isness

38 posts

Experience What Is Instead of What Is Not

Words often confuse us. And the word experience is an example of this confusion. We claim that our experiences influence our behavior. Similarly, the mind is adept in placing labels and definitions onto our experiences. Thus, the mind super-imposes conditioning factors onto everything. And, we just go along for the ride.

Let’s put this into perceptive from a conscious awakening standpoint. You do not necessarily participate in any given experience through your awareness to the situation. Yes, I realize this statement is first confusing. Something happens, such as a cup of water falling from the table to the floor. You are aware that the cup has fallen. Nevertheless, your awareness does not prevent you from complaining because the cup fell. Does the immediate situation cause your discomfort? Or, are you actually reenacting a conditioned reaction from a similar circumstance? Continue reading →

The Mountaintop Is Your True Home

Acknowledge that you live on a mountaintop. Let’s reflect on this insight before the mind contaminates the scenery with too many thoughts. You stand with your face to the sun. Furthermore, the sun is always shining at the top of the mountain. A breeze caresses your face.

Occasionally birds fly about and visit you. They sing a song of life and living. It seems you are alone here on the mountaintop. However, you are never truly alone. You emerge in pure presence. Thus, you sense the energy pulsations of the earth, the universe and life. Living in pure presence nurtures unity. Thus, separation and loneliness are abstracts of the mind.

Presence offers bliss. Therefore, time and matter have no ultimate significance. These are only details of a temporary existence. There is a path before you. The trail leads to the valley below. And yes, you travel, on occasion, to the valley in your thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, no detail within the valley compares to the sheer rapture of living in the presence of your being. Continue reading →

An Inquiry into Being in Love

Being in love gives us joy. This love and affection can be to a person, a thing or even self-love. Love is marvelous and, at times, equally perplexing. This is fine. However, this reference is not necessarily about physical or emotional love. Instead, our inquiry is into the totality of love.

Therefore, let’s take the first step into this inquiry through the realization that love is energy. This energy attaches itself to either our mental or emotional center of focus. But, please understand that love is always present, as is true for all universal energy. Have you experienced a moment when all judgments, doubts, anxiety and fear were at a minimum? What did you feel? Was it something that you cannot truly express in mere words? Would it be appropriate to describe this state of being as a blissful experience? The sensation you experience in such a moment is possible through the natural flow of universal energy. The blissfulness you experience is possible because you are going with the flow. Continue reading →

Flow with Life and Embrace the Way

Let’s start this article with a simple exercise. How does it feel to embrace something or someone? This experience is a helpful stepping stone as you awaken to consciousness. Is embracing something or someone strictly a physical experience? There is much more to this interaction. Everything transfers energy. Likewise, holding something or someone is the sensation of sharing at various levels. However, the essence of this unified energy is constant. Only the frequency alters, depending on an object’s acceptance or resistance to this flow.

Now gently embrace yourself. Consciously go beyond the physical stimulation. Thus, you equally allow awareness to expand. Visualize the drift and manifestation of energy. And, don’t guide or influence this energy. Simply acknowledge the flow and let it drift along. Likewise, recognize that you are a vibrating part of this universal movement. Embracing your physical body enhances aware presence. Accordingly, the mind loses influence over your state of presence as you flow with this universal life stream. Continue reading →

Excuses Validate the Story of Our Existence

We use excuses every day…back and forth…to and fro…up and down it goes. We are always making excuses. It might seem as if I am over dramatizing. However, consider for yourself what is an excuse. And, then determine how often you use them each day. The number that you will eventually add together is mind-blowing. Correspondingly, deeply reflect on our existence for the sake of this article discussion. Then ask yourself how excuse-making behavior influences conscious awakening (conscious enlightenment).

People tend to always look outward in the search of reasons and validations. This is true whether we search for someone to blame or to make excuses. We hit our thumb with a hammer. What is the first reaction that flashes through our mind? “&#%! Dumb hammer, it hit my finger?” We are shopping and it suddenly starts to rain. &#%! Why must it rain now? You are walking. A car speeds by during your walk. The rain and water from a puddle splashes you. &#%! Why did it have to splash me? Continue reading →

Confusion Abounds When the Mind Is Astray

The mind constantly inflects confusion, anxiety, and fear upon us. Why? You might ask. And, the mind insists, why not? This behavior is due to a limbo state of living life. It is quite easy for the mind to overwhelm us when we are unaware. Can we consciously move beyond the mind? Yes, with practice. This means not allowing any mind-generated restrictions and manipulations to interrupt the flow of universal energy. What can we practice to nurture the flow of this energy? Focus on living here and now. Acknowledge the spaciousness between thoughts, emotions and situations. Universal energy flows. So, practice living for the ride and not the destination.

Our fear and confusion occur primarily from non-acceptance. We don’t want to accept this moment. And, this nonacceptance causes us to live life in a constant state of dissatisfaction. At least, this is what the mind tells us. Nevertheless, everyone experiences conscious awareness at some level. And, many times, our focus is on aware presence. But, then the mind intervenes. The mind tells us that thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow are more important than now. Continue reading →

The Totality of Living Life Is Now

You experience the totality of everything is each moment. But, the mind won’t accept this insight. So, you must go beyond conventional thinking. Here, non-attachment and non-dependency are beneficial. Sages and conscious individuals express again and again the benefits of conscious living within this moment. Eckhart Tolle describes the present moment as all you will ever have. So, is this the totality of life? Don’t answer too quickly. Instead, consciously step outside your mind. Thus, it becomes obvious that, indeed, this moment is everything.

Buddha once said that Life can only take place in the present moment. You can’t dispute this logic. Everything that is, was or will be, happens now. Thus, the beingness of living is an acknowledgement of presence. The process of thinking cannot accept, nor simply allow the act of being. Hence, the totality of your beingness is incomprehensible to the mind. Continue reading →

Allow Life to Flow and Just Let Go

Count the number of situations for one day that you don’t like. The total number might surprise you. Your boss gives you a task that you do not like. There is a traffic jam on the highway that angers you. You must wait in a line to pay for your groceries. It seems impossible to simply allow and accept. So, the list of things you don’t like goes on and on. Still, from time to time, there is a moment when everything is just right. Then, at least for this brief interval, you are happy. Or, at least this is what the mind tells you.

But, true happiness and satisfaction never really come. Thus, dissatisfaction comes again one minute later. Why? Mainly because you attach yourself to any, and everything. And, you expect and demand. Instead of accept and appreciate. The majority of people do this daily at some level. On the other hand, how would any experience change when you just allow and receive whatever the situation holds?

Allow and acknowledge the isness of this moment. Trust me when I share with you that this is the simplest act of living life. All discomforts, barriers and suffering fade away. Hence, you discover a calm spaciousness during any thought, feeling or situation. Likewise, spaciousness and stillness are possible in any situation, regardless of the details. This is the feeling of coming home. This dimension is where the true self resides. Let’s reflect on this insight during the remainder of the article. Continue reading →

Do You Live in the Suchness of Now?

Have we forgotten how to live? Sound ridicules? This question is not as crazy as you think. Why do we insist on avoiding the suchness of life? We overlook the simplicity that is at the foundation of life and love. Complexity is the name of the game in our world. So, we make the endeavors associated with interpreting and defining life and love our priorities. But, just living and loving have become secondary in our life experiences. We are usually busy doing something or asking questions about everything. Thus, we see the beauty and true significance of being here and now as trivial. This same pattern of misunderstanding is evident in matters of the heart, such as love. We insist on pursuing our love interpretations and expectations, instead of just pure and simple loving.

The awakening of self-consciousness was wonderful and equally burdening. Mind development overshadowed this awakening. Thus, conditioned behavior became the foundation of our existence through the intervention of the mind. And, many of these patterns still contaminate a modern existence that is relatively simplistic. Consequently, and ultimately, the suchness of life is undeniable. And yet, we usually want life to be anything other than what it is now. Nevertheless, perhaps a conscious evolution is upon us. More and more people are consciously aware. There is always the suchness (Tathātā, Buddhism) of now. Therefore, living within presence frees us from the concepts of the mind. Not by avoiding the mind. But, rather by accepting thoughts, emotions and situations as temporary. Continue reading →

Lao Tzu Shows Us the Way and So Can You

Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and other sages were aware of the possibilities within the field of conscious awareness. The key is to recognize universal knowledge as the essence of being. Thus, you spontaneously live life beyond word, labels and mind details. Yet, you accept mind aspects as a part of the isness of living. However, continual tapping into the spaciousness of presence frees you from mind dominance during any situation. Hence, life is an energy field that pulsates with active consciousness. And, this consciousness is universal. This is a space of oneness that we all share. Furthermore, this is a realm of nothingness from which everything manifests.

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre expresses our existence through the following insight in his book Being and Nothingness.

“At first man is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.”
and
“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”

Truly living, rather than existing, so to speak, is enough without searching for an ultimate label or reason for being. The past nor the future offer no enlightenment of life and living in this moment. So, this is to say, that life is a mystery best to experience as a mystery. The first chapter of the Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu 604-531 BC) expresses this mystery as the Tao (The Way). Continue reading →