Tagged: changes
Nothing but the “truth.”
Many seekers are all enticed by the “truth.”
Finding the spiritual “truths” in books, or talks becomes their motivation, as if the truth could be written or shared to another.
When we deal with the “Office world,” truth could be a synonym of “fact.”
When we look at Life, any fact could be viewed from many perspectives depending on our state of consciousness.
Death of a person could be a “fact” of termination, a “fact” of a new beginning, or a “fact” of continuation.
In the “Office world,” Death is a fact of “loss.”
What is the only truth of those “facts” about death?
Caught up in meaningless words, questions and answers, we are unable to see the journey.
In this blog, I share a journey, which is my truth.
From my first post here on 2/26/12 to the last one as of today, 10/31/16. That is the journey. No one using human language could ever share “truth.”
The truth is not what you believe in. It is not what is widely accepted. The “theory” that “majority cannot be wrong;” is just conditioning for those who believe in “right or wrong.” The “majority rule” could be a fact in the “Office world,” where the important thing is to sell stuff, economics, supply and demand, etc. but in Life… that is just a perspective based upon collective consciousness, conditioning.
Observe your own journey. Do you see the changes?
Many times we will not be able to notice dramatical changes, for there is an orderly process, a day by day subtle movement; but if you go back to the first day in your Life that you have recollection of; and then switch to today, you may see them. Everything is cool when changes are gradual, but when Life changes course immediately, a 180 degrees turn, that is when the ego is swamped by trauma. The ego does not like change; that is why, it separates from Life.
The truth of living Life in joy, cannot be found in books, seminars, talks, etc.
Just like a self–realized individual is not standing behind certifications, degrees and many years of living under a religious/spiritual dogma.
Living Life in awareness, feeling it; may give us more than answers. It gives us fulfilment.
Feel Life empty of words. Feel beauty without the word beauty.
The word beauty, creates ugliness and that is how innocence is lost.
It is not the word, but our strong belief in that word, the ideal, the mind.
Lighten up from the heavy hindrance of conditioning.
Allow for the heart to lead your direction.
Love will no longer be a pretty word, a cliché to hide our inability to feel.
The truth is in the depth of our feelings not in the complications of the mind and its emotions.
Truth is already within us and the journey, Life is there to become aware of it. 🙂
Change is Natural and leisurely
Life sustains itself. It recycles itself. No “help” is needed.
Humans living through the mind, are so concerned about “controlling” things and “making changes” out of a particular, reduced viewpoint which does not consider the “bigger picture.”
That willingness to “willfully” change things and control events most of the time, have undesired consequences. It is the “I” exercising his “choice.”
Observe Life. There is a continuous line of changes. It does not matter how we label them (good, bad, right, wrong) those changes will maintain Life.
Observe an hourglass. Life works almost the same manner. “You” are in one side of the glass full of sand, just to move to the empty side. Once “you” are in the empty side, there will be a flip, an inversion and… “you” are back to the “full side.”
Our minds and “spirituality for the masses” are concerned in “always staying in the full side.” That is a mirage.
Collective Consciousness also moves the same way. There are few particles of sand, the pioneers going from the “full” side to the “empty.” Their perception of the “empty” side will not be understood by those only experiencing the “full” side.
Those experiencing the “full” side will be many. Because “majority rules,” their perception will be labeled as “truth” and our society will be built upon that perception.
“Which side of the hourglass is the “truth”?” That is the question of most intelligent minds. However, observe that this question is foolish. The hourglass is ONE.
In the “spiritual” circles, some are so concerned in “making the change” right away, suddenly…. That is not “real change.” That is the change envisioned by the clever mind, the “I.” That change is only behavioral.
Change happens slowly; as the particles of sand move from one side of the hourglass to the other. That is a process. Change is built in Life.
Concerned in “getting to the empty side faster” because it is “better;” the “spiritual person” spends his Life going from one objective to the other, trying to find meaning, purpose in Life.
Observe the hourglass again. “You” will get there, but it depends where you are located around the bunch of sand. That location gives you “your” consciousness.
Yeah! “You” want to push your way in, get there faster, etc.
Now, perhaps you could see, how silly that is. “You” will get there and that place is just another experience, just like the one that you are having right now, but you are unable to appreciate, to taste, to enjoy… the “now.”
“Why?”
Because we are living in the mind. The mind does not allow for enjoyment, to surrender to the experience… Hurry up!… the “future” is important, once you get there… you will be happy… I have no time for “now.” That is so silly!
Observe change. Appreciate it. Respect it. Embrace it. “You” will be there, “you” will move there. It is just a matter of time.
Do you see that we are all together in this? 🙂
The Spirituality of “No-I.”
The experience of “no-I” changes everything.
Yes, we are One. Yes, we are God, Life, the Universe… but Yes, “we” are not.
We are nothing. We are everything.
Simple language cannot express, but poetry can express… but not what “is.”
What is “karma” in the “I” and the “no-I” realm?
As explained by traditional religious spirituality, it is an action of the “I.” That action, has a “reward” or “punishment” for that “I,” according to how “good” or “bad” that action was. After all, “I” performed the action with my “free will.”
In the “No-I” realm, all of the above is “pure” nonsense. Rubbish.
If there is the experience of heat, there will be the experience of cold. Some may label heat as “good” and cold as “punishment.” The “I” creates guilt and shame through that view of an “I” performing “karma.”
The experiences of the opposites are together. It is duality 101.
The “I” with his “free will” pretends to separate from the Totality, but “we” are everything, the Totality. There is no separation, no parts.
Life experiences, manifest through physical bodies. It is how Life changes. Behind physical bodies there is a realm, which we are not aware of. Life moves through “us.” That movement is possible through the appearance of complementary forces, which the “I” perceives as opposite and labels: Good and bad, moral and immoral, right and wrong…
Chaos is not the opposite of Order. Chaos and Order are the same energy at different stages of movement. One will bring the other, without “our help.”
Observe how day changes into night. There is continuous change, imperceptible for an unaware being. Neither day or night are the “end product,” it is a continuous.
Then, the mind appears: “It is 5 pm called day or night?”
Stupid question. 5 PM does not exist. “How shall I call 6:39 PM? Is that day or night?” The nonsense from the mind goes on… All because the “I” has a watch.
“What was “created” first, day or night?”
Stupid question again.
“Well… There are not stupid questions, but stupid answers… “
The answers are bound to follow the questions, otherwise, you will say: “ You are not answering my question.”
The “I” dwells in the mind. The mind is unable to perceive, to be aware of without comparing, analyzing, contrasting.
Fully observe, be aware of how day changes into night, and you will know the answers, without looking for them.
The “I” struggles to know “answers,” but the answers in Life are not of the mind.
The limits of adaptation in Life
All diseases are psychosomatic. Observe that there is no separation between the body/mind/soul. It is a continuous of interlaced “things.”
Your stomach hurts? That stomach is related with other bodily parts as well as with emotions/sensations. To try to separate this “reality” of oneness is to create a problem for adaptation.
When there is lack of adaptation, there is a disease.
That is why, when we say: “I am a soul/spirit and not a body,” that innocent phrase creates rejection of the body by placing it below other things deemed to be “good,” “holy,” etc.
That rejection creates an aversion to the pleasurable sensations that the body could bring for the sake of being “spiritual.”
If we label “spirituality” as the absence of consciousness of a body, we are negating the reality of the wholeness of the experience of Life.
Therefore, the question “Who am I?” is a limit for adaptation.
As we define “who I am?” that which we think we “are not” becomes the “thing” to reject, negate, forget, and even pretend that it is not there.
A definition narrows down the extension of our “knowing,” what is meant to be without borders.
When something does not have artificially created borders, it is open for further exploration, it is open for newness.
Is the “virtue” of goodness something that you value in someone?
When that goodness is limited by our beliefs and philosophies; that goodness is no longer goodness but just a “picture” instead of the “real” thing.
Paradoxically, our concepts, our “knowledge” become a limitation to adapt to the changes in Life.
As Life changes, some would like to remain static in time:
Decaying rather than evolving; while believing in the virtue of being true to a static belief.
The old paradigm of dual moral teachings based on the acceptance of what is considered to be “good” over that which is considered to be “bad,” is no longer what is required for our consciousness to expand.
Why?
Because that paradigm brings guilt and fear, which in turn will not allow us to adapt to Life’s changes.
It is not that guilt and fear are “bad,” but they have timing. Those emotions could be a protection for sometime, to avoid acting in a certain way; but as Life changes and our consciousness do not, that guilt and fear become the ingredients for our own auto destruction.
As our consciousness grows, a different perception will arrive. It is called integration.
Some people like to call integration as “There is nothing bad.”
That definition becomes the door for misunderstanding.
Let me rephrase it: “There is nothing bad, because there is nothing good.” Everything is and by being what it is, there are only consequences, which will change according to time.
There is nothing static in Life, but our concepts, ideals, standards and the way our minds understand the world.
In that dissonance, it is difficult to flow with Life when all we are looking for is for Life to adapt to our needs and wants.
In a sentence, it is the drop of water wanting to control the Ocean.
Isn’t that ironic? If not plain stupid?
The Good “I” and the Bad “I”: The battle of the century
Imagine that you find out that “consciousness changes all by itself.”
So what?
For most individuals even though “we” have experienced this in our lives, we are not aware of it, much less of the consequences of this finding.
Have you played with dolls? Have you ever believed in Santa Claus? But then one day… the behavior and the belief were gone all by itself.
Nothing to cry about. No drama.
But here we go into the “adult” world when we better be certain of our beliefs and behaviors for otherwise, we will lose our “prestige” or worse than that, go to hell forever… in the “afterlife.”
A dogmatic, rigid life begins and consciousness is unable to change because ego, the “I” will get a hold of something to believe or cling for self-preservation.
“I have the truth.” “This is the way it is, listen to me. You will be safe if you follow me.”
Can we pinpoint the difference between the un-attached way of a child’s mentality and the clingy, rigid ways of adulthood?
Different consciousness.
For god’s sake, what “method” did we use for that change? 🙂
How was it possible for our thoughts to change from “I wonder if my Gold fish knows who I am? into, Life is suffering and then you die….?”
What method did we use for that?
But yet, we “think” that we can “change our thoughts to change our behavior.”
Caught up in that thought, we have decided to divide our thoughts into “good,” positive thoughts and “bad” negative thoughts…
Wait a minute, I was thinking about eating an avocado.. Is that “good” or a “bad” thought?
That is how “neutral thoughts” were added into the mix.
Here a colorful “spiritual” example:
Are you thinking about sex?
That is bad.
Are you thinking about helping someone?
That is good.
Do no think about sex and think about helping others.
That is the method to be virtuous.
Interestingly enough, If we try not to think about sex, what will happen?
We will think about it.
To deny a particular thought means to preserve it. By denial, we accept it.
Isn’t that paradoxical?
You bet.
That is why self-awareness, to observe, to be a witness, a detached observer, were labels used to express a particular state of consciousness which was located beyond the duality of acceptance through negation.
Many took those labels as the “method” to follow.
It is a not a method. It is a state of consciousness, which cannot be “obtained” by following a human activity, a method; but something that we will stumble upon, something that will happen when the moment is ripe for us.
Consciousness changes all by itself, we could embrace that change or we could deny it to cling to the past, the safe, the old.
We are never the same, but yet all of us are One.
How is that possible?
Because consciousness changes all by itself.
We “are” because we are conscious.
“- But… that is sad that I cannot control my consciousness!”
Who is that “I”?
How is Oneness possible when there is that “I”?
“-But… “I” have free will…”
Did you choose your parents? Your language? The settings of your childhood which determined lots of your experiences later in Life? Did you choose your DNA?
“- So… you are saying that “I” am predestined then…how sad!!
No. I am not saying either way. Just observe at that “I” which is always caught up in duality. That “I” is the victim of destiny, the one who wants to achieve, become “better,” accumulate things and be remembered when death arrives…. Or even better, to believe in a God that will preserve that “I” into a “better” place… Paradise.
The point is not to debate whether Paradise exists or not. That is a pointless belief.
What is important is to observe all the games that the “I” uses to preserve itself.
The “I” who wants to control its thoughts. The “I” who wants to control people. The “I” who wants to control destiny. The “I” who wants to control consciousness.
The “I” who divides itself into the “good I” and the “bad I.” The “I” who wants to conquer the “bad I” by rejecting those things considered “bad” and by supporting those things considered “good.”
Do we see the craziness?
“Spirituality” has offered many methods for centuries to conquer the “bad I.”
“Spirituality” has made the ”do not lead us into temptation” into a way of living, a way of inflicting self-pain for the sake of “obtaining good.”
Beliefs and more beliefs which cannot stand up in front of a experienced human being who is in balance with Life.
Body, mind, spirit, soul are One not many.
Living beings are One not many.
The Universe is One not many. It is the Uni-verse in the poetry of Life.
For some funny reason the “I” keeps separating, dividing, analyzing, finding many… Controlling, pursuing, becoming, fighting, getting, labeling, etc.
Is the problem within thoughts? Is the issue in our actions?
It is in being aware of that “I.” That is all.
Acknowledging “what is,” rather than what “should be”
Rishie realized that when he was in his low 20’s he used to like certain type of girls. When Rishie became older, in his mid 40’s he wasn’t aware that his “preference” had changed. He no longer pursued girls in their low 20’s anymore for what he considered to be desirable at one point in his life, all of the sudden… wasn’t.
In a “normal” awareness, we call that “getting old,” but “getting old” should not change someone’s taste of what it is considered “desirable” or “beautiful.”
How is it possible for that change to take place without Rishie’s awareness?
Rishie may have realized that “his preference had changed” but he would never think about the possibility that “he” had changed as well. That “he” is actually, Rishie’s consciousness.
That is the “proof” of consciousness changing all by itself. It does not depend on Rishie’s willful desire to change.
To make things easy to grasp, here an easy example.
Rishie’s father was a black man and his mother a Spanish lady. Rishie had a natural preference for black girls. That is what “he liked.” Rishie’s parents divorced when Rishie was 18. Note that Rishie’s liking is already “built-in.”
Let us say that Rishie became indoctrinated by his mother who urged Rishie to find a brown eyed, brown haired Spanish woman; because that is “correct” and “right” in their social circles, their traditions.
Rishie had a special connection with his mother and wanted to please her. Rishie made “efforts” to change his “preference.” He fought with his “inner devils” and finally decided to have a relationship with someone who pleased his mother.
That was the story of Rishie, the “effort maker,” the one who does everything to please his mother, the one who would like to be labeled as a “good son,” as an “example” for others.
The price that Rishie paid to obtain those nice labels from his mother was pretty steep.
It is the same when we force our “change” into whatever belief system we believe in.
Beliefs are not “bad.” However, there is a time limit that every single belief is attached to. What is that time limit?
When consciousness changes, of course.
To go beyond that limit is what allows someone to open up to a different consciousness.
Perhaps Rishie could have ended up marrying a woman as her Mother’s likes… Perhaps.
Perhaps Rishie could have ended up with another woman from another race after he realized through his own experience that the paper wrapping of a candy bar is not the candy bar.
Perhaps.
There are many possibilities that life could bring when there is no active participation to change things according to someone else’s wishes.
Those possibilities are in itself the “Guru,” the “life teacher,” “the hand of God,” for those who can see that consciousness changes according to what it “has to be.”
But of course, Rishie’s mother was full of expectations and her beliefs are overwhelming to the point of being self-righteous about what she knew to be “right.”
Rishie’s mother wanted to be “happy” at the expense of her son. That will have a consequence. There is a lesson that Rishie’s mother will need to learn.
We could call the above scene of life, with different labels. “God has punished Rishie. That is why he was unhappy.” “God has punished Rishie’s mother, that is why she is suffering for the wrong she did to her son.”
Or…”That is Rishie’s karma,” or “If you don’t obey your mother, then there are serious consequences. That is the law.”
Labels are not important. What is important to perceive is that Life has a flowing thread. To go along with it, is to be in harmony with “what is.” That harmony has no way to be put into labels or codes or commandments. If consciousness is not allowed to change by itself, (that is through assimilation of life experiences) then we create an inner conflict.
The “I” against Life.
Enjoying the game of changes
Could we perceive that consciousness keeps on changing without our “doing” something?
Could we perceive that “goodness” is not a definition but a state of consciousness when the Universe, life flows through us in different ways and at different times and the “I” allows it to happen?
Could we perceive that even though the body transforms and the physical manifestation ceases to be, consciousness remains and will manifest again in a different form?
We are the same Ocean of consciousness manifested in different ways and into different beings according to the plot in life.
That plot could be described as the plot of oneness, which is perceived as many.
Expansion and contraction. One to many. Yin and Yang.
Are these “concepts” opposite or complementary?
They are both and none of them at the same time. All according to our own perception.
The eternal game of immortality is the game we play.
We don’t perceive the little changes in between but the contrast.
Day changes into night. Many could understand that. This is the contrast. But to be able to perceive the different changes of the morning into the afternoon requires an aware individual. Many are oblivious to that.
Most minds dwell in that contrast. The “black or white” mentality.
What is the obstacle in being aware?
The strong perception of self.
It doesn’t matter how many books or religious talks we hear. It does not matter if we have external practices to “purify” ourselves. None of that matters although it is part of the path that some individuals have to go through in life to realize the self. To go out of the self just to come back to it.
Self-realization could be paradoxically, no self.
In the meantime, the game of life goes on. Some may want for a God to protect them, to make them feel especial and loved. Some may look for that in human beings. Others may look for some other type of fulfillment from “others.” Once life provides that, the search continues on… the “self” is not satisfied.
The duality of the “self” and “others” is very strong.
No self. Empty. Pristine. Innocent. Wonder. Joy.
The dynamics of love, resides in the art of enjoyment.
Exploring the Depth of Living 