How Do We End Division?

How does love succeed over hatred?

How does peace eliminate war?

How does decency overcome aggression?

How does community overcome tribalism?

Each person has to see their own way out of madness. 

Each human being must find their own path to sanity.

We cannot control our neighbors.

We must accept our differences.

We must not tolerate divisiveness.

We need to respect one another.

We must not cause harm to each other.

Is this too much to ask of the human race?

Division - A Great Enemy

I think one of the great enemies that we face is division.

We are conditioned to think in terms of division.

We rarely see things as holistic, unified, interconnected.

Our language is divisive - me and you, we and they, black and white, liberal and conservative.

We have to start using holistic language.

We are human beings. All of us. That is a fact.

We all want food, clothes, shelter, a place to call home. 

We all want a safe place to raise our children and enjoy our family and friends.

We all want to love and be loved.

We all want to explore, uncover mysteries, and create.

Anyone who wishes another human being harm in any form suffers from a sickness.

Those human beings must be healed by the whole tribe of humanity.

This is the manifestation of how dangerous this division is. 

Watch the part of you that divides yourself from the "other".

It is the root of destruction.

Two Paths

There seems to be two paths.

One that is in harmony with life, and one that is destructive to life.

Every action that I make is rooted in one or the other.

Once taken, these paths have both subtle and extreme manifestations.

Small, seemingly insignificant actions, and actions that have a visible impact.

I don't see the impact of the small actions, unless I am internally silent.

Only when I am silent internally can I see if my actions are harmonious or destructive.

The intellect is never satisfied, the ego is always making noise.

It wants to see a fanfare, an explosion, a drama.

It wants more and more and more.

My heart is fulfilled by the subtle things.

It feels joy in silence. It feels connected. It delights in the smallest thing.

It enjoys simply being.

The intellect has become far too important.

It is a tool of limited vision, a restless state of incompleteness.

While my heart is the wisdom-doorway to life.

What Will I Create?

Who are we?

In the face of fear, division, uncertainty, who are we?

There is the unconscious reaction, which is the response of the primitive brain. Fight, flight.

Then there is possibility of a higher response, a conscious response, an intelligent response.

And what is that response?

Is it a response that serves humanity?

Or does it serve an ego?

Is it a response that moves toward unity?

Or does it seek to further divide?

Is it a response that dissolves conflict?

Or does it breed further hatred and war?

We are incredibly powerful.

With our words and deeds, both great and small, we are choosing and shaping our reality.

And what world would you want?

I'll tell you one of the things I am creating.

A world where everyone feels safe.

Making A Difference

Honesty, is to see the world clearly.

To not look away from the unpleasant.

With maturity and clarity of purpose, the unpleasant can be changed. The damage cleaned up. The wound, healed.

But I first have to look with complete honesty.

No pretense. No ego. No thought. Not trying to look good. Not being afraid.

Simply looking without a “me that is looking.”

Then there is no story about what is seen.

There is no distortion.

From there I can clearly see reality, and make a difference.

Honesty

How deeply honest can I be?

Can I come to the root?

Can I go to the source of it all?

The identity cannot go to that timeless space. 

It has to be left at the door.

My Part

Wholeness cannot be comprehended.

How can a small part comprehend the whole?

All I can do is my part. 

Clean up the space which I occupy. Put it in order. 

Create something fun, interesting, welcoming, calm, stable.

Make one's self a work of art that inspires.

Put something forth in this world that is pure.

Put something forth that is harmonious. 

Put something forth that has real value to the world.

Real Love

You can be with me and I'll love you.

You can walk away and I'll love you.

You can agree with me and I'll love you.

You can disagree with me and I'll love you.

You can betray me and I'll love you.

You can steal from me and I'll love you.

You can believe in something I don't and I'll love you.

Real love doesn't stop because of some other reason.

Real love is - it cannot be any other way.

Real love is freedom.

What Is True Love?

We are so primitive.

We say "I love you", but we have no idea what that word means.

We do not realize that our so-called love is actually desperate attachment. 

We try to possess one another out of our need for security.

We fear being alone. We crave pleasure. We want to feel special.

The other person becomes a tool for our ego - a means to an end

We say we love them, but really, our love is not love at all. 

Why?

Because we keep them caged, we chain them to our needs, we cling to them out of fear.

We lose our power and our autonomy. We fear aloneness.

How do I know this? Why do I say this?

Watch and see how you react if your "love" is threatened. 

Watch what happens if your partner begins to walk away.

Watch how quickly "love" turns ugly. Friend becomes enemy. Light turns to darkness.

True Love has no opposite. 

True Love does not judge or criticize.

True Love cannot be threatened.

True Love is unconditional, eternal, untouchable.

True Love radiates like the sun.

See for yourself if these worlds are true. 

The Real Revolution

Human consciousness has remained the same since the beginning of human awareness.

It has not changed in its quality for millennia. 

We may look like we have advanced externally but we haven't transformed internally.

We are still greedy, fearful, devisive, spiteful, envious, petty, tribal, violent, and burning with desire. 

Our ancestors 100,000 years ago had these same problems. 

Much has changed in 100,000 years, but why not these qualities of our minds?

We most certainly have positive attributes, but our human problems of war, starvation, overpopulation, nationalism, fear - these all stem from a structure within the human mind that we haven't yet let go of.

All the political and religious systems have not yet found a way to end these.

The real revolution is to see these at work within ourselves and end them.

The real revolution is within.

Freedom From All Of It

I'm doing this exercise:

Be totally focused on this moment. 

No thoughts for the future.

No thoughts for the past. 

No thoughts for the moment.

Feel. 

Breathe.

Relax.

Breathe deeper.

Repeat.

Peace

Peace is not the space in between two wars.

Peace is eternal.

The sound of people laughing, children playing. 

Beautiful music. Singing. Birds.

The gentle hum of life.

These are the sounds of peace. 

The greatest gift of all.

What has happened to humanity for it to become so lost?

What has to end for peace to be?

Why isn't every breath focused on returning to peace?

Not peace tomorrow, or next week, or next year.

Peace now. In this moment.

Forever.

A New Way - Revolution

The real revolution is to let go.

The real revolution is to wake up.

The real revolution is alert stillness.

The real revolution is relaxed action.

The real revolution is not out there.

The real revolution is in this moment.

Follow The Feeling

Question all authority.

Follow relief.

Follow relaxation.

Follow peace.

Beware of following the word "love". That word has become entangled with meaning.

Beware of following the word "God". That word has become entangled with meaning.

Follow the good feeling. The joyful feeling. The beautiful feeling.

Let the actual be your guide.

The Ordering Principle

The evidence that I observe tells me that the Universe is moving from apparent chaos to order.

Nebulous gasses and dust form into galaxies, stars and planets.

So it is with our consciousness.

The chaos that I see is all a part of the dance.

It is creating the contrast and the gravity that is needed to pull awareness into being.

All I have to do is my part. That is my main focus.

Everything else is the ordering principle of the Universe.

Grace

The explosion of goodness comes from elsewhere.

It cannot come from the ego.

It cannot be figured out, controlled, cultivated.

The arising of grace is from another realm.

Yet they somehow connect. It's a paradox. It cannot be understood by thought.

Express your good. Weed your garden. Let go.

The other arises of itself when its place is prepared.

Then the cooperative principle of the Universe is revealed.

The Ending Of Time

When time comes to an end, the experience of life becomes "vertical".

There is no limit to the height and depth one can go.

Every moment has infinite information to be explored, infinite peace to expand into.

It is all in alignment with the totality.

Only The Best

If you are confused or suffering. Start from nothing.

When you are nothing, every thought, every emotion that comes into your space is seen. 

In a silent room, even the faintest whisper can be heard.

What will you allow in that room? What thoughts, concepts, beliefs, ideas, memories, desires? 

What will you allow in the sacred space?

Some thoughts will barge in. No invitation.

Look at what they are trying to do. See what are they actually saying.

Are they trying to: instill urgency, create time pressure, revisit a hurt, create fear, make you want to be "better", escape from a past pain, create anxiety. 

It's usually all stress.

See those thoughts for what they are. Phantoms. Disturbances. Old movies. Watch them carefully, and show them the door. 

Keep coming back to nothing. Always have one foot in it.

What do you want to create now? What will you allow in this peaceful, alive space? 

Choose only the best of the best.

And don't cling too tightly to any of it.

Get Back To Nothing

The mind is so full of noise and emotions - awareness becomes lost within it.

At every opportunity, get back to nothing. Let go of all thoughts.

Future concerns - do not touch them. Past hurts - let them drift away.

Come back into the silent, alive stillness of the now. Be the eye of the storm.

From that point - the point of all creative action - see what is there.

Have no intention. Allow what is to unfold before your awareness.

An action that is completely new and fresh may arise.

That action is in alignment with all that is.

Everything That Is

It is about being real. 

How honest can I be with myself and others?

Can I come to the ground of truth?

Universal Law already exists.

We are still discovering it, uncovering its mystery - physics, chemistry, astronomy, philosophy.

If we are made up of this Universal Law, which we must be, then we should be able to feel it somehow, to access it, even if it is limited. A taste of perfection is, in itself, perfection

The Universal Law exists now. 

It is not going to perfect itself in the future, it is not found in the past, which is static and therefore dead.

Universal Law can only be felt in the now, where it exists in amazing aliveness. 

It is there in its totality powering everything that is. 

Tread Carefully

When I look into my mind, I can see all the thoughts moving about like water.

Sometimes it is a raging river. Sometimes is a stream. But thought is never still.

Sometimes, I am in the water, caught up in thinking, reacting to its movement and force.

Yet, sometimes I am standing on the shore, looking at it. Untouched by its movement.

What does this mean?

Stay out of the water. It can sweep you away in a split-second.

And, if you must go in, tread with great presence of mind.

Act From No-Mind

We are caught in "what should be". 

We are caught in thinking about becoming something. Becoming "better". Becoming "happy". Becoming "relaxed". Becoming "free". 

We are caught in trying to transform what is, into what should be. The idea of "becoming".

It is this fundamental division within ourselves that causes psychological suffering. 

"I am this and I want to be that." 

"I have this and I want to have that."

"I feel this and I want to feel that."

"I do this and I want to do that."

We rarely are aware of what actually is without the desire to change it.

Can there be transformation without thought? Without an idea about it?

Can we live without this idea of "me"?

Can we trust life?

Can we look at what actually is, and not want to change it, and then act from there if action is required? Not act from some pre-conceived idea or act from fear. 

Act from no-mind.

Follow The Path

What is it that distracts us from our path? 

We can say, "it is the world", but that is not completely true.

There is something within us that is out of alignment with the path. There is something within us that is out of balance. 

It is not the world, but it is more how this ego reacts to the world that is the issue.

Find out what the ego is and how it distracts us. Is it a kind of entity? Is it a powerful mental/emotional energy? How does it react to the world? What in the world does it react to? What is its goal, or does it only want chaos and pain?

Follow where these questions lead. Find out through experience. Pay attention. 

False Idols

I have noticed how my mind has been habituated into thinking about 'me'.

It is an authority that is never questioned.

I think that is why one of the Ten Commandments is something like, "Thou shalt put no gods before me." Or "Thou shalt not worship false idols."

The ego is a false idol, comprised of only of non-substantial thought.

At times, I become so identified with it, that I become it, and live as if I am it.

I can see it now. I can see how it comes into being. It is a phantom, carried on the waves of thought.

If I can see the entirety of it, then who is looking?

Who is it that is beyond thought?

Transform The World

Life is constantly shifting and changing around us.

It is always offering new opportunities, challenges, and problems.

It is always offering the mystery of life, the amazing and sublime reality.

The illusion of passing time.

We are looking from that still, aware space at all of this.

When everything is wiped away from our seeing, we are left with only that - the still, aware space that we are.

It is vibrantly alive. It is filled with power, love, and aliveness.

From there any action is filled with its energy.

These actions transform us and the world.

Waking From A Dream

There is this point when I am falling asleep, a moment when the gravity of being tired overcomes my consciousness and pulls me into sleep. 

I think it is the same with waking consciousness. There is a gravity to emotions and reactions. They pull me out of awareness and into unconscious, automatic reactions. 

It is strange to think that even though my eyes are open, I am actually unconscious in those moments where my ego has taken over. I am the reaction. My awareness is along for the ride.

I think that suffering is the alarm clock that wakes me up out of the ego. It is the silver lining of suffering. It is good. Without it I may never wake up out of the ego.

I have heard that people are more likely to wake up out of a nightmare than those who are not. 

Use suffering to wake yourself up.

The Awakened Self

I still haven't put my finger on it. I don't think I ever will.

But here goes.

There are moments in life where I wake up. 

Same as when I wake up in a dream, and I realize I am dreaming. I wake up in my life and realize that everything has a dreamlike quality to it. 

In these moments I am becoming more and more aware of how my internal state of thoughts and  emotions is trying to keep me in the dream of "life". Thoughts and emotions act like gravity, pulling me back into the sleep of identification.

I can see that there is more beyond just the inner concern about "me" - what I am mad at, what I am hurt by, what I am frustrated with, what I am afraid of. There is another kind of life that has nothing to do with "me". A life where I am not a concern. 

I have awakened, and I am out of the dream. 

The dream is the dream of the ego. 

When the ego is not, the awakened self is.

Living With A Paradox

It is hard to explain. 

There is what is seen. 

There is the one who sees. It is apart from thought. 

Then there is the content of consciousness - all the thoughts that make up identity. The story that is being constantly told. The meaning that is being constantly made about everything that is seen. That is the content. 

The trouble is when the one who sees gets identified with the content. 

It is a paradox. In reality, the one who sees is never touched by thought. It has no memory, no past. It is always fresh and new. It lives in the moment. 

No Conflict Whatsoever

Can we get along?

We live in a paradise. A wonderful mystery surrounds us. A sensory world to explore. And we are lost inside of concepts that have us killing one another. We lie, cheat and steal. We exclude our neighbors so that we may have more. 

What is the cause? What has gone wrong?

Before I point the finger, I have to look within myself. There I see the roots of these problems. I am no different. I may be able to see it outwardly, but can I see it within myself? 

This is the key.

This is the only way that human beings can move forward. We each have to weed our own garden. We each must to clear our own vision. We have to put down our weapons.

Peace is not the space in between two wars.

It is the end of all wars.

No conflict whatsoever. 

Direct Perception

The flow of life expands and contracts like a pulse. 

There are busy moments, there are slow moments. 

There are tense moments, there are relaxed moments.

There are noisy moments, there are silent moments.

Am I aggressive, hurt or anxious in the moments of compression? 

Am I bored, depressed or restless during the moments of ease?

Who am I being from moment to moment? Who is in control? Who is at the wheel?

Can I consciously let go and pay attention to the pure awareness that is unadulterated by thought, memory, and the past? Can I look through that untouched lens? 

Time will pass, but without a concept of time. No future to worry about, no past filled with hurt. 

Can I live from the purity of my heart? 

In that space there is no thought, no words, just direct perception.

It is good.

The Emptiness Of Who I Am

Am I my ego? 

Am I the voice in my head that criticizes, complains, and judges? The constant narrative? 

There have been many times that I have let that voice run the show and it has misrepresented who I am. Why did I say that? Why did I act like that?

I have had to clean up the pollution from my ego. Actions from the ego always have a result that is counter to harmony and balance. I have seen that pattern happen within me countless times. It is why I now watch the ego like a hawk.

When the ego's gravity is too strong for me to escape, I treat myself as if I am sick. I go quiet and I come to a stop. I wait for the sickness to pass. Eventually it does.

The less energy. I give it, the faster it goes. I don't talk about it, I don't tell everyone about it. I don't make it real. This drives the ego nuts and it will want to be talked about. That is the force behind complaining. Try not complaining internally or externally for a day and you will see what I mean.

Some times the ego's energy flares up like a fever and it is almost unbearable, but I have been through that many times over as well, so I know that it will pass. It is a big bluff. It is the fire that burns itself away. 

All that remains will be silence and truth. 

The emptiness of who I am. 

Then I start from there.

Bring Thought To A Stop

The content of the mind is always running.

Thoughts are always going through my head, trying to get my attention.

It's all a distraction.

It's all made up.

Only the real is real.

It is only through letting go that the real is revealed.

Come to the blank slate. Come to zero.

Bring thought to a stop by seeing it. Do this by coming powerfully into this moment.

Feel the energy within the body. Follow each breath.

Let go.

Labels

We are identified with labels.

We identify with things people tell us. We identify with what we tell ourselves.

We identify with these concepts that we believe keep us safe.

We hide within these labels.

We justify our insane, neurotic behavior with these labels.

We point our fingers at the world through these labels.

In the end, if we hold on to these labels, we remain small, weak, unfulfilled, and hurt. We remain victims. We remain in a self-created prison of labels, each one a concept.

All we get, is to be right about who we think we are. We get to be right about the labels we have stuck on ourselves that we cling to.

We may even attract a group of similar minded people who cluster about us to reinforce our labels.

But we never taste freedom. We never experience ourselves as powerful.

People who challenge our labels are argued with or avoided. We argue against our freedom and power.

What are labels? They are who we think we are. A depressed person. An anxious person. A broken person. A hurt person. An unloveable person.

In my experience I have found that all labels are false.

Avoid labels.

Joy Is Aliveness

I am learning that a part of waking up is to allow the expression of joy to arise in whatever form it takes. It is often very subtle. It can be like a small flame in a windstorm of ego.

A long time ago, the natural joy and exuberance that I felt was crushed by my ego in response to some kind of threat or criticism.

That is the job of the ego. To keep itself safe from hurt. To make itself bigger, and better. To separate, measure and divide.

Joy cannot exist within a troubled personality, a depressed personality, a hurt personality. 

As my ego dissolves, that subtle joy begins to arise. The ego sees this as a threat. It will resist.

It's another opportunity for awareness to see the ego in operation, not react to it, and focus on the good.

Every time the ego is not engaged by my awareness, it grows weaker.

Joy is aliveness.

Another Kind Of Life

The deeper you dive, the better it gets.

At one time, I felt like the deeper I went into consciousness, the more bleak and confusing it felt, but that turned out to be a smoke screen.

There are challenges, knots to be untangled, doors to unlock, gardens to weed, pollution to clean up, fears to face and desires to dissolve.

It's all worth it. There is another kind of life waiting for us. Another kind of living. Another sense of aliveness.

It is life as it always has been, but without looking at it through the lens of an ego. Without the ego's heaviness. Without the weight of the past, aliveness begins to burst forth like a flower from a bud.

Keep moving. Keep questioning. Keep using the intellect pry out the ego. Keep recognizing patterns.

Use all of this to free yourself.

It is my primary purpose.

Choose Your Life's Path

Throughout the day there are many events that can knock me off balance.

Old habits can start running. Old hurts can bubble up. Desire ignite. Resistance solidifies. It's all fuel for the ego and it makes it stronger.

Awareness can get pulled into the gravity of these emotions, and it gets lost within the stories that I tell myself. A syndrome between my internal monologue and my emotions begins. A hurt view of the world emerges from this syndrome.

At any moment, I can snap out of it completely. There is often a great temptation to resist this, but I have been through suffering many times, and I know the pattern.

Pattern recognition is key. Once I am aware that I am in the same old neighborhood where I got beat up last time, I do everything that I can to get out of it, no matter how tempting it is to stay there.

What are the temptations? A sense of "me", desire for pleasure, a hurt story, wanting to be understood, wanting vindication, to be "someone", to be wanted, needed, the list goes on. It's all about the "me" and its desire to be real.

Step out of the "me". Step out of darkness into the light of awareness.

Be free of the terrible burden of identity.

And then choose your life's path.

Dwell In Awareness

Confusion is another aspect of the ego, as is overwhelm and uncertainty.

All these dissolve when I come back to the center, come back to the fact that awareness is watching all of this.

Awareness can never be confused, overwhelmed, or made to feel uncertain. It observes an ego that experiences all of those emotions.

When I come back to awareness, I rest. I relax. I have let go of all of it.

Then I act from there. I move from there. I create who I am from there.

Grow Your Roots Into Awareness

I keep coming back to the fact that I am not my thoughts.

Most of my thoughts are flying through my mind like birds. 

There are some thoughts that are my own past bubbling up.

There are some thoughts that I actually generate, like when I put my mind to a task.

I think that there is another reality where awareness - the one who is aware of all this - is in the foreground rather than the background. That reality is free from ego. The ego is in operation, but it is faint, in the background. It is not running the show. 

The more I grow roots into awareness, the more I can feel this happening. It is good.

Come Back To The Center

Every time I become conscious in the present moment, I have an opportunity to brush away what has accumulated, to wipe away the dust of the past, to weed the garden of my mind.

Every moment I return to awareness I have a chance to live life consciously. 

Everything is outside the center, there is no "inside". The center is the source of life. The source of awareness. 

Everything is at ease at the center. The essence of nature is at ease. Therefore, who I truly am is at ease.

Come back to the center every opportunity you get. Reset and restore. Start anew. Reincarnate.

Continually pull awareness from the stream of thinking. 

Come back to the center.