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.