The Void - Dissolving Into What You Are

To believe there is an everlasting afterlife that we will be judged upon death and is far more important than this life, makes this life meaningless. It enables us to submit to day in and day out frustration and obedience. When all that matters is what happens later, whether it be the afterlife, retirement, tomorrow, the future, whatever, it dis-empowers you. You are no longer focused on your immediate direct experience, which is all there is. You are in a world of abstractions, images, icons, and illusions. What's great about that, is that if you see them for what they are, for what it is, you don't have to do anything. But still, here we are, trapped within this head of mental labels of the external, creating an illusionarily separate world. Look around you and pick something, a chair, cup, yourself, whatever. See how it sits with everything around it, see how it all goes together? See how you see it as a separate part? Sure, this is convenient and is very helpful in communication, but language can be hypnotizing if not watched for what it is. Each thing around you is given a name, the keys upon a keyboard, the sofa in the room, you and "other", the Earth and the Sun. The Whole (which cannot be split or separated) is seen as a split puzzle need fixing within the ego, a cut-off world of illusion. You see yourself as a fragment of the Whole, when all there is the Tao, the Universe, the Way. The real Tao cannot be named. It is the name-less name, the frame-less frame, the game-less game, the gate-less gate, nothing and everything. A paradox... and you are that. 

We spend day after day working, waiting for a call. A call that will bring us salvation, or really, our idea of it. Whether it be being rich and famous, the afterlife, a car, retirement, a raise, whatever, we all have our own call we are waiting for. We get hypnotized by this idea and run after it like a carrot on a stick. Salvation, however, is already here. You cannot wait for the call when the call has been made and is continuously being made at this very moment for eternity. It is currently making the call and you are that making, though the two are not separate, so there is no one to pick it up! It is already here. It is in your heart, it is your soul, it is now, breathing with this direct experience you are currently having, all encapsulated within the eternal Tao, the Motion, the Void, the Emptiness. Dissolve into where you are, what you are. What you are is what you are currently experiencing. It keeps moving. Don't be afraid to have faith in it and move with it, for you are that. Nothing and no one is experiencing this, so there is no reason to be afraid at all. Fear is an illusion, "you" are an illusion, all there is is experience, motion, a dance. There is no experiencer to experience. That is just a game you play, we play, it plays. The Cosmos is what you are and you are playing with yourself, pretending you are not it. The Universe is jacking off.

So stop hiding in your head, stop pretending you are a fragment, cut-off and alienated from the Whole. Re-connect with the source, go within, go without. Re-member who you are. You see, the problem you face is illusory. Nothing is wrong with you. There is nothing need fixing. Just stop for a moment.. stop trying to be something or someone and just be. Dissolve..

Picture from the movie The Zero Theorem.

 Go see it! This post was inspired by it.

Living In the Now - How In This Society No One Wants To Be Where They Are

Lately there has been this notion that the present moment is all we have. Most people don't understand this reality and more-so see it as an abstraction. This notion, however, is indeed reality, the reality and for a more in-depth look into this, check out my previous post Time Is Always Now.

Let's go deeper into this reality of the now. If you are to plan for the future (which this society takes for somehow being more important than your immediate experience) it is only of value to those who can truly live within the moment. For when you get to that future goal, you will continue to be somewhere else, not even present for the experience and joy of your dreams coming into fruition

The internal and external sides of life are one in the same, two sides of the same coin, however, it is sometimes necessary to differentiate between the two and I am going to do so here. Internally, we are living in a world of abstractions, mental labels/boxes that make the external world seem split/separated. Externally, in this society, we are inherently set-up to not want to live in the present moment, which as we have seen, is the only reality there is. Why is this? Because we live in a world where we get paid later for doing things we don't like doing now. Day in and day out we spend our precious time on this Earth for institutions that could give two shits about us. The institutions have come alive and we are the ones feeding these parasitic entities that are taking over like a cancer.

Go to any work environment and almost everyone talks about how they want the day to go by faster, it's going too slow, I want to get home and relax, work sucks, etc., etc. In this way, in this system of control, we don't even want to be where we are! And when we get home to relax, the place we were talking/thinking about all day, we want it to last and so we grasp. We try to grasp the ungraspable. As you can see all around you, a car going by, the words in your head, the water, the clouds in the sky, it all keeps moving. Life is motion and you are that motion. The form changes, as with death, but it is always here, always now, and always one. All ripples within the Self, the fundamental underlying reality to reality, though the two are not separate. But when we hold onto life, hold onto a form of motion, life is terribly frustrated because it always slips between your fingers.

So what to do? We need to live now, a bit redundant for that is the only "time" there is, but we need to bring our awareness back to where we are and from there, or should I say from here, live! Do what you want to do! That doesn't mean screw everyone else and it's all me, no. If you are present with yourself and how "you" are always connected with the world around you, you will see that the Earth you rest upon and the people inhabiting it are just as much a part of you as your finger nails or heart beat. If you see yourself in the right way, you don't have to do anything. You will know what to do, in fact, you already know what to do. You've been doing it this whole time. Life is the drive-less driver, so have faith, trust in it, and let go. Deal with the pollution inside of you first and the rest will follow. Before anything else, before that next step you take, become connected, aligned with who you are, what you are, now. Be with this current experience you are having, in whatever form it is in. Accept who you are, be who you are, act as who you are, see who you are, know who you are, and from there your life will begin; you will be Reborn. 

A Day of Dedication: Breath

Breathing is an essential part of being human. Whether we notice it or not, we do it all the time. We have parts of ourselves that go on without "us" knowing it. Like our heartbeat, our blood flow, and any involuntary actions. And then, there are parts of ourselves that are voluntary, like consciously moving one's hand. The breath is an interesting part about being human for the breath is both voluntary and involuntary. A lot of the time it goes on without our awareness. Only when we bring our awareness back into the body and back into the breath, can we breath fully and truly be in the moment. Most of the time we are only taking "sips" of our breath and are unaware of what is happening in the present.

The word "spirit" is from the Latin word "spiritus" meaning breath. The Father (consciousness), The Son (the mind), and the the Holy Spirit (our breath) is the trinity we are all comprised of. When linked in harmony, deep peace can be felt within. This is our natural state of being. However, in our modern culture we are so used to being controlled by our thoughts that we take this unnatural, disharmonious state as normal. A majority of humanity is in this state of discontinuity with the present moment, partly due to our culture's obsession with "security" in the "future". Although, first and foremost, this is a problem from within; as is all of the problems you see in the world today. There is a crisis in consciousness on the global scale. So, to tackle this problem, it starts here, it starts now, and it starts with you. 

I invite you spend an entire day dedicated to your breath, the awareness of your breath. Start when you wake up in the morning. Slowly, bring your attention to your breath. You will notice your mind will take over you and lead you astray, this is okay. Every time you notice you are no longer focusing on your breath, see this as an opportunity to re-focus your awareness to the breath, to the moment. Notice how you are drawn away from it by a stream of thoughts. Once you get a feel for this, start to watch the thoughts as they arise and as they go. You will see where they come from; nothingness. Indeed, they will come and go, just like a wave or a cloud. If you are not aware of these thoughts and do not accept them, you can and most likely will become lost in their story, seeing yourself as them; this is known as attachment. In this mental fog, you will eventually notice you completely forgot about the breath. You will wonder where you went and how you got there. It's okay, all that matters is that you are aware of the discontinuity with the breath. Simply, bring back your attention to it and repeat this whenever it happens throughout your day. It's fascinating to see how lost we get in thought without the slightest awareness of how. Eventually, you will see the space that the breath will open up for you. This space is who you are. Thoughts will still come and go, but instead of being hypnotized by their story, you will be free in this inner space of stillness; this is known as detachment. Remember, the breath is a fantastic way to come back to the present, and when mastered, life will once again be a gift. 

The Day of Dedication blog posts will be a series of posts, so look for more in the future. :)

Photo Credit: Satori