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.