Allow Them To Pass

Here I sit.
It is night-time.
A far off train sounds its horn.
Clocks are ticking.
Those noises are what is actually happening in the world.
Then there is what is inside my head, the thoughts that stream by, some of them charged with an emotion or some form of resistance, wanting to be something else or do something else. Some thoughts are just commentary or idle dreams of the future. There is that noise, too.
All of this happens within silence. A silence that has no limits, no borders. A silence that is infinitely deep.
Is it possible to withdraw the attention from all of these noises entirely and just be aware of the silence?
The noises will happen of their own accord, trains will rush by in a clatter of steel, thoughts will pass through the mind like clouds across the sun, but is it possible to not focus one's attention upon them, not invigorate them with the energy of awareness and allow them to pass?
I wonder what would happen?
Would all suffering cease?

Try It For A Day

It cannot be communicated through words. It cannot be impressed into another human being. It is something that is for each of us to find out for ourselves.
What is the value of ending suffering in ourselves?
I think that most people enjoy this as a concept only. Something to believe in but not to manifest actually. What takes place if one was to consider actually manifesting this? To actually end suffering in ourselves. What does that imply?
There would first have to be an intense awareness of what is going on within ourselves. An intense awareness to see the mechanics of how we create suffering and once seen, to not touch them, to remove all energy from it, to not engage the mechanics of suffering by thinking about it, and then by going into drama about it.
What are the mechanics of suffering?
It is all coontained within this sense of identity, this sense of 'me' and what it wants, craves, protects, hates, loves. The endless opinions, judgments, and criticisms, likes and dislikes that flow from it. The identifications with mind made concepts like nationality, race, ideology and belief.
Contained within all these, lie the seeds of separation and suffering. Separation from each other and the suffering of being alone, unloved.
Can a human being remove all energy around those thoughts and not touch them at all, just observe them and see their pattern and motive?
Is that possible?
What would be the qualitative change to one's life if that was done?
Try it for a day and see.

The Prison

There seem to be endless opinions about life, people and the world that flow through my mind. Thought moves like a river and never ceases, full of opinions, criticisms and judgments. Thought has complete ideas about life, opaque images about what actually is, which creates a reality in which the ego reacts. It is a self-created hologram that has no actual relationship to what is, it only relates to its own projections and interpretations of what is. This non-relationship is true for everything that the ego encounters within the movement called life.
This is the prison that must be dissolved.

Being Alone

The world that has been created by the conditioned mind of humankind does not value the emerging, unconditioned consciousness. The old mind, the layer upon layer of systems, strategies and conflicts, cannot even recognize the unconditioned mind. It has no value.
There is a point in which the old mind, after going through intense pain, realizes that it does not have the capacity to find happiness, to touch the real. When it has this realization, it knows that it has to come to a complete stop, for a mind that is confused only creates more confusion. This complete stop is not without its ordeals, for the old mind has incredible momentum and energy driving it. It is the mind of all humanity, after all. It is in this space that the feeling of being utterly alone is at its most acute, for the society and the world of humankind continues to move and the one who is at an end has come to a stop. There is an intense temptation and an urgency to re-connect with the society for the feeling of being alone is painful and full of unknown fear, however the fact of the matter remains that to turn back is just turning back into a dead world of empty illusion, utterly devoid of real life. It is the ancient myth of leaving the Underworld where the one who is leaving is told that they cannot look back, or they will be trapped forever within the dark, empty depths. The one has to walk forward and not listen to the calls and cries telling them to turn back. They must leave it without a shred of hesitancy or doubt.
It is the realm in between where one is utterly alone that is the challenge, the shedding of the skin, the transformation.

Life. A Great Monopoly Game.

Imagine life as a Monopoly game that you are playing.
In this Monopoly game, everyone is taking it so seriously that they have all become identified with their playing pieces. They have all put their consciousness into their tokens. Someone is the car, someone is the top hat, and they begin to see, think, feel and experience through their own playing piece.
Now, since the players are experiencing the Monopoly game as their absolute reality, the money becomes real and every roll of the dice is a life-altering event. Now, because of this, all of the people take this game very seriously, for if you lose all your money and become bankrupt, you are, in effect, dead... game over.
Now, let us say that one of the players has an insight that they are a human being playing this strange game, and he or she begins to see exactly how odd the whole experience is. No longer, for that person, is a dice roll life-altering, no longer is the money real, no longer does this game make any sense, other than its fleeting entertainment value, it's highs and lows. They have realized that there is another form of life that is outside of the game and its rules.
All the other people, who are still identified with their pieces, still experience tremendous anxiety over the acquiring of plastic hotels and houses, getting ulcers over being in jail, becoming elated at passing "GO", making desperate deals, feeling that they will never "win", seeking security, and inventing all kinds of rules and philosophies in hopes of staying in the game.
But what does this game have to do with who they really are?
Who chose to play it in the first place?
Perhaps we just find ourselves in it. Perhaps, the game is teaching some valuable lesson.
Either way, the person who has become aware of the game, is now in a different reality. They are in the game, but they are not of it. They can now play the Monopoly game if they wish to, or they can leave it at a moment's notice. If they do play the game, they play it without stress, fear or anxiety. To those still within the game, leaving it would appear foolish and valueless. It would appear like weakness or folly.
Could this be the case with what we call reality? Parents who are not aware of this game being played, unknowingly indoctrinating their children into it? Creating a syndrome of taking this mind-created game, ever-so-seriously? Who created it? Should one just accept this without really questioning it?
I feel that we all, at some point in our lives, have observed this "game" for what it is.
There are moments when we have seen the futility, emptiness, the absurdity or repetitiveness of it.
What have our reactions been to seeing this grand illusion exposed? Outright denial? To cover it up it with a previously held belief? Or have we faced the fear that the game holds no meaning and sought to undertake a deeper and deeper investigation into the unknown?
Only one of those responses truly furthers our awareness what we call "truth".
Everyone is moving toward a deeper understanding of life, and while we may exist within a seemingly violent, disturbed and often cruel world, we must observe it rather than react to it. This does not mean that we disconnect emotionally, or become hermits and turn our back on the world, rather, we change the world by seeing the false as false and by seeing the truth as truth. This "seeing" eliminates cycles and patterns of negativity within ourselves, thus bringing order into our own inner chaos that cease to enable the madness of the game to further itself. We see how our own conditioning into the game has created suffering for ourselves, and in seeing the conditioning as false, misleading, and ultimately dangerous, we drop it. Totally.
It is a saying that if you bring order into your self, then you bring order into the world. Is this not a truth? By observing a situation and not reacting to it, we eliminate a potential ripple in the lake of experience. In not reacting, we make certain that we do not allow more negativity or emotional disturbance to enter the world. By reacting blindly to a situation we may fight disturbance with our own disturbance, violence with violence, anger with anger, and are they not cycles and patterns of life that have been endlessly repeated for millennia? However, if we see the truth of this, we realize that we are no longer a part of this unconscious game that has been handed down to us, and we eliminate these endless, unconscious cycles of indoctrination. Living this awareness brings into being an order, stability and harmony within ourselves.

Interpreting What Is

Life happens.
I cannot say much more about it except that there is something that happening both without and within. There is a movement, a giant, unified motion. That is what appears to be life.
Then there is my mind, filled with its knowledge, that interprets everything that is moving both within and without. I think that here is the source of all conflict.
There is what is, and then there is the interpretation that I give it - "I" being my identity which is the sum total of all my past experiences - and that interpretation is not what is actually occurring.
What is actually occurring cannot be known, because it is ever new and never before experienced. That is a fact. The mind, which is the sum total of past knowledge, can never meet the new. This is why life can become rather dull, frustrating and lackluster.
Is there a way to meet the present moment without the screen of the mind?
Only when the mind is emptied, laid aside, can life be met.

Problem... Stress... Problem Solved.

How many times has there been a problem?
How many times has that problem been solved?
This pattern has been repeated thousands of times throughout my life, and I see the pattern before me. There is a compulsion to feel stress, that somehow being stressed will solve the problem, or being stressed will give off a signal to others to either aid, or go away. It is another factor of division in an already divided life. Anything that is divided is apart from the whole and therefore is unstable and incomplete. The part cannot see the whole and cannot respond to any challenge wholly, it can only react out of a limited state, a small fragment of knowledge, and that inadequacy breeds uncertainty, fear and keeps the problem, which ultimately is the identity, alive.
The problem is the identity, which perceives the problem and seeks to escape it.
In the resisting and escaping there is suffering.
Problem... Stress... Problem solved.
Really, there is no time gap between "Problem" and "Problem Solved", time enters into the gap when there is a "me" that is experiencing and therefore "Stress" comes into being. Otherwise, there is only the perception of what is. There is no "me" who perceives a "Problem" and therefore, no need for a solution.

The 'Me' Is a Filter

I was asking myself the question, "What would my life be like without me?".

I would not have an opinion about things. I would see things as they are, instead of interpreting them through the experiences that 'I' have had. Would I experience worry? There would be no 'me' to worry about. I imagine that I would seek shelter and food, and I would continue living, but what would my life be like? Is there something other than the 'me' that is within.

Is there awareness without the 'me'? If everything that I am is just a bundle of memories, contained under the heading of my name, then what would happen if I was to forget all of that.

I had an experience of that once.

I was at a party, hosted by someone I didn't know. I went with a friend of mine, Victor. During the party I suddenly felt faint, a rush of energy went through my body and I passed out. When I awoke, someone was saying a name over and over. I was aware, calm and just listening to this voice saying, "Adam, are you alright?". I saw this face, that was saying the words. I didn't know where I was, I did not know who I was. I was looking at the scene, it was dark out and there were many people. Then, after a few more moments, I suddenly became aware that, "Adam" was my name. Then I became aware of the fact that this person talking to me with concern was Victor and he was my friend. Then everything else began to flood back in, my entire history, where I was, who I was, my 'life', so-to-speak. It all came back to me in a rush.

I wonder what my life would have been like had that flood of memory never come back. There was a total clearing, a blank slate and yet there was still awareness and thought, but the thought was not channeled through a maze of memories. Thought was operating without a sense of 'me'. It was operating without a filter of opinion or judgement, past of future. I know this because I felt no sense of embarrassment or self-consciousness when I came to with some people looking on, puzzled or concerned. I distinctly remember a feeling of total innocence, calmness and wonder. Everything felt new and unknown for that moment before the flood of memory came back in.

There is another realm of awareness in which thought is a silent partner, only appearing if needed. That realm of awareness is innocent, silent, and is intelligence itself which exists eternally in the present moment.