Focus On A Joy

Focus on a joy. 

One thing, one event that caused a moment of joy.

For me, today, it was a brief moment of real caring between me and a friend.

In some way I feel like it brought something pure into the world. 

A small but significant event that is tipping the balance.

Humanity's consciousness is competetive, violent, aggressive, fearful.

Thousands of years of war are evidence of this.

We are emerging from that consciousness, like the first creatures that ventured onto land from the primordial ocean.

By focusing on a joy we take one small step out of the known and into the unknown.

Focusing on a joy, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, is a sacred act.

It is a gift to the world.

Seeing Reality

In order to be related to others, to the world and to reality, I must see clearly.

If I see reality through the filter of my opinions then I will be looking at my opinions of reality, not at what reality actually is.

If I see another through my prejudice - who I believe them to be - then I am relating to that, not to who they are in the moment.

I see this as a fact and so I am wondering what is the quality my mind must have to see clearly?

It must be free of all opinion, prejudice, knowledge. It must be silent, alert, sensitive. 

Only then will it be able to see and relate to reality without any distortion.

What Is Important

It takes something.

Weeding a garden takes something.

When I depend on that garden for my life, I am watching that garden closely, protecting it, being vigilant, disciplined, serious. 

I make sure it is not damaged by pests or by others who don't care about gardens. 

If I am depending on that garden for my life, I don't get side-tracked with trivial stuff.

If the garden is unimportant, weeds will grow, it will yield very little if anything. It is at the whim of fate.

My state of consciousness is like a garden. Mental-emotional pests are at it every day. Turmoil within and without pull at my attention - temptations of all kinds - there is a danger of being lost in the storm. 

But when I realize the fact that the garden gives me my life, the storm falls away.

Because nothing out there is that important.

I Am It

Sometimes there is nothing to say about it. 

Life is complete in its incompleteness.

It is whole, total, alive. 

There is no need, nothing to seek.

Somehow in my stillness it has found me.

I am It.

Words Are Not It

How do we wake up out of the ego into our true self?

Seeing the activity of the our ego is a part of it. 

There is the ego and there is the awareness that sees the ego.

Any thought we have is conditioned by the past - all thinking comes from the past - so there's another hint as to what is ego and what is not. 

Simply put, ego is any "thing" that our awareness encounters and our true self is the spacious stillness in which things occur. 

It is one of those paradoxical, hard to grasp things because the true self is beyond thought. Thought cannot capture it, otherwise we could read a book about it and "learn" it. 

I always wanted to "figure it out" by using thought, but that only got me so far. In one way, there is no way to "find" our true self because our true self already "is". There is only slowing down, letting go of clinging to thought and being aware of the space around everything - especially thought. 

That's kind of what meditation is for me.

Words are not it.

The Value Of My Life

Nothing is more important than my state of consciousness.

It is the one thing I can bring peace into and therefore bring peace into the world.

It is my own patch of land within the continent of humanity.

If I pollute my patch of land, it can spread to others. 

If I make my patch of land a work of art it inspires my neighbors.

I see the value in loving myself. I see the value in loving others. I see the value in being joyful.

I have experienced the darkness. I have experienced being disconnected. I have seen what fruits they bear. 

I honor the painful experiences. It is those experiences that keep me intensely vigilant, aware, present.

I know the true value of my life. My words and deeds are fruits that come from my consciousness.

It is a garden that I must tend with all my being.

Honesty

I am looking into myself. 

One question I am asking is, "How pure can my honesty with myself be?" 

I find that in order to really get to the core of my self - to really be true to myself - I have to look without any filter, with out any pretense, without any deception.

I have to look without desire for an outcome, without desire to look good or get something.

I have to look without ego.

I have to look with complete humility in order to see clearly who I am being in the world.

Everything Is Beautiful

Sometimes the way is lost. 

But the instant I recognize that the way is lost, I am back on the path. I am myself. I am no longer the storm.

Everything else is just turbulence - the mental chatter, the emotions, painful memories, upsets - all that is the storm that is churning around the essential awareness of being lost.

Once I realize that I am lost in the storm, I wait and watch the turbulence. 

Every storm passes.

The temptation to act out of the space of being lost is the challenge. The temptation to judge and evaluate myself and my life out of that space must be seen with great intensity. It can be a source of immense suffering.

I don't act from that space. I see all opinions as danger. I hardly speak from that space. I have found that it is best to remain silent. Words perpetuate the space that we are in.

When I take all the energy of my consciousness from the storm it dissipates. Sometimes instantly, sometimes it can take a few days. I remain patient, not forcing, just watching, allowing. 

Then it is gone.

And everything is beautiful.

Truth Is

Truth is a living thing, it is not dead.

Truth is a moment to moment experience. That is why it cannot be understood - captured by knowledge and the intellect. You are either in truth or in thought about it.

Let the mind relax. It is not going to "find" truth. All the questions, searching, seeking is just the intellect thinking that it can capture the one thing that it can never comprehend. It is the past trying to comprehend the present. They are not even in the same space. You will find truth in the body before you will find truth in thinking.

Truth is like balance. It cannot be found in books. One can only be diligent, vigilant, open, unafraid and the experience of truth is suddenly there.

Truth is simple. Relax. Breathe. That is enough. There is no need, no urgency, no pressure where truth is - all that must be put away to be present with truth.

Truth is being. Truth is space.

Truth is.