Tagged: darkness
Dispelling the layers of shadows
We already ARE everything we would like to BE.
There is no “improving” needed. What is needed is to unlearn, to take away all the cloudy games of the mind, to dispel the layers of fear, shame and guilt, to become aware of the conditioning, the beliefs, the superstitions. That is all. That is what some people call “darkness,” “shadows.”
Therefore as we ARE right now, with all of those “features;” we ARE not. There is not a unified presence but a multitude of “I’s.”
How could we think about changing the world? How could we think about changing ourselves?
We ARE not. Who is going to attempt those changes?
The mind and its beliefs. Someone who is not real yet.
We ARE imitations, conditioned minds, mostly unable to feel.
We may believe that we are feeling, but we are merely thinking that we feel.
How could we know anything if we do not know who we ARE?
I am not talking about the conditioned response: “I am a soul.”
Even though that may be true, those words are of not use for someone who IS not. It is only an intellectual definition; very important for the mind to have, because then you believe “you know.”
For someone who IS, those words are not necessary. BEING does not depend on definitions or concepts. It is not related with the trips of the mind.
The presence of who we ARE is clouded by the mind. Thus, the mind makes up several personalities who are continuously changing: Today “I am this,” a few minutes later; someone else.
Gentle a minute ago, violent right now, sad a few minutes later and feeling guilty the next hour…
Could you BE alone and enjoy yourself? Don’t you need someone to define who you ARE? To show you who you ARE? To bring the “best” of you? 🙂
I am not saying that we should be alone. I am saying that someone else defines who we ARE, someone else gives meaning to our existence.
That is because we depend on the outside to BE. The outside colors and shapes our BEING. The mind takes those “teachings” and will remember them, to define us, to make us believe that we are safe…
If your mind is violent, how could you be compassionate?
By making (doing) effort to BE non-violent? By DOING something?
No! There is not DOING able to change BEING.
Our mind will be violent, no matter what we DO, no matter what we believe in, no matter how many “beautiful” experiences we may have, no matter how holy we act.
That is why, for a violent mind; any action no matter how “good” that may be, it will be tinted with violence.
If we repress our violence, still it will be there.
There is nothing we can DO about that violence. We could only be AWARE of it as it IS, as it appears. Without judgment, without a repressing thought; observe who you ARE at that moment. Don’t hide in your morality, in your rationality, simply accept that who you ARE without labels.
That unconditional acceptance is the beginning of change.
That is the beginning of BEING Conscious.
You see, there are no beliefs here. No Paradise, no Samadhi, no Salvation, nothing to strive to; because that striving does not allow you to BE conscious of the “now,” of who you ARE.
The pretty ideas of the future, the pretty stories of who you “could become” are not needed for the one who is AWARE.
Only the “NOW” is there. The mind does not have a chance to expand, to dream, to make up stories. You are AWAKE.
There is no hope to escape someplace, no beliefs to hide into; but the unconditional acceptance of what is, as it is; the “now.”
We cannot practice honesty. We can only allow it to happen.
The Oneness of light and darkness
We perceived light and then perceived darkness. We saw 2 separate things.
We labeled light as “good” and darkness as “bad.”
With those labels, our perception of “morality” arrived and people divided themselves into “sinners” and “saints” to feel shameful or to judge others based on their value system.
The division progressed, as a “God” appeared to support a moral system and to condemn another.
That is how “being better than thou” arrived. We became engaged in building a “cookie cutter” society which kills all possibilities to explore being yourself… All in the name of “being righteous” instead.
As some individuals were busy selecting “good” over “wrong” or light over darkness, some realized that it is artificial to say that light is “good” and darkness “bad.” After all, if light exists it is because of darkness!
Then it is a matter of balancing light and darkness to feel “right,” was thought. Balancing the “opposite” was the perception to live by.
That was thought to be more “elevated” and “good.” 🙂
Then came Oneness.
Why do we perceive light and darkness as opposite or complements?
When we perceive them as opposite, we have the fight of supremacy, “good” against “evil.”
When we perceived them as complements, we have the quest for inner balance. Out of balance= “bad.” 🙂
What happens if we perceive them as One?
That will be an inner lie! Everyone knows that light is different than darkness!
But… few know that they are One indeed!
Let me explain. What makes day and night or light/darkness?
Timing. It is the same manifestation. The Earth rotates in its axis, that rotation, which is related with time, makes the difference. Day and Night is rotation, movement, change… See? 🙂
“But… Someone is making that movement to happen!”
You are expecting that “someone.” That is your belief system.
“ Yes, but light is better than darkness. We should make this world better.”
Better?? It is what is! Enjoy it!
“Come on! People are suffering! There is hunger, war and loneliness…
That needs to change!!”
Life IS CHANGE.
The problem is when the “I” wants things to fit his perception, his moral standards, his ideals… When the “I” interferes in that way, the “I” creates more of that which he wants to get rid of.
Because the “I” is different than the “other” there is opposition. Because of opposition, there is suffering, hunger, and loneliness…
Can’t we see that?
“ OH, I get it! then… I need to change myself to change the world!”
You have not understood. 😦
Here we go again… Life IS CHANGE.
Oneness is to be part of it, to integrate in it, to love it.
Be part of the change, allow it to happen.
“But… how do “I” know if that change is not good for ME?”
You have not understood. 😦
Here we go again: Life IS CHANGE.
And here… the deep riddle for Y’all:
Light and darkness depend only on the eyes looking at. But, “What is” is not depending on a pair of eyes.
Thus, Light and darkness are ONE.
Freedom from the known
When we observe a picture on the wall, our perspective of that picture is dictated by our location.
Similarly is with consciousness.
We have created so many “concepts” which we believe to be “real,” without perceiving the reality of our location of consciousness.
When our consciousness is located in the existence of the self, the individual; then the concept of “free will” appears. Since that “self” is immersed in duality; then “predestination” will be born just like darkness is born out of light.
Out of those 2 concepts, other concepts have emerged.
“Free-will” brings the concept of responsibility.
Religions have exploited that concept when the concept of “guilt” arose out of a “responsibility.”
“If you don’t act this way now, you will be punished forever.”
Do we see how a concept pulls another?
How about predestination?
“I am not responsible. I am not guilty. It was predestined that way.”
Nevertheless, the sense of “self” feels trapped in destiny. The self becomes a “puppet of destiny.” The Self does not appreciate that “jail.”
“Free will” and “predestination” are the roots of all conceptual living and moral standards when our consciousness is ingrained in the perception of individuality, the “I.”
Until our consciousness is able to perceive a different reality, we could be trapped in further concepts.
Look at the picture from a different location.
There we find oneness, totality.
If we are One, if there is interbeingness, how could we come up with concepts such as “free will” and “predestination”?
Who has “free will”? The individual, the “I” believing to be separated from everything else.
In oneness concepts such as “brotherhood” are no longer needed; for we don’t need to pretend to be “brothers and sisters” to get along; but we realize that this “I” and that “you” as separation is non-existent.
What “I” do to “others” is done to “myself.”
Why?
Because the Totality is inclusive of this “I.”
A clock has parts, which work together to make a clock. A part of the clock by itself is of no consequence unless it is related with others. That is oneness.
Could we say that this clock has free will to move or that it is predestined to move?
The clock is meant to move. That is all.
Life is like that, One.
When it is said that the “world is approaching a new consciousness,” what do we think about that?
It is just the change from the perception of individuality into oneness. That is the other side of the paradoxical aspect of life; in that location of consciousness there is no rationality needed, no concepts such as “free will” or “predestination” but rather recognition of a path. It is a feeling, intuition which connects us with life, with the Totality rather than dualistic thinking.
It is complete freedom from the known.
The Ocean of Life and Death
Everyone has a thought. Everyone has an idea. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a solution. Everyone has a problem… 🙂
This is the story on how some fish living in the ocean debated among themselves about the “truths of life.”
A Lanternfish who only lives in the depth of the Ocean gave his opinion about the extent of life.
“Life is complete darkness. That is why the Creator has given us our own light so we can see in the darkness. Thus, we were created to be in the darkness and this is where we will stay.”
A Shark meanwhile disagreed with the Lanternfish’s opinion. Although the Shark was unable to go that deep into the Ocean to meet the Lanternfish; the Shark assumed through the information disseminated by an Octopus; that all Lanterfish are narrow minded.
“Come up here into my territory, and you will see something different, if you live to tell,” was the Shark’s comment.
A Shark has experienced light and also has experienced that there is life above the Ocean. However, a Shark is not into philosophical/religious conversations. A Shark is there to enjoy himself by being feared. There is no time for this sort of talk when he can smell his next prey nearby.
A Dolphin, heard all of these rumors. The Octopus accomplished a great job disseminating the information in all different directions.
The Dolphin had his own opinion. “Life is vast. It is light and darkness. It is water and air. It is fish and human beings with their machines. There is no end to it.”
That mention of “air” was confusing for many fish, for they though that everything that existed was water. As a matter of fact, most fish only had experienced water in their lives but not air.
It was “normal” to believe in water only. That was the common, accepted and respected tradition.
The Dolphin left the scene and started jumping outside the water but the other fish from below were not able to see that far from below.
Every fish gave their own idea to the gossiper Octopus. Every fish has their own opinion, their own “truth.”
A Seagull flying by caught a small fish by diving into the Ocean. That fish was versed in the recent philosophical discussions of life. The Seagull, took its prey to a nearby rock to be devoured.
The fish told the Seagull before his death: “ Now, I understand what the Dolphin said about life… but even more.”
The Seagull replied: “Death brings greater understanding about life,” and swallowed the fish.
Exploring the Depth of Living 