds is already a slight deepening and
a little bit of peace and aliveness, and a little bit of joy, coming
through the cracks, so to speak, in what is otherwise a solid wall of
thought. But we are here to go beyond that, not just wait for the little
cracks to appear occasionally, but to embrace that dimension without
which your life is not really that enjoyable. Frustrating in fact,
pointless. The continuous worry, upset, anxiety, and complaining –
that’s what most peoples’ lives consist of. Maybe yes, the occasional
crack is there. Or maybe when they get tired they feel a little bit
better because they can’t think anymore, and then they go to sleep. But
really, without that deeper dimension, is life worth living? I don’t
think so. What for?
Do you think you’ll ever sort out the problems in
your life? Never. You sort out one, and another two appear. So there’s
nothing more important than this. And realize, when you stop thinking,
or thinking subsides, we could say, you essentially are still there as a
conscious presence – a still, conscious, aware space. And that still,
conscious, aware space needs to be there in daily life, in the
background. It doesn’t mean it can only be there when you don’t think.
You access it most deeply when thinking subsides. But as you sense it,
you realize, even when you think again, it doesn’t go away completely
anymore. That conscious aware space can be there even while thinking
happens, or while you’re talking to someone, or dealing with things that
need to be done. And then you can enjoy life every moment. But the
enjoyment doesn’t come from all the things that happen in your life. It
comes from a deeper place. And then what happens, or does not happen, is
of secondary importance. You’re not dependent on what happens, or is
not happening (when you wanted it to happen).
And
then you move through life embodying two dimensions: the dimension of
form, which is thinking and doing; and the dimension of formless
presence – the conscious aware space. The two are there simultaneously.
The conscious aware space interpenetrates, if that’s the word, the world
of form. Then perhaps you realize the truth of the ancient Buddhist
scripture, one of the most famous sutras, which says, ‘Form is
emptiness. Emptiness is form.’ Form and formlessness being there as one.
[Zen Buddhism refers to this apparent paradox with, ‘Not one. Not
two.’]
And so, it’s
not the absolute truth. It’s a way of talking about it. There are two of
you, in any moment, in any situation. There’s the person who thinks,
and does things, and deals with life situations and people. There’s you
as the person. And then there’s the other you as the conscious presence.
So you can still deal with things as a person, but behind that, and
even within that, there is the aware space. So you become a spacious
person, so to speak.
Anybody who has not realized this dimension within
themselves are not spacious. And
of course that still applies to many humans. They are, what’s the
opposite of spacious? Let’s say they are dense. The density of the
person. You can look at anybody that you know, or even strangers when
you observe them, when they go about life, how they deal with things,
how they interact with people, how they react or respond to changing
circumstances, especially when things go wrong, so to speak, by just
observing them you can sense and see how dense or how spacious they are.
And it’s not a judgment, you just see it, just the same way as you see
whether it’s light or dark. You’re not judging when you say, ‘Oh, it’s
getting dark.’ It’s not a judgment. You just see it. So you can see it
in others. And sometimes so-called people who are into spiritual
awakening, even they can sometimes very quickly, when they are
challenged by events, become very dense. The spaciousness is lost.
So
your spiritual practice of course, is everyday life. Can you embody the
spaciousness in addition to being a person? So you don’t need to
achieve perfection as a person. The person will always have certain
limitations and shortcomings. And when Jesus said, ‘Be ye perfect as
your Father in heaven is perfect,’ he doesn’t refer to the world of
form, but the deeper perfection – the wholeness that is spacious
presence.
In ancient Greek philosophy, they often use the term ‘the
good.’ What is the good? Where is the good? And of course, we know what
it is and where it is. The good is not in the world of form. The world
of form is good and bad. Nothing stays good for that long. It either
disappears, or turns into its opposite. The good is within you, and it is
the formless presence – the source of aliveness, joy, identity, the
sense of who you are. The source of that is beingness, presence,
spacious awareness – I am.”
above from Eckhart Tolle's EXCELLENT 20min video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG1JR_w-YmM
“There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home – one that can only be seen with closed eyes. We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness
is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how
many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or
sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance.
It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires
and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are.
When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty
reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep
Heart is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason –
grateful to simply be.”
John J. Prendergast. “The Deep Heart – Our Portal to Presence.” Sounds True, 2019.
“My compassion
is not me being a nice guy. My compassion is me realizing who I am and
knowing that having a heart of love for all creatures, all beings, even a
blade of grass, is true to who and what I am.
Our
whole life and all parts of it, every moment of it, and all of
existence is nothing but compassion and love. We don’t need to produce
compassion. We already are compassion. All we need to do is wake up to who and what we are,
and then naturally, we’re going to have a heart of love not only in
actions that appear to be compassionate but all the time: picking up an
object with compassion, walking from one room to another with
compassion, and, of course, caring for one another with love.” Norman Fischer
"There’s only one happiness and it’s who you are. There’s only one place to find lasting happiness, and that is to know who you are and to be who you are.” Francis Lucille
No comments:
Post a Comment