Life 2.0

Only an Artist knows Free Will

We are all aware of the drive to do things that will be seen by others as valuable, things that make us feel good about ourselves and things that give us a sense of being alive.  What we not so aware of, is that as we unwrap this drive, underneath it there is fear.  Just below the veneer of positivity is a need for self validation.  Go a little deeper and we find a fear of loneliness - of not being recognised as worthwhile.  Go deeper still and you discover that the engine that drives this fear is a sense of separateness [1].  It is this fearful basis that sets both the context and scope for our creativity and experiences.  

But here's the thing:  What keeps us stuck, what makes creativity appears to take discipline and effort,  and what makes change seem so difficult and take time [2], is nothing more than a misunderstanding about free will.

If we are unaware of the fearful back story to our motivation, we assume that by making choices we are choosing what we want.  However, it takes just a few moments of honest self reflection to see that we are not even  making choices.  Isn't it our mind that is telling us  what to want and think and do?   It is this hidden dark agenda that is getting played out in our life, one judgement [3] and decision at a time.  This isn't free will, it is bondage.

Slumber

And so we sleep in a fog of dis-ease, but because we are 'making choices' we believe we are exercising free will, and therefore must be awake.... and if we are awake, the brokenness and struggle we see everywhere must be real.  It is this inability to see our own blindness that keeps us in the dark.

In confusing 'making choices' with Free Will we ‘see’ what this aspect of mind (call it ego) directs us to perceive.  This is our world now, and there appears no alternative.  

Instead of our mind being a tool we use (like any other human faculty) it now assumes the role of C.E.O. of our life, and the intellect (now attributed with wisdom) becomes the straw God to which we all bow.  But the mind has now taken on an autonomy that it is not cut out to handle.  Crippled with the burden of having to first define who we are, and then run our life trying to uphold and protect this sickly self-perception, it can never rest.  This is suffering.

And so it is that, as adults, we so rarely do things solely for the joy of Self expression.  And when we do, it is with this dark backdrop and in measured doses, because the mind (now running the show) protests that it is too risky, too irresponsible, too impractical to even consider as a way of living.  All bullshit!

Free Will

This choice, between what mind serves - Joy or fear, is Free Will.  Change our mind and all our thoughts change with it, as does the purpose of everything we see.  It is us that provides the meaning to our experience of life.

But for the brave ones who do exercise Free Will, whatever they touch with that ends up being imbued with a sense of beauty and timelessness that can quite literally stop us in our tracks as it touches the same still place within us, from where it came.  Whether it is the appearance of David , mellifluous words that speak the truth, a piece of computer code that makes something difficult elegantly simple, or just the willingness to drop pretences and meet someone in the space we normally hold between us, this is the power and gift of true art.

Let's take a look at motivation again, because there's still one last step in that unpacking process.  If I now look directly at the sense of separation to see what stands between us, I find nothing there.  It was only a mistaken thought in my own mind that made it seem real.  And in seeing that it never was true, the whole basis for our experience of  struggle collapses.... just as it is impossible to believe any lie once we see it for what it is.

In the truest sense, this is what we all want -- to see, and be seen, as we truly Are -- to recognise that we can choose to come from a place of Joy instead of fear, and in doing so choose the nature of our own experiences -- to know that we can heal and be healed. 

Waking

So when you get to the core of motivation it gets really simple.  In spite of the appearance of many, there are only two things happening -- Clarity is being called for or it is being expressed.  And even this is an over complication because in both cases we are coming from same place -- one Will.  No need then to peel any metaphoric onion, or figure anyone out in order to resolve issues.  Cut straight to the core instead, holding the openness to meet in the middle space…. trusting that in the clarity that this seeing brings, everything else falls into place.

Isn't this the choice for Free Will?  Reason tells us it can only be when we come from a place of openness instead of fear, that we are able to respond in a truly helpful way… and only by choosing to look past what seems to stand between us that we get to see what is real.  Perhaps this is what Gandhi meant when he suggested becoming the change we want to see in the world.

It is easy to overlook our fundamental choice when we see economic, environmental and political collapse, particularly when we see it getting personal.  But if you look at things from the perspective of our own growth, then we must recognise that we cannot benefit from anything we have pre-judged and rejected.  So rather than be crushed by circumstance, or be angry about it, or try to make it into what we think it should be, perhaps we could allow these experiences to break our shell of self-centred defensiveness that we withdrawn into, and that keeps us feeling powerless. 

As Jimi Hendrix said, "The real malady is fear of life, not of death".  The caterpillar and the butterfly look on the same cataclysmic event, but from totally different perspectives.  Doesn't point-of-view depend entirely on which side of the fence we choose to stand on?

The Artist

I'll close with a prediction:   It will be the artist... not the scientist, or the intellectual or the leaders-of-old... who will step forward and show the way in the times ahead.  Carefully crafted plans will be no use to us  (we'll come to see these for what they are -- sedatives, lulling us into deeper sleep by removing the need to trust our Self in the moment).   But a picture or a poem can bring us to stillness and point us towards our own blindness.  Only an artist has the ability to dis-illusion us, nudging us back onto our own path, into Self trust. 

Then, in our own unique way, we become artists too.
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Credits:  Michael Leunig  for the cartoon. Michael is a fine exemplar of the power of the artist to wake us from our slumber.  

Footnotes:

[1]... We tend to see mind as an object, and seeing it that way (having form) we can imagine it confined within the 1.5 litre cavity of a human skull.  Form here it is a tiny step to seeing our body as our self, instead of a tool for communication and a vehicle of Self expression.  And so in believing this, we take the bodies limits to be our own.  With this self-image in place it now appears that life itself is divisible --  'I' have my own little temporary part it, separate from 'the rest', which I see through the bodies eyes as 'outside' of me.

[2]... The belief in 'evolution by degrees' - that change takes time and effort, is the ego's second greatest achievement. (its supreme accomplishment is getting us to believe that it is us!)

To get an idea of how entrenched and pervasive this belief is, think of the whole self improvement industry, and what our mentors taught us about the need for discipline and effort, and the general acceptance of the '10,0000 hours of practiced required to be genius' meme.  Of course, if we use empirical evidence as the test of truth then there is no doubt that all these are true.... in our experience!  However, what empirical evidence doesn't consider is the possibility that the whole nature of our experience could itself be a choice.

[3]... Perception is projection [4], and it is also very selective.  The mind rarely comes to rest in open awareness [5].  Instead, it works constantly to pick out a tiny subset of our environment and presents it before us as reality.  Judgement and perception work together to give us the illusion we are using reason and acting rationally.  Perception cherry picks from awareness whatever evidence it needs to justify a judgement the mind then uses to uphold any decision that supports its dark agenda.  Phew!! -- I'll attempt to make this much clearer in an upcoming post.

[4]...Oh please no! Not footnotes of a footnote ;-(
... by projecting the cause of our angst as lying outside ourselves, we avoid the scary thing -- having nowhere to 'put' our feelings.  By seeing ourselves an 'innocent victims' of a capricious world, we avoid taking responsibility for what we feel and project, but at the cost of experiencing ourselves as powerless over what is now seen as outside our Self. 

We firm up this picture of an 'innocent me' by the stories we tell each other (ideas can only get stronger as they are shared).  So telling victim stories is a form of Self-veiling.  It is helplessness masquerading as helpfulness.  By extrapolating the problems of the past into a picture of a fearful future, we completely paper over the present -- the only place where choice (and therefore change) can take place.  Paradoxically, doing this guarantees that our own future experiences unfold in much the same vein as the past.

When you think about it, the idea behind projection -- that I am under the influence of a power or will that exists outside of me (whether we call it Quantum Mechanics, Nature, Gaia, God or something else), is the definition of dogma.

[5]... the idea that stilling our mind and 'being present' is difficult, is another lie of the mind.  It takes constant effort for our mind to avoid  being present.  Our mind works every minute of every day to avoid an experience of complete openness in the present, because if it did, this illusion of 'perception as reality' would be seen for what it is, and the ego's fearful hidden agenda would be exposed.  Even in sleep it has to be constantly vigilant.  It will jolt you awake in the middle of the night rather than let you become 'conscious' in your sleep.

All this 'Presence avoidance' activity is incredibly stressful and tiring, but it is so commonplace, so a part of the everyday fabric of what we call living, that we accept it as normal.  It is only when we collapse under the weight of this stress that society give the particular form of breakdown a label, and pours resources into the study of its 'causes'. 

And even when we start to see the ego's mind games for what they are, it doesn't let go. The poacher turns gamekeeper to avoid detection.  The principle behind a  'practice' or 'spiritual journey' or 'seeking further understanding' is again this idea that change takes times and effort, a tactic to avoid turning to our Self in this moment and having done.  As Chuck Palahnniuk puts it..."It's because we are so trapped in our culture, in the being of being human on this planet with the brains we have, and the same two arms and legs that everybody else has.  We're so trapped that any way we could imagine to escape would be just another part of the trap. Anything we want, we're trained to want."

Basically, the ego will do anything to avoid us becoming aware of the fact that allowing our mind to serve the ego's fear based agenda is a decision.... and so at any moment we could simply choose to drop the latest idea about what is still needed, and turn our attention to our Self instead, trusting that it knows its own way into our conscious awareness.

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Writing Lessons

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell,
blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?”.. Roger Waters

It's 15 months since I last wrote here.  I found myself trying to express the feeling and meaning of what I wanted to say, not just the idea... and losing touch with how to do that.  I could easily imagine someone writing in the comments, "So you think you can tell Heaven from hell, blue skies from pain?"

Better, I thought, to shut up until I found my way. 

New Skills

I was told that good writing is mostly rewriting -- "...just write a shitty first draft to start with.  Then pare away the inessential as you tidy it up into something presentable."  This sounds like good advice, but doesn't feel quite right to me.  What's wrong with just saying it how you find it, without correction or second guessing?  Noam Chomsky put it like this, "Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune."   I know where he was coming from. 

But still, there has to be a better way.  This video from the good people at the R.S.A. reminds me of this need for something similar, in the context to our present situation:

We are fairly well versed at scientific analysis, critical thinking and logical writing, but how do you communicate in a way that creates a space for something fundamentally new?  How do we interact in a way that not just expands our bubble, but can burst it?   However you do that, it's a skill I'd like to learn.

Engagement

One thing I have been learning is that it's only in coming together that we begin to understand just how creative and wise we really are.  In holding on to our own space, we eventually wind up pretty stupid and miserable. [1]

I'm learning that the limitations we see around our creativity and sphere of influence only get lifted as we allow ourselves to meet in the little ‘gap’ that we normally hold between us... as it's only by consciously choosing to accept what our judgments have previously rejected, that we get to witness that the boundaries that create the sense of our being 'a separate part of life' exist solely in our mind. 

Our present belief system functions to support our ‘need’ to be separate.  We ‘see’ what we want to see, then believe what we ‘see’.  Perception is projection, not fact.[2]  So the question is, do we want to be right or to be happy?  Do we want to see that we are powerful and responsible, or would we rather suffer as ‘a victim’ of Universe we prefer to see apart from us?

I have long resisted taking this on board, having associated defences with strength, and defencelessness with being vulnerable.  Yet this does not stand up to testing.  The instant we're willing to let go of our own agenda and stand totally defenceless with one another, we naturally respond in a way that is truly helpful to the unknown as it arises.  Engaging with life defencelessly and indiscriminately [3] like this, I trance-end the 'me' that suffers and wake-up to the Self we really are.

Fun

The other thing I'm (slowly) learning is how simple this can be.

In fact, it's only difficult to the extent that I confuse wilfulness and willingness.  Wilfulness is a determination to do something.  Willingness is wilfulness' opposite:  an eager compliance. 

To illustrate, have you ever watched a monkey carry it's young? 

If you have, you'll know that it doesn't!  The baby has to cling on for dear life. 

You can see the terror in the young ones eyes when its mother swings from branch to branch high in the trees.  They are scared of falling and getting injured.  And sometimes they do.

Now, by way of contrast, watch how a lioness carries her young.  The cub does nothing.

Actually that's not quite true:  The cub chooses to relax, do nothing and enjoy the ride.  It is happy to go wherever it's mother takes it.  It knows it is perfectly safe because it is  willing to leave everything to it's mother.

And help is always at hand..

Even when the cub wonders off and gets into difficulties, it only has to call... and it knows it will be safe again.  Where there is no fear, it's all fun. 

A bit corny eh!  But you get the idea. ;)

Agendaless-ness (that isn't a word is it!) is the bridge between these two ways of being.  And the way I let go of 'my agenda' is trusting that our real Self knows what is needed for our well being far better than the thinking, rational mind could ever do, in any situation. 

But following our inner Guide is about far more than what to do in certain circumstances.  It is learning to consistently feel the Presence connecting us to every living thing.  To begin to feel the harmony and peace that is inherent in the expression of our Wholeness; to experience a state of mind we have almost forgotten.  This is how we communicate on the truest level wherever we direct our attention with this awareness, and this is in no way bounded by our concepts of time and space.

A new beginning

I've come around to seeing that the words are never the problem.  When I focus on words I give them an importance they don’t have, and forget that it’s in coming together that things get really interesting.  And so this is the new direction for this blog.  Whatever words come, can serve that.  They are secondary now, and that suits me fine.  :)

If anyone still listening here after all these months, thank you for being so patient.
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Footnotes:

[1]...There are many ancient stories that appear to contradict this and point towards a period of retreat to 'find yourself'.  I’m sure that’s good and useful, but ultimately we don’t really get to know what we are capable of, and remember our true nature, until we allow that to be expressed.  It’s in returning, rather than retreating, that we discover that 'Joy', 'Self expression' and 'Service', are pretty much all one and the same thing.

[2]... I’ll post about this is some depth, soon.

[3]... I say 'indiscriminately' here because this principle appears to operate in a similar way to the Theory of Constraints.  -- I cannot resist one part of this Flow without resisting all of it.  When I hold back from one person I hold back from everyone.  Maybe it's because this Flow knows no part as separate from itself.  :)   If this is true, then the unavoidable conclusion is that those that are most helpful to our growth and Self realisation are the ones we think of and meet who we are most willing to disengage from.
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A Return to Wisdom

There's something refreshing about feeling free to speak the truth as we see it, don’t you think? 

The French have a word for this - 'témoignage', which means being willing to speak openly about what we see in front of us.  As far as I'm aware, there's no English equivalent. The universities in Ancient Greece were very much into this.  If you'd discovered something cool you could just come and tell.  It wasn't so much about recognition or status, as sharing.

But there's another, perhaps less obvious, benefit in being present and open.  We discover a natural wisdom and ability to respond perfectly to whatever arises.  Almost childlike, we sense, feel and act without any of the judgments or friction that accumulate as we grow up.

This inner knowing doesn't announce itself or insist.  The mind doesn't know, 'Is this the right way?',  'Is this what is best?',  'Is this what I want to do?'  That's mind stuff.  But when we accept the fact that intellect can never really know, we become aware of this feeling -- an inner movement... and where it leans, we can go.  But when our mind asks, 'do I know this is the right way?' the answer is always no.  In fact, 'not knowing' is the way... a way that brings with it an incredible freedom and peace of mind from letting go of the burden of ever needing to know again.

This is wisdom.  And yet it doesn't come as a formula, you can't learn about from or set of bullet points, you don't gain it from experience and it's not something that some old guru can pass on to us at a retreat.  It's something that pre-exists and is wholly formed in all of us.  It is something we've had all along, closer than our next breath.  We've just been too busy preening our self image, defending against an imagined past or planning for a better future, to notice.

There's absolutely nothing needed to start having this inner wisdom move us right now -- by stepping back and instead of moving, allowing ourselves to be moved instead.  And if our mind asks, 'Is this the right feeling?' there will be no answer.  Our mind never knows.. but inside we do, because as we move the right way we feel a congruity and peace.  This is direct knowing.  Anticipation, or any other thought process, plays no part at all in this.

And as we do, what arises on the 'inside' and what appears as 'outside' start to move in harmony as the distinction we have made between the two begins to fade.  What we begin to see reflects the peace and harmony of our true nature as opposed to conflicts and confusion in mind. 

It seems that the movement of life is always towards this.  One way or another life finds a way to prise our fingers away from clinging to littleness, which is what we do when we try to control our little corner of the Universe.  There is no joy in clinging.  Our safety, our happiness and our influence lie in the flow of Life itself.  It is this same inner wisdom that flows through us and moves us when we let it.  We are not apart from it all.  It is no coincidence that when people recall the moments of real flow in their life, they report everything working to perfection, with what's needed arriving at exactly the right moment and doors opening where previously there were no doors at all.

But nevertheless, before we commit to live true to this inner truth in us -- in Flow, the question comes, 'How could we possibly let go of conscious control of our lives?' and perhaps also, 'How would we organise a team or build any successful enterprise without our time tested control strategies?'

To let go of our need to control seems crazy, doesn't it?  Wouldn't chaos reign?

The opposite of Control...

is not Chaos…

..it is Closeness

When we let go of our need to control we are free to receive others just as they are.

When we are connected information  flows  freely.  Without resistance everything  flows  perfectly.

Do you see the irony?  Controls act as resistance... and it resistance that causes the problems that we seek to control!

When you think about it, using plans to managing anything is wishful thinking at best.  Who in their right mind could possibly say they could predict all that was to happen and know the effect of their decision on everyone that may happen to be affected?

A future focused, control/goal orientation is a sorry substitute for the clarity, the wisdom and joy of being free to let our attention be openly present and respond 'as we feel' to what is here in front of us.  In an open, self-aware environment the gap between us disappears and we all become wise.  We become too close for answers not to flow to where they are needed and too connected for our influence not to flow everywhere. 

By allowing ourselves to come together in present trust -- to Flow, opens up our awareness.  In that awareness if there are plans needed they become obvious, without the need to plan.  And if there's any doubts, we can ask each other:  'What is it right now that appears to stand before us as an obstacle?'  An open question with a present focus is never left unanswered.  In our willingness to come together and fully experience whatever appears to stand in our way, insight reveals both it's nature and it's cause, and in seeing this it is done.  This is wisdom.

As the challenges of our world appear more complex and daunting there's an inexorable push towards better education, more sophisticated management techniques, more 'intelligent' control systems, more commitment to goals and best practices.  But one thing we never do is question the nature of the complexity we are attempting to respond to.  Why should it all be so difficult?  We take as given that the world is a complex place and yet the great discoveries in science and other disciplines, are invariably beautiful in their simplicity.  Once discovered they seem too obvious, and make everyone appear foolish for not having discovered them before.  As Einstein said, "If you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough.”

But deep down we already know this.  When we recognise something as true it doesn't come to us via a thought process, but as an experiential one -- we feel it as a sudden 'AHA'.  And then, surprised at the simplicity of it, we are amazed that it was never known before.  We've all experienced this, usually whilst engaged in an activity that involves 'feeling' as opposed to thinking -- such as shaving or putting on our make-up, or both!

Just take a moment to consider what a strange idea it is that the nature of reality should be hard to see!  And yet the 'greatest minds' among us struggle with this.  You would imagine that to simply see the nature of 'what is' would be, by definition, ease itself.  If reality appears complex, with struggle being the norm, doesn't that suggest that the lens through which we see it might actually be causing the distortion?

By leaving the appearance of complexity unexamined, the connection between the 'way we see' and 'what we see' goes overlooked... and then the world of science and academia are left attempting to see things not as they are,  but as a pathologists would -- by looking at each part and trying to figure out its relationship to the rest.  But this body is already dead… by taking ourselves out of the picture there is no Life left to see and understand.  

This is not wisdom, it is madness.  It leaves us having to derive a multitude of rules, driven by our most pressing problems, to operate in a complex and precarious world based on our latest 'understanding'... and expecting scientific or philosophical answers to our problems, where in fact the answers are so simple and self-evident.  And yet it never occurs to us once to question the way we look.  Reason surely tells us that the starting point of any investigation ought to be to know our own relationship with the world. 

Whereas, deep down, we know the simple answers, we're brought up to believe it must be more complicated than it is.  Our mind rejects as too naive, the notion that the answers could lie in simply choosing to be open to fully experience what is here in front of us and allow our own inner guidance to show us what is true and how to flow with that. 

All it takes is a little courage... and 'courage' only because it flies in the face of all our societal conditioning.  We have learned to prize 'good' judgment and be wary of being open; and we have been brought up to be ashamed of ignorance and to accumulate knowledge.  But what's called for here is the exact opposite -- to embrace 'not knowing'. 

There's an inexplicably beauty in allowing ourselves to be guided, because as we step back the light in us steps forward and encompasses the world.

This requires no reasoning, no calculation, no learning, no practice or discussion... no thinking or activity of any kind.  Just a radical honesty -- a willingness to live in non-resistance to what is here in each moment and be true to truth as it appears to us, instead of what we believe it to be.  Témoignage, in fact.
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Footnote:  This post is an adaptation of an article I’ve written by way of introduction to a talk I’m giving in a couple of weeks at the Summer School for the Welsh Government.  All being well, as part of this talk we’ll take a deep dive into seeing and understanding this connection between ‘the way we see' and 'what we see'.  The idea behind this is that with awareness comes choice, and with choice freedom. :)
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Seeing Brilliance

Three little sound bites came my way this week, that spoke on the same theme… as they so often do!  So I followed them to see where they led.

The first I discovered by following a link to  Jack Kerouac's 30 Cool tips:  'Belief and Technique for Modern Prose, a list of thirty 'essentials'', from a  tweet by Evelyn Rodriguez.  No 29 on the list was:  'You're a Genius all the time'. 

The second was an Emerson quote from Evelyn again,  "We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents"

And the third came from  a short movie  on the Art of Hosting,  'Seeing Brilliance' posted by  Chris Corrigan: "...this is not the time to live in fear any more of who we are or how powerful we are."

Try watching the film and tell me you still feel miserable. :)  Just lately I find it impossible to witness anyone who declares their willingness to accept their own power and not hear a resounding 'YES' inside of me.  It really is easy to get transfixed, like a rabbits staring into headlights, by stories of the fall of empires and the end of civilisation as we know it, and forget that choice and power always lie within us.  We are never a victim unless we continue to believe we are.

So let's look at this.

'You're a Genius all the time'.  Yes!.. that has been my experience too.  Flow is not something to attain  it is who we Are... and yet the self-help / new-age sections are filled with titles on how achieve this... subliminally reinforcing the idea that we are  somehow broken.

But if this is true, why is this not our everyday experience? 

When we look at what actually goes on in our mind it's not such a great mystery:

Our mind is predicated towards the future.  It works ceaselessly to set up control of future events because it’s in doing this that we believe our safety and well-being lies.  In this future orientation we completely overlook the present, because we believe that past events and beliefs have taught us enough to direct our future course.  And if things work out as we wish, then we feel (temporarily) happy.  If they don't, we either get upset or more resolve to make greater effort to get what we want.  The the only two possible outcomes are some level of stress, or a faux happiness (read ‘temporary relief from stress’).

Do you see the problem with attempting to control the future based on past experiences and beliefs?  We are creating the future in the likeness of the past.  By planning for change we guarantee that substantive change doesn’t happen!

The mind that plans is refusing to allow for change because its past experience directs its choice of what will happen, the basis for its future goals.  It never gets the opportunity to see that here and now is everything needed to guarantee a future totally different from the past, and be free of this perpetual recycling of past fears and limiting beliefs.

'Planning' is so normal to us that we never stop to consider whether it is natural.  Our natural state is not as slave to an imagined future but one of open, receptive awareness.  With a present orientation we become aware of awareness itself, and discover there this flow of well-being that is our Self.  By letting present trust replace planning… communion,  learning, transformation and right action take place effortlessly without any conscious control.  If there we are plans to be made they become known to us, but planning plays no part in this.  Anticipation is not necessary when our Self leads the way.

But it takes courage to let go of the familiar and step into the unknown.  It seems a far easier choice to cower from the winter’s cold and keep struggling on like all the rest.  But turn our face towards the coming summer sun and that fear soon disappears in the discovery of what it is that joins us. 

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly"... Richard Bach

Related article:  So you want to be a genis, huh?
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A Holy Communion

Have you every considered why we experience life so differently?

Some 'thing' exists for us when we draw a line around it in our mind.  By carving out a boundary everything on the inside becomes 'that' and everything on the outside 'not that'.

But these distinctions are not made at random.  There can be no distinction without motive, and there can be no motive unless contents are seen to differ in value.  For example, when we look at something as a problem we draw a distinction around something of a lesser value to us.  Similarly, when we set a goal we cleave a space in mind that we believe has greater value.

Sensation:  You notice a colourful blob.   Perception:  You recognise a car.   Cognition:  It is your car.   Judgement:  It is your car and some bastard is driving away with it.

Our intentions determine our experiences because our intentions determine what distinctions we make.  So... what we think  we see is reality, but what we really  see is what we want to see.  Perception is projection, not fact.

And so, living in these our 'private worlds', communication has come to be a mediation between the different meanings that we've attached to things.  

But there is another way of communicating that I touched on in the last post.  It is possible to speak from an on open, choiceless space, and allow truth to inform our words.  And when we do, the words we speak draw us away from the complex world of perceptions into the realm of Reality itself.

Communication takes place in the world of form -- between physically 'detached entities', differentiated as we first described.  And so, in some way or another, all forms of communication can be sensed and explained on the physical level.  For example, a sound or wireless wave can be detected by a receptor and then decoded into a form that is recognisably. 

But the thing is, without at least some level of communion between those that are communicating, there can be no real communication at all... because what reaches the other end doesn't get understood.  You can see this in a gang of youths -- one syllable can express what it would take a whole book for an outsider to comprehend.  The same in a tight knit workgroup too. 

Communication is secondary to communion.  In fact, there appears to be a fundamental law at work here:  The greater the communion between us, the less the need for physical communication and the more that gets communicated. 

Conversation begins before it starts, continues after it ends and doesn't always involve words.”... Christie Diamond  [via Chris Corrigan ]

Communion takes place in this Presence of awareness in which all form appears, and is time and space agnostic.  Have you noticed how it's possible to have as close a rapport with a writer or commenter of a blog post written in a different time-space than the guy sat next to us on the bus?

And this isn't just a human phenomena.  As a kid, it fascinated me how a flock of birds could fly every year in perfect formation, over thousand of miles, to some unseen destination with no apparent means of communicating.  I felt the same way again when I learnt to dive, and witnessed a shoal of hundreds of fish change direction in the same instant and in perfect unison.

The natural world doesn't so much communicate as commune. 

Those of us with pets have surely noticed this.  A ‘meouw’ could mean a thousand things but when my cat 'meouws' I know exactly what it means.  If I can't be bothered to get up and give it the fish or open the door or pet it.... by pretending I don't know what this  ‘meouw’ means, then it knows I'm being awkward and makes damn well sure that I know that it knows too. ;)

As far as I can tell, we all have this ability to commune in equal measure.  It seems stunted only by our need to exercise some measure of control.  From Wikipedia: “Control is the attempt to impose excessive predictability and direction on others and events, often associated with lack of trust and insecurity.”  Sounds true enough, but lack of trust and insecurity are symptoms, not primary causes.  Fear is at the root of it.

But as we discussed earlier, what we fear is not reality but the reflection of our own imaginings... and so there's a way to undo that.

The more open we are, the more we understand.
The more we understand, the less we fear.
The less we fear, the more we are aware of our shared Presence
… because fear, in all it's many forms, is just the veil within our mind that blocks this awareness.

In 'How to Save the World'  we looked at how fear is never justified because we always have the ability, in any situation, to choose to look beyond perception to see what's real -- to choose Peace instead.  But this cannot be known on our own, because the idea of  'alone'  is the very denial of Peace. 

As described at the start of this post, the distinction I make called 'me' only appears real to the extent that I separate it from everything on the 'outside' of it's imagined boundary.  Our Self doesn't stop at the bodies limits and does not have the body’s limitations.  Our/Life's/Love's purpose is to know this -- to heal our unfounded sense of separation and resulting fear.

To commune with anyone is to let this idea of separateness go and prove, beyond any of shadow of doubt, that what is real is forever untouched by any of our dark imaginings.
.

Related article:  Blogging's Hidden Jewel

Credits:  The still life painting is called 'Eucharist' by Chris Peters.

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How to Save the World

As we approach Christmas I get a sense that the dial on the world marked 'fear' has somehow got turned up a notch or two this last year or so.  This post is my small way of adding a little counterbalance, a message of hope, to all that dour noise out there.

Harry Potter is one boy in a long line of mythical heroes who have reminded the human race that we are so much more than we think we are, so much more powerful than we seem to know.  Jesus said that we would someday do even greater works than He;  should we not take Him at His word?  And should not 'someday' be today?".... Marianne Williamson

The line drawn between which heroes are mythical and which are real can get a little blurry, but debate this and we miss the whole point.  Whether it's Yoda teaching Luke,  Donald Shimoda's  encounter with a disillusioned writer, or a chance conversation with a wise friend, the message from their stories is always the same:  It is you we are talking to -- there is nothing special about these powers, they are yours.

But where do you go with this if you have no reference point, no burning-bush experience in your life to guide you?  Imagination is useless here, because the thinking mind cannot go beyond itself.  Tatiana (in a comment to this post) expresses this question so well:

Many people reach the point of internalising some lessons that are extremely beneficial -- a healthy dissociation from the ego, so that you stop taking traffic jams personally or lose the zeal to fight with your spouse;  a few minutes of meditation per day;  a habit of reaching out to be fully present in the here and now several times a day.  Some deep breaths when you remember, a bit of mindfulness when walking or doing chores.

All of these things are wonderful at anchoring you here and diminishing the incessant thinking, churning, neurosis that is such a part of our daily life.  However, reading the same books, listening to the same teachers also points to an experience that started it all -- a flash of understanding, a moment when it all made sense or felt okay to make no sense.  For some it was transcendent and full of joy, for others quiet and deep.  Some kept the joy forever, others had to find their way back to it.  Some reach it in prison or in desperation, others driving a car or sitting on a hill.

But what if you're one of those people that has never had a moment like that?"

The thing about experiences is this:  They all change, even the most beautiful and profound ones.  So even if it was possible to find an experience that truly satisfied, we'd still be anxious the day that it was gone. 

For most of us, experience is God -- we spend our days moving away from those we dislike, and towards those we do.  But when we move away from or towards anything, we completely miss what's already here -- we trample on this flower of Beingness that is always present[1] -- we are no longer Self aware.  So freedom from anxiety lies in the opposite direction -- turning away from experience as a source of satisfaction, to discover what doesn't change -- this Presence of awareness in which all experiences appear and disappear in -- our Self.

So maybe past experience doesn't matter at all.  What if we were already capable of choosing Peace in any situation or circumstance?

The only time that any change takes place is in this moment[2], and what we are talking about here is simply the recognition of what is really here, right now -- the pure joy, peace and love that emanates quite naturally from our Self.  So what has this got to do with anything in our past?  There are no dragons to slay, no ego to kill, no practice needed of any kind.  It is simply a choice of what we give our attention to.  Choosing Peace is both the antithesis and antidote to the ego's debilitating belief that 'enlightenment' is a journey.

But what makes something so simple and natural appear to be obscure and remote, is that we don't believe we can do that.  And we don't believe it's possible because we look to our past experience as evidence for it working. 

But of course there is little or no evidence of it working there... because it is the choice to be free of our experiences and discover what is fresh, alive and radiant in this moment... untouched by anything in our past.

It is the choice to engage with the world from the opposite orientation to the one we are used to.  It's an orientation of openness (from Love) instead of control (from fear).  And although it requires us to do nothing, 'do nothing' means letting go of our old fear-based tools of control -- judgment, planning and defence.  Love has it's own agenda, which means I must let go of mine.  And let's face it, for most of us, letting go of the moment-to-moment control of our life is something we've never seriously considered before.

So lets review this new orientation:

• Openness... a willingness to show up naked, to 'not know'
  
  When we defend against anything we don't see it as is, but how we fear it to be.  But the fear is always our own -- to be fearful of anything we must first have judged ourselves as weak and vulnerable.  So what we 'see' (and therefore believe is real) is not reality, but the reflection of our own self-belief.  Can you get a sense that when we judge anything it is really a judgement on our self?
  
  Truth cannot be defined in terms of what is right and what is wrong because right and wrong are man made concepts.  It's in allowing ourselves to open up to our whole mind that we get to see the whole picture.  We start to see it in the pure thought and feeling we have when we reach out to each other, and in the presence of joy that releases us from a fearful concept of a separate, vulnerable self.
  
  To show up naked -- to be willing to know nothing, is to create a space that allows the truth in everything to shine true.  It's in this openness that we start to see that there is nothing separate from us and therefore nothing to fear.  The world changes as we recognise that behind our angst, there is nothing about us that is not constituted wholly of Love.  Change the inner script and the outer play must follow.  It can do no other, because in reality (seen without the veil of our fearful self-perception), it is all One.
  
  "One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea. ".... Gift from the Sea
  
  
• Trust.... in the part of us that is real, that does know.
  
  Frank Capra (before he became well know) felt that his inner spirit wasn’t able to be expressed and was in doubt about how to do it.  His friend Max Winslow advised him, "There's something in your peasant soul hurting to get out.  Let it out.  Not as preachment you fool, but as entertainment." 
  
  When we invite our real Self into our life, it will find a way to express itself.  You don't have to manage it.  Just let it have a place at the table and it will be an impeccable guest.
  
  What our judgements hide is the awareness that life delights to lift us free of our fearful self-perceptions.  And not on some imagined perfect day but right now, right here in the messy mundane-ness of an 'ordinary' day.  In the midst of wining kids, a partner who doesn't really understand us, a sick body, unanswered emails, and a long list of things we'd like to do......  we can stop!  Then stand still before them all, and find the honesty within to admit that we don't really know what all this, nor the rest of life, is for.
  
  Then invite Love to teach us.  You don't have to develop this Love, it is already developed.  You just have to give it welcome and space to grow in you, fill you with what is best for you.  And if you do it will judge all things in a new light for you, it will nourish you, guide you, inspire you, heal your troubled mind, and provide the love and power to transform all obstacles for you.
  
  But of course, we have to choose to trust it first.
  .

We think of Love (I'm talking about the real deal here, not that that changes) as an emotion.  But actually it's an awareness, a way of seeing without the layer of preconception that the mind imposes.  And when you change the way you look at things like this, the things you look at change.  But this shouldn't be a mystery to us -- it is simply the power of our choice. 

We already have this ability to choose peace and allow it be so... in any situation.  We can refuse to be dismayed by effects and choose a different cause instead.  We can receive instead of plan so that we can give instead of control.  And in choosing this we discover that the law of Love negates all the laws[3] we've come to believe in this world.

This is how we change the world -- not by attempting to carve out a haven of safety or by riling against perceived injustices, but by bringing Love to it instead of fear.  We are healed as we let our Self teach us how to heal... and the world, as a part of us, is healed as we are. 

This, to me, is the greatest joy of all.  I hope you too keep choosing peace this New Year, so everyone can witness that it's the only sane choice there is.

I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a New Year full of miracles.
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Notes:

[1].. There are many moments in a day when our Self peaks through and we see it's joy reflected back to is in the world.  In fact, it is constantly knocking on the door of our conscious awareness trying to get our attention.  This is just the nature of life --  what our defences hide.  These moments are mostly overlooked as we move through our day driven by the idea of something better (for some the ultimate experience of 'enlightenment' ;)).  In our search for the extraordinary, we dismiss the ordinary and miss everything.

Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.
.....................Leonard Cohen

[2].. because it is the only 'time' that is real.  Both the past and future are mental constructs -- we remember and we imagine.  The 'future' is simply a projection of our stories from our past (the next chapter, if you like), and so no different from it.  A good question to ask ourselves, one that can slow this crazy hamster wheel call time enough for us to step off, is:  Who would I be without my beliefs and my stories?

[3].. of space and time, reciprocity and friendship, economics and scarcity, justice and karma, health and nutrition.... too many to mention.

Credits:

• Ms Max for the Peanuts cartoon and for dropping wonderful presents into my inbox all year long. 
• Dave Pollard, whose blog  inspired the title and idea for this post.
• To all of you who refuse to play victim to the fearful perception of a broken world... and have the courage to look past it to the Love beyond:  Thank you so much.

Related Article:  The wisdom to Know Nothing

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A Dialogue on Awakening.... part 3

Tatiana expresses the 'conundrum of enlightenment'  beautifully in a comment to the first part of this now 3-part post (read her whole comment here):

Everyone says  'enlightenment' is an experiential process - words do not convey it, it must be felt to be known.  How do you sit still enough to reach that place when there is no formula, no answer, no timeline?  You can't even look for it as the act of looking negates the moment.  It's a funny conundrum wanting an experience where no wanting is allowed."

It's a funny word, 'wanting'.  If you look closely you'll see that we only want something when are not satisfied with what's here, but 'wanting' takes our attention away from what's here... so we don't really see what's here in the first place. ;)  

I remember my aunt would sometimes push her spectacles up into her hair when she was knitting, and then spend ages searching for them when she was done.  Of course, she never found them until she stopped looking for them.... which is to say, until she stopped believing they were somewhere else.  So there's nothing wrong with wanting in itself (wanting to be free of suffering, for example) but wanting something because you think you haven't got it, when in fact you have, gets us nowhere except crazy, doesn't it?

What we've been talking about is not so much 'wanting'  but seeing in a different way, in order to recognise what is really here -- seeing through the eyes of Love instead of fear, if you like.[1] 

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." -- Marcel Prouse

Just imagine for a moment that you fell asleep, and in this sleep you dreamt.  You found yourself in a some far-off loveless place where people got sick and where only the fit survive, and then only for a period of time.  It's a place full of hidden dangers with precious little time to relax from your efforts to keep safe.  It's a place where love is a rare commodity -- to be sought and then once found, carefully protected incase it becomes lost again. 

To survive you must learn to compete, to barter and make tacit arrangements with a carefully selected few to enter into 'relationships'.  Then we'll need to spend the best part of days 'working' to collect tokens to exchange for these things we need.  Stranger still, we must stick sharp needles in our skin and eat brightly coloured pills to protect our body from all manner of diseases.

But then it gets worse.  Just when we think we've got it sussed and found a safe place to call our own, a new horror come along.  Seeing just how precarious this place is, we come together to try to make sense of it all.  Safety in numbers, we believe.  We debate what rules we think would work, then form groups around our shared beliefs.  And so this god-forsaken place becomes more segregated and complex still. 

But of course these plans don't work for long because it never was possible to understand anything here (aren't all dreams nonsensical?).  Even the plans to escape are useless, because any way we think of becoming free is just another part of the dream. 

And so eventually the stress of trying to make sense of nonsense gets too much.  We become tired, withdraw, get sick, grow old and die.

What a nightmare! 

But now imagine that this dream it is so vivid and lifelike, with each character playing their part so well, all in glorious 3D technicolor Hi-Fidelity surround-sound, that there's no conceivable reason to suspect that it is anything but reality. 

So how do  we wake up from such a dream? 

The same way we wake from any dream.  Those stuck in a nightmares wake when the fear becomes unbearable -- maybe shot bolt upright, dripping in sweat, at the point that they think they are about to die... and gasp in relief at the realisation that it was only a dream.  Others just get tired of dreaming and decide, "there must be something better than this" -- and as is their wish, so it is done.  And then there are the few who choose a happy dream and wake gently in the warm embrace of loved ones.

Whichever way we choose, when we are ready we start to open our eyes.  And as we do, we glimpse the morning sun streaming through the bedroom window.  The relief feels wonderful.  But for most of us this flash of sunlight is too bright for eyes accustomed to darkness.  So we close our eyes again and drift back into dreaming.  Perhaps we now dream of 'waking up' in order to take comfort a while longer in this now familiar place.  Strange as it is, we'd rather look back and shiver at the thought of the night's cold than feel the warmth of the new day's sun.

But which ever way we come to it, the actual waking up is always the same:  At some point we choose to turn our attention to our awake consciousness -- this that brings us together, is opening our eye, and knows that these thoughts that trouble us are not true.  There's nothing else. 

Remember that we are never alone in this.  Although we don't see them yet, our loving brothers and sisters are by our side to help us gently wake..  Do they turn on the light and shake us awake?  No they don't.  That would hardly be a loving thing to do -- we're more afraid of light than darkness now.  What they do is take our hand to show us that what scared us was never true -- just the reflection of our own imaginings.  With their help we see the sound of monster clawing at our door was just the leaves of the tree blowing in the breeze against the window pane.

Hard as it is to believe, there is no one in our life that doesn't love us -- that is not here to help us be free.[2]

Our job is simply to enjoy the process of finding this out!
.

Notes:

[1].. and in doing so we discover (because we see it change) that what we 'saw' was not real, just a reflection of the thinking that arises from a limited and therefore fearful self-perception.  

[2].. As I mentioned in  part1,  it's only in our eagerness to judge them, that we fail to see their gifts.

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A Dialogue on Awakening.... part 2

This conversation is about becoming free of the sense of powerlessness and fear that arises from a limited self-perception -- a false belief about who we are.  This anxiety is so pervasive that most would considers this to be our 'normal' state... and probably wonder what people like me are babbling on about. ;)

Tina's comment in the  last post highlights a common frustration.  To understand where she is coming form you'll need to read the whole comment, but I've extracted the questions here:

..if I am not to stand up, nor to sleep - what to do?.... "I have no focus.  That I feel I need.  I don't know what to do, where to go (out of hiding)."  and..  "Why does it have to be so damn hard?  When it should be easy?"

The sense of frustration that Tina expresses arises, I believe, because we keep trying to achieve an imagined state and then keeping failing.  And it's in this repeated failure that we assume there must be something else we need to learn or practice to  'get it'.  But there isn't.  In fact, there is nothing to 'try' at all.  The sense of difficulty or complexity arises only from our ego mind's refusal of to let us believe that we can simply choose to relax into the flow of our own Beingness, right now.

That's why 'enlightenment', as far as I can tell, is an ego orientated idea whose purpose is to postpone freedom by turning into a concept with a future orientation -- something to work towards.  One strategy it can use is to ask more convoluted questions while overlooking simple, direct answers.  But it's only the questions that get more complex.  In short, our 'ego mind' will do anything except allow our attention to settle into this present moment and discover what is true and present now.

But just stop, and here it is...

... and yet the more we 'try' the more frustrated we get.  This is because any thought, plan or strategy to become free is yet more mental activity -- the very stuff that is preventing us from being open and fully conscious in this moment.  As Chuck Palahnniuk puts it...

It's because we are so trapped in our culture, in the being of being human on this planet with the brains we have, and the same two arms and legs that everybody else has.  We're so trapped  that  any way we could imagine to  escape would be just another part of the trap.  Anything we want, we're trained to want."

This resolves itself as we turn to our Self, instead of the 'thinking mind', for guidance.  But instead of just talking about this, let's see if we can get a sense of what it is we are talking about here: 

As you read this sentence, instead of being lost in the words as we usually are, be aware of what is happening in your body and and mind as you read.  Be aware now of your eyes scanning each sentence.  Also, without getting involved with them, be aware of the thoughts that are arising as you interpret the meaning of these words. 

And now, step back a little from this activity so you can watch it easily as it happens.  Notice how, as we step back in our mind to observe, that the reading still takes place quite easily and naturally without our direct involvement. 

Many call this 'being present'.  But actually, there's something present right now that is more primary still.  There is this presence of awareness -- this that is doing the watching --  this that is now aware of our body and mind in the act of reading these words. 

So now, just allow your attention be aware of this Presence of Awareness itself.  This is Awareness being aware of itself.  You'll probably find that this really peaceful.  This Presence is Who we Are.  This is our Self.  Perhaps you can also be aware now that this has no outer boundaries like the body has.  Everything that is appearing, and has ever appeared, appears in This. 

So just for a moment let yourself enjoy this peace of mind.  We are always able to relax and enjoy this Holy rest like this because, somewhere within us, we already know that when we rest in this place of peace everything works perfectly.

This Presence of awareness is not only who we Are, but what brings us together.  It has no problem doing this because it knows no part as separate from itself.  It is the  'call for freedom'  itself.  Some feel it is a feint 'tug' from within when we lose our way in life.  For some it's a steady guiding light.  For others it's a fire that shines a light into every shadowy corner of fear in our mind. 

But none of this really matters.  What does matter is that it is impossible to lose, and can always be called upon.  It can be denied but never lost.  I don't believe we could be here, asking and answering questions, if this 'call for freedom'  wasn't present.

As we let this place become familiar to us it begins to show us some wonderful things:  There are no boundaries here at all... nowhere our Presence ends and another's starts... no time or place where this Presence could begin or where it could end.  And although all things that appear in this awareness change or decay, this Awareness never does.  But also it dawns on our mind that this one unchanging thing must also be the one thing that is true, and then are amazed that we could have called 'real' all those things that changed.

There is nothing difficult about recognising this -- simply a choice of what we give our attention to.  When we really want this recognition, then here it is.  It's only when we start thinking about this -- adding a layer of judgement to it, that it appears to become abstract or complex.  All we are talking about is the experience of knowing who we Are... and because it is just this, there is never a place or circumstance when we cannot call this into our conscious awareness and trust it to be so.  And to witness this, we need only relax in trust into the warmth of this Love that delights to be acknowledged.

Our frustration arises because we do not believe we can simply choose, like this, to let go into a state of joy.  And we don't really want to believe the simplicity of this because we don't yet trust it with everything in our life.  We don't want to relinquish control.  And so what we try to do is keep one foot on the ground while attempting to learn to fly.  This is as painful as hell... and feels far worse than if we'd never entertained the notion of flying in the first place.

And so we continue on, attempting to organise our life, using whatever strategies we can to improve our little lot (and perhaps complaining how elusive this 'enlightenment thing' is ;) ).  But all the while there is that little voice whispering that we really needn't put ourselves through this.  "Come to the edge", it says. 

So to answer your question Tina,  how about letting this Presence that brought us here be our focus and guide?  This way, Love becomes the means and the end.  A fait accompli, eh!

I'll finish this post by pre-empting one more question... "How do I remain centred in this place of peace?"

Although there is nothing to 'do'  ('how' being what we do to resist becoming Self aware)  I find this can help:  Hold the willingness to see, moment by moment, how I still resist resting in our Self.[1]  And then be reassured that this is something our Self moves mountains to help us with us.  In fact, the whole Universe bends towards us in support of this.

Notes:

[1].. The habit that I suggested in the previous post  of asking something like... "What is it now that I am valuing that prevents me from being totally present and open to the truth of who we Are in this moment?"  is intended to align our thinking along these lines.

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A Dialogue on Awakening.... part 1

I love reading the comments here on Life 2.0, although you probably wouldn't think it given the time it sometimes takes me to respond.  As of today I'm giving up responding via a comment to those comments that beg a longer response, because it takes me too long.  I guess I've come to know what  Blaise Pascal  meant when he said,  “If I had more time, I would  have written a shorter letter.”  Instead, I'm going to respond to these with a blog post... starting with this one.  This way the good stuff (which always seems to come from you) doesn't get buried, and it also makes responding  a little easier for me.

Tatiana asked three really good questions about 'enlightenment' in her comment on the post,  'The Wisdom to Know Nothing'.  These are questions that I have asked my Self in the past, and when I did, I took notes.  So, by way of response, I've attempted to cobble together those notes into some semblance of order here. 

In doing this, there's a caveat:  I find that learning is an experiential thing, and these are notes from  my  experience.  So the only advice I can really give is to believe nothing, but try anything you feel drawn to.  Having said that if anything here triggers an insight for you then that will make my day :)

I am also aware (and slightly embarrassed) that what follows sounds a bit 'preachy' -- as though I were some sort of authority on these things, which I certainly am not.  I try to get out of my own way when talking about things that push the edges of what I've learnt, but in doing so the result is not always as I expect.

Tatiana's three questions (paraphrased heavily) are: 

     Do we need a guru or teacher?,    How do you remain peaceful in a world full of horrors?  and,   How to handle those huge emotional triggers that can cause us to crash violently to the ground?

Taking each question in turn:
.

TEACHERS

Tatiana:... if we are all enough, if our very own being is ALL that IS, etc. then why is there such a big Buddhist tradition of a guru being the light and the way and some teachings require the student to receive shaktipat?  Is it a matter of giving some people what they need?  i.e. if you believe you need a guru, one will help you, if you don't - he won't"

Although I'm a sucker for a good quotation, I tend to shy away from the whole teachers, gurus and traditions thing, for several reasons. 

First, it seems to be a part of human nature to take any teacher or teaching that moves us, and make it 'the answer', instead of looking at whatever it is that they were pointing to.  Basho's advice to "Do not  seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought"  seems a better way to me. 

Second, it seems that the closer you get to the roots of all the great philosophies the more they converge towards a common truth.  So why not just let the truth they point to be our guide?  We can do this by being open to everything that comes our way... and If something resonates then let it move us... if it doesn't then don't.  This leads me to the final reason:  I've never yet found a teaching that can surpass the guidance that comes from within us.

That is not to see to see that teachers and traditions are not useful.  They are.  If our intention is to get to the truth then this decision alone brings us all the help we need to bring that about, in a form that we can relate to.

What I am suggesting is that we do not judge one method better or more advanced than another, but instead, honour where we are in every moment.  It's impossible that we are supposed to be somewhere that we are not...  and it's in coming to accept this idea that we recognise that there is nowhere holier than where we are right now.  We spend many lifetimes in soul searching, pursuing self-improvement and striving for something better, but we never find what we are after until we call off the search.  It is in the immediacy of this moment that perfection is found.  This requires nothing because You are already It.  It's just a case of opening our eyes to see...

Freedom comes at the moment we are willing to look upon our own divinity, and there are many teaching that can take us to this point.  The measure of their usefulness is the help they give in seeing how we still resist this.  So how we get to this water's edge doesn't really matter, does it?  But the final step is one that has to be taken alone..  and is the act of letting go of attachment to all our beliefs, practices, idols, teachers... to  become Self-reliant, and discover the perfection of our Self in this moment. 

Who would I be without my beliefs?  Most of us don't even dare to go there, do we?  But this is exactly where our treasure lies... in the one place we never consider looking.  So the point I have tried to make in previous posts is this:  Any teaching or journey is good if it help us to let go of our resistance to resting in the  Flow of our Self, but the  idea  that a journey is necessary comes from the ego, and it this idea that keeps us in chains.  Why a journey?  Why wait?

Receptive, open, awareness is our natural state;  and so to simply be Who we Are must be, by definition, the easiest and most natural thing of all.  Yet what the ego does is demand a formula or practice or teacher to help us do this.  This need to practice or embark on a journey of some sort, is actually the very denial that we are  'ALL that IS', as you put it Tatiana.  But the truth is never lost to us:  What the ego presents as  'good intentions', the Self recognises quite clearly as delaying tactics.

It can only be the ego that feels the need to become enlightened because the reality of Who we Are already is.  So where is the joy when we operative from this belief that we 'need' to wake up?   The truth of who we are is already awake.  And as we relax into this (in ant moment we choose), it is expressed...  It shines true and is recognised.  The belief that this is difficult or obscure is what the mind holds up to hide the real issue -- the ego's refusal to accept the simplicity of this.  Relax and enjoy our Self, and the rest takes care of itself.

Note....  I'm not familiar with the term 'Shaktipat' and I don't know a lot about the Buddhist tradition but there is a friend that does.  Perhaps you could answer if you read this Wade.
.

HORRORS.

Tatiana:... in an earlier post you said enlightenment is achieved when nothing becomes unacceptable, so... how do you find horrors acceptable?..."

The 'nothing unacceptable' reference is to the time I asked a wise man when was it that we become fully awakened.  The reply I got was,  "when you find nothing that is unacceptable".  To me, this answer was both shocking and discouraging because I could never imagine myself doing that.  Until the day that is, that I saw that everything in my life,  including everything I had resisted, had been perfect in bringing me to the point of where I was willing to stop trying to manage and control anything -- to become still...  and then recognise the source of our joy and power that arises in this stillness.  The great irony was seeing that this was both the understanding and the solution to all those things that I could never imagine accepting.  I saw in that moment that Life was only a process of waking up to the recognition of who we really Are -- to this reality that is forever untouched by any horror.

So for me, the meaning of 'to find nothing unacceptable' is to become totally defenseless, totally non-resistant to all of life, exactly as it is.  Instead of standing in judgement or resisting anything that comes to my mind, or presents itself as either a challenge, or a positive or negative experience... stand before it and ask my real Self to help me see why.

To 'find nothing that is unacceptable' is to live without grievances.  But aren't grievances justified? 

It's impossible to hold a grievances and experience reality, or Love, because holding grievances is really an elaborate defence against the awareness of Reality.  By projecting our fears onto the world, they are never seen as our own and therefore their source is never brought to question.  What we then 'see' is a cruel world that 'confirms' the justification of our feelings, and that we can conveniently assert that we are not responsible for. 

We can't change what we would attack, and defence is a form of attack.  But only the powerless feel the need to do this.  What the ego sees as 'wrong', our Self sees as effects and then looks past appearances to look at the cause -- a case of mistaken self-identify -- and then responds naturally to this call for love.  Healing can only happen at this level -- at the level of cause. 

There can be no doubt that the world we 'see' is a world of devastation --  one big food chain with added entertainment to help us forget our ultimate fate, no?  It would be silly to attempt to deny this.  But perception is projection not fact... and that  we can change.  Projected outside, the cruel world seem unquestionably real until we look within and see where this vision arises from.  It is the effect of believing the ego's thought system -- a manifestation of the human condition.  But what our Self shows us, is that these thoughts are not true.  In fact there is no 'outside', it is only a perception... and perceptions are never a problem  because we can change them.   But we never know this while ever we defend against it, rationalise it or try to understand it, because by doing so we blind ourselves to cause and make effects seem real.

Like a river, the Flow of experiences in our life lifts us free of the belief that we are a separate, and therefore a victim of a cruel world that seems to be located 'outside' of us.  As we become non-resistant and allow this flow to lift us we start to see that this perception is, in fact, a nightmare of our own making.  But just as our instinct in a fast flowing river is to resist the flow, when we try to resist the things we judge bad and maintain control over the things we want to keep, life appears cruel and out to destroy us.  But as soon as we relax and let go, we see that is not true -- the Flow of Life is our friend.  It is wholly benevolent.  It delights to lifts us and set us free.

So how do we become defencelessness while we still look upon a world that appears so untrustworthy, unjust and cruel? 

We can do this by choosing to become Self reliant, and trusting, wholly trusting, that what flows from our Self can only reflect it's Source.  Truth dispels lies and Love begets love... and that's all we really need.  Mind can only serve and the choice is between these two -- the ego (a thought system based on an sickly self-perception) and our real Self.[3]   What we then see, think and do simply reflects this choice.

While ever we take arms against a sea of troubles  it appears that we are a victim of a untrustworthy and often cruel world.  But we have the ability to step back from this perception and allow our Self to show us the world in new light.  'Horrors' are no longer a problem when we recognise our Self as the answer because that goes with us.  It is impossible to bring light to darkness and darkness still prevail.  To do this is to cast love upon the world instead of fear.  Change the inner script and the outer play must follow. 

CRASHES

Tatiana:... what if you're busy cultivating the ability to be in the present moment, in a non-judgemental way and are enjoying the flow, when 'bam!' a huge emotional trigger slaps you in the face.  For me it's animal rights,  and every so often a story will float along of animal cruelty, or abuse, etc. and try as I might, I CRASH violently to the ground, all loving feelings  (which are still feeble at best) gone with the wind."

There's a great temptation when we 'crash' or feel we have come up short, to feel disappointed and perhaps beat ourselves up... but this just compounds the problem by adding another layer of fearful thinking.  To resist unwanted thoughts and feelings is to get drawn into the ego's game, and this can only lead to frustration.  What we resist persists.

So here's a gentler way:

Fear, in any form, can only be overcome by it's opposite.  So what could be a more effective or happier way than to actually welcome the ego's shinanigins with open arms?  To bring love the ego seems a strange idea at first, but there is a way to look upon these emotional triggers as gifts.  Instead of being dismayed when they hit, we can smile and let each one be an opportunity to see the pattern in it's true light, choose to let it go, and then relax even more deeply into the flow of our Self.  There's no need to go digging in the past to discover the root of our problem, or differentiate between different types of suffering.  It's enough to acknowledge that this no longer serves any purpose for us; and simultaneously recognise that we have the ability, in this moment, to choose differently.

To look at the ego through the eyes of love is to cut it at it's root, by exposing the lie that underpins it's whole thought system.  The Love within us has power to demonstrate quite clearly that we are not separate from the rest of  life, that the body's limits are not our own, and that there is nothing about the reality of who we are that is not constituted wholly of Love.  By disproving the central tenet on which the ego rests, it's thought system can no longer be sustained.  It collapses simply because it is impossible for anyone to believe a lie once it has been exposed.  To tease the Oneness from just one sublime moment is enough to do this.

A lie needs constant maintenance less it be seen for what it is, and so the ego mind never really rests.  Even in sleep it is vigilant to maintain it's guard in case we fall still enough to see through it's nothingness.  It would rather wake us from our slumber with a sudden jolt than have us become too relaxed and recognise our own Divinity. 

So giving advice on what to do to overcome the ego is very tricky, because 'doing' is what we do to resist the awareness of who it is that's doing the doing, if you see what I mean.  What we are talking about is an acceptance of what already is, and that requires no doing, no effort... just a relaxing into.  And there is no way to tell anyone 'how' to relax - to simply be who you Are.  'How' is how we resist this awareness.

But perhaps I can help a little with our unwillingness to do this.  Seeing what we do 'do' to resist this awareness can be useful.  So here's a little 3 step thought-kata that may help in becoming clear:

Honesty

Love, by it's very nature, can only enter where it is welcome... and so the obvious precondition for experiencing the flow of our Self in our day-to-day activities is to actually  want it.  Of course, we all believe we want to experience flow, serendipity and love in our life.  But if we look a little closer we see we rarely do. 

Love is it's own reward and has it's own agenda but usually we want it for something else -- a better career, to fix up our relationships, resolve our financial problems, find a soul-mate...  and so on.[4]  We don't want a different cause so much as we want better effects.  But of course, whenever we impose our own agenda (by holding expectations) we veil the very guidance and love that we seek.

The great irony here is that when we do surrender to Love's Will we discover there is nothing that the separate 'me' wants that ever really satisfies anyway.  This is because while ever we believe we are separate we are miserable and suffer.  Love's Will is for us to discover the real happiness, power and safety inherent in our connection to all of life.  So in reality, Love's Will is actually our own (free) will.  And when we recognise that everything changes...  we see our Free Will working to perfection in every aspect of our life.

To know what we do  want all that's needed is to notice where our attention goes, because attention always goes to what we find most interesting.  This is the first step -- honesty -- the willingness to no-longer deceive ourselves about what it is we want.

Clarity

The key to motivation (and ending procrastination) is not discipline, effort or positive thinking, it is clarity -- getting clear about what we really want.  We never have a problem doing that which we love, do we?

So the trick is not to get embroiled in a battle with the ego... not to resist unwanted thoughts and feelings;  but each time they hit to remind ourselves what we really want, and to turn to our Self for help with this, because it's only love that overcomes it's opposite. 

The question to ask our Self therefore is,  "What do I really want?"

And then when we've asked the question we need to get out of our own way, because this is a question that can only be answered by inspiration.  It's our real Self, not the ego, that gives us certainty.  To know, be willing to be still and listen -- create a little space and quiet time in which to hear.

Choice

Current scientific and psychology research appears to be converging towards a realisation that there is no 'out there' out there.  If you seek out the roots of philosophy too, we hear (in different language) that there is no cause outside of consciousness, everything appears in consciousness and consciousness is indivisible.  The perception of separate beings trapped in a precarious world is an illusion that the ego's thought system renders.  I mentioned earlier about perception being projection, not fact.  It is in our willingness to test this out for ourselves that we access the power to choose differently.

So when we get upset, hold grievances or complain, what we are doing is giving reality to effects, and denying the power of love within us to see things differently.  By denying ourselves this choice, we believe we are a victim.  This is exactly what we do when we go along with the default thinking of the world.  And that is what we then experience, because that is the power of mind.  It is us that determines these things.

But although this default response seems automatic and 'natural', we can refuse to be dismayed by this cruel world the ego pictures, and choose a different cause instead... by stepping back from our thoughts and allowing our Self to lead us.  By doing so we can cast love upon the world instead of fear.  We can never say we are a victim because this choice is always available to us.

So in reality the one choice we have is to follow the thinking of the world or to turn to our Self for guidance and insight.  When we choose the former it appears as though there are billions of other choices, but this is not Free Will it is bondage - - an illusion that veils the one real choice between bondage and freedom. [3]
Once we are clear motivation is no longer a problem, but let's now get practical and see how we can apply this stuff:

Application

When we are thinking, judging, planning or creating beliefs we enter a make believe world within our heads and completely miss what's here.  These faculties (that are so revered) hide our truly creative nature and therefore seed the belief in our powerlessness.  What all this mental activity masks is the effortless Inspiration and Joy that gladly substitute for all of it, given just a little invitation.  So whenever we feel troubled, or 'out of flow'  here's a question that can get to the heart of the matter:

             "What is it now that I am valuing that prevents me from being totally open and present in this moment?"

By questioning ourselves like this [5], we not only remind ourselves that what we seek is already here in this present moment, but we also uncover all the little rationalisations we've used to avoid trusting in our Self... that have kept us in chains and miserable.  Then we can let them go.  Not by any clever tricks and not by making it a big deal, but just by quietly allowing our true Self to look at them and recognise that this no longer holds any value for us.

But maybe we are unwilling to let whatever it is that is holding our attention go.  Maybe it's a grievance we would rather keep than be at peace.  Or maybe it's just that we are, as yet, unwilling to let go of our own agenda.  If so, here's a useful affirmation that can help us to start straightening out our thinking:  "At least I can decide that I do not like the way I feel right now",  and then this opens the door to ask ourselves something like:  "Do I really prefer to be right than happy?"  And then perhaps remind ourselves that we could choose Love instead of this by turning to our Self instead.

Choosing to be in a state of joy like this exposes the fallacy of any form of journey or future state of  'enlightenment'...  by demonstrating to us that the only time in which change can happen and anyone find peace is in this present moment.  And in that choice we can start to recognise that everything happening to us and around us is also happening for us... to support and uphold that decision.  Life brings us every opportunity we need to look at our defences and choose again -- to replace grievances with Love.  And what we do for ourselves we do for each other, because there really is no difference.

FREEDOM

Now when we look again at those 'emotional triggers' that Tatiana talked about, we can see them in a completely new light.  Instead of being a problem they become our means of freedom!  We see our resistance played out in the world and reflected back to us in others.  What a gift to be able to see this!  Each one now is a golden opportunity to see and release those things we hold up against the awareness of our Oneness. 

In truth, this is how it has always been, but we were so quick to shoot the messenger (by judging them wrong) we failed to see the gifts they brought.  But now we see that no-one meets by chance and no-one is missing who we need. [6]   And when we rest in trust in our Self we see everything as it is -- working to absolute perfection.

So where is the issue now with teachers, horrors, crashes or any concern about enlightenment, when the way is so much fun?   :)
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Related Articles:

• Finding Flow by Letting Go 
• 'Let go and let Love'.... why did no-one tell me it's so simple? 
• The River People

Notes:

[2]... What we barely recognise is that when we hold a grievance against anyone or anything we chain ourselves, because we are One.  Whether it's a lover, a government, some God figure when we hold  a grievance we deny the miracle of Love that heal the sense of  separation that is at the root of the problem we holding as a grievance.

[3]... there's a section in 'Little Book of Flow'  that may help you be more clearly aware of the simplicity of this choice.

[4]... you see a lot of examples of this in modern day spiritual teachings.. 'The Secret' is one example that springs to mind.  Too many times I tried this stuff but struggled, and then complained at not knowing what to do.  The problem was my unwillingness to listen to an answer that was not on terms I had already set.  I know now that it's letting go of my own agenda that allows me to have a day of lovely surprises, delights and little miracles.  I remind myself that I am not trying to carve out a little place of safety and peace in the world but choosing to transform the world by bring the light into it's darkness.  It's what we bring with us that makes all  the difference.  As you say Tatiana, we are already 'ALL that IS', so what we are doing is allowing ourselves to become aware of this.  What better way  to do this than, one day at a time, allow this power of love to  shine upon every aspect of our life?  By choosing love in all situations there's no need to concern yourself what to think, say or do -- when we choose love what flows from that choice can only be the same.

[5]... Our attention always goes to what we find most interesting (what we value).  Spacious, open, loving awareness is our natural state of being and when this is absent, there's something that our mind is  fixated on that it values more.  The one prerequisite for being able to resolve this (a permanent change) is not to see the problem as being 'outside' our Self.  The choice is purely an internal one -- a grievance or the miracle of love that could replace it, is the choice.  What we then 'see' is the reflection of this choice.

[6]... You could call this 'freedom by osmosis'.  Our Self, being of Love, cannot be known alone because that is not Love's purpose.  We become aware of our self as we allow it to be expressed.  And by allowing this we give everyone who comes our way an opportunity to witness what they have denied themselves.  Freedom is a truly collaborative venture.

Credits:

This post's title is taken from the title of  a book  by my friends Tom and Linda Carpenter who's Self-full giving continues to inspire me.
The painting is called  'Walking Down to Happiness'  by Sam Toft.

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What gift are you ready to share?

In the comments to the last post  Dan  asked a great question, "What gift are you ready to share, Nick?"  I fudged my response slightly, because it warranted a fuller answer.  I'll try to answer this and another related question here.

My first reaction to that question was to say that from time to time I get the urge to write a book.  But with over a million books being published each year (a fifth of them from the UK -- more than any other country) you have to wonder about motives when yet another Englishman wants to join the fray.  Do I really have something to say that hasn't been said before, or would I just be adding to the slush pile of data we have to wade through to find anything original.  Surely it would it be more worthwhile to look for a better way of dealing with all this complexity than becoming part of the problem.

Right now I'm trying to be ruthlessly honest with myself about where my moment to moment attention goes (attention follow interest, right?), to resolve the competing interests in my life.  And in doing so I see this tendency to accumulate knowledge and need to 'leave our mark' everywhere.  When I look through my Del.icio.us bookmarks I can see the tell tale signs.  Why do I have bookmarks that are little more than good intentions, like 'to_do',  'to_read',  'project_ideas' and 'hot'?  And more telling still... why are they rarely, if ever, revisited!

It would be easy to put this down to a lack of clarity, but it's not that.  The 'tug' in me pulls me in a different direction. 

Whenever I've set my sails towards just one place this has invariably been my nemesis.  I don't give my best when I'm orientated towards an objective or the future, only when I'm 'playing' -- just doing what I'm doing for the joy that the doing itself brings.  And besides, whenever I'm focused on one thing I tend to overlook all the little joys and unexpected opportunities that we only really see when we're fully present.

So I've pretty much had enough of goals.  I'm much more interested in seeing what's here for us now than being distracted by any imagined future.  What I really need is an in-the-moment grappling style [1], like a modern day Samurai's swordsman, that would let me cleave all the stuff that merely entertains me from that which is real.. the stuff that brings me joy.  It's not about the interesting anymore, because for me that's unbounded.  I want a way to clear a path, to be able to respond in each moment in away that serves us best [2]

An in-the-moment grappling style

So this is what I've come up with, cobbled together from insights I've gleaned so far.  This is what it appears to take for me to cut through life's seeming complexity to stay happily centred in the moment. 

It starts out as a little 3 part mental process, but with a little practice it soon blends into a single lovely serendipitous way of being -- 'Flow', for want of a better term.

• Awareness  that there is a part of me that is always certain...
  I'm learning that my perception of life's complexity, of an infinite array of choices, is not true.  It is simply an illusion of powerlessness my mind holds up that masks my one real choice -- the ability to call upon the part of us that has no doubt how to respond to anything for our common good.  Whenever I find myself weighing alternatives I can be sure I am concerned about effects... and by doing so I deny myself the recognition that we have the ability to choose a different  cause  by turning to our Self within to respond as Love.
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• Courage  to let go of my 'own' plans to enable me to listen and receive...
  For so long I tried to discover what my unique gift / path / vocation was.  It used to aggravate me to hell that I didn't know.  As soon as I got close to defining it, the thing that  'floats my boat'  would change and slip through my fingers again.  Haha - what a fool I was, trying catch such a slippery fish!  There is no 'one thing'.. and by looking for it I was putting a precondition on my own happiness.  'The thing'  changes as fast as we allow our everyday life to teach us.  What we enjoy is simply the path through our next lesson.  The 'not knowing' that troubled me was actually the gift in disguise -- the bridge to being able to listen and receive.  'Not knowing' was the way itself, the way to hold a clean and open space in which inspiration's script can be heard.
  . 
• Trust. 
  Confidence builds with success.  So it requires trust at first, until our experience confirms that changing the inner script does change the outer play, and that our decision to trust is well founded.  We usually think of trust as something that is earned, as in - 'Joe has proved to be trustworthy'.  But the trust we're talking about here is purely a decision, as in - 'I choose to trust Mary'.  The later type has all power in it, the former none.

Given life's temptations this sounds easier said than done, doesn't it. ;)

But not really, because once started down this path it becomes just too much fun to return to old tired ways.  This is how we learn -- by comparison.  It's how we feel about our learning experiences that determines whether we accept and integrate them.  So, even though we falter, the joy of  Flow  is so compelling it keeps drawing us back... as if life is teaching us to let go of what we think we are, so the truth of who are can shine through. 

But there's really nothing to learn here -- no prerequisites at all, except our willingness to trust this place within us that knows us as only Love, a place of complete and unchanging safety.  Seen from this perspective, enlightenment is simply the shift in our attention from what we think we need, to what is already here.

This now answers the other question that came up:  How do you differentiate the thoughts that come from our Self from those that arise from our limited self-perception? 

Just ask, "Do I feel peace in this thought?"  Peace is our road home.  And if we have difficulty in accessing our right mind (perhaps some form of fear or confusion), here's a thought that can wipe the slate clean for us:  Just for a moment, assume that we are already free - that we are the light of the world; and then ask what this Love would have us think and do.  In our willingness to relax and trust this inner guidance, we soon discover there was no call for pretence at all. :)

Our work is our love made visible".... Kahlil Gibran

So back that question --  "What gift are you ready to share?" 

What I'm finally seeing is that there's a light in us that the Universe longs to behold.  When the world sees us truly happy it will wonder at itself.  It will think:  "Is what I value all that valuable?"  ...and then this the inspiration to make a radically new choice.

So perhaps this is our most valuable gift -- to simply be a mirror, and give the world the opportunity to see that what it really needs has never been lost at all.
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Credits:  'Bipolar Bears' by  TundraComics.com;  'Temptation' by  Elisa

Notes:

[1].. by 'grappling style' I simply mean a way of getting what we really want, and making no distinction between anyone's best interests. Like the Samurai, this can only be effortless... all power arising out of this quiet place of rest within us.

[2].. I have to admit this is actually the second time I've considered this (although the first time I didn't follow through on the idea). Ten years ago, my youngest son got into trouble at school and, trying to find a way to help him choose his actions wisely, I suggested that in facing any choice he asked himself 'what do I really want here' and then to ignore his initial impulse in favour of that wee small voice that speaks second, but always for our best interests. Simplistic advice I know, but I thought more useful for him than having to judge the circumstances or those involved each time. Looking back, I was probably wiser than I realised. There are many times since that I would have done well to take a dose of this medicine. ;)

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