An Observation About Life

by JamesThomas 86 Replies latest jw friends

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  poppers

  The 'now' is only bleak when the mind reverts to a 'story' about what is unfolding - the mind has retreated into the past. To be anxious about the 'future' is to take some story from the past and project it forward into a possible reality. In the meantime, the only thing which is real is going unnoticed.

  Without a story what's wrong with right now? Attending to life's necessities unfolds spontaneously and effortlessly when allowed to. When the mind decides things should be this way or that trouble follows. When mind gets out of the way life simply flows of its own accord.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  jst,:From there even skeptics as myself may feel justified in asking, "is there a reality beyond this perception". I have, since youth, had a sense of connection to something. After leaving the WT I decided it was all a fraud and my feelings were imagined. Then I got hooked on science and found more reason to question my perception of reality then to question my spiritual "experience".

  
  
  
  is to question our experience of reality.
  
  

  jst,: That's it. Fear. And if you are intellectual you fear being a fool to 'experience'

  
  
  so true! i too have turned into a real skeptic. i realize now that i have been one for years in a subconcious sort of way. the thought of being taken for a ride again is a repulsive thought. that's the nice thing about this thread. it's about no one else, but you, and the moment, and life.
  
  
  

  popper,: Without a story what's wrong with right now?

  
  
  
  exactly! well said. right now is beautiful! my story may be crashing down around me, and i guess i will still always have to deal with that. but right now. right now is beautiful. that is healing.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  James: All we are after here is what we truly already are. So it's not about acquiring or about getting from point A, to point B. It's just about seeing what is here already.

  
  
  it's so simple it's almost scary. but, it makes sense inately, deep inside somewhere.
  i have a question that may seem childish. i have always thought of life as a balancing act of modes and situations and plans. is this being, with life and aliveness in the moment, something that people take time out of their schedules to do? or, is it something permeates everything in ones life? is it a way of living, or a way of healing? strangely, this is all so new to me...
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  poppers

  tetra,

  'my story may be crashing down around me, and i guess i will still always have to deal with that.'

  Let the damn thing crash. At some point you will realize that it is just a damn story that isn't actually real. That realization arises out of what you really are - there will be the still silent awareness and the witnessing of just another story as it pops up again from time to time. In attempting to hang on to the story by putting belief in it is to maintain suffering. Stories cease to sway you one way or another when they are seen as only stories - nothing to deal with at all, only to be recognized as stories. In that recognition they are no longer seen to be problematic.

  'but right now. right now is beautiful. that is healing.'

  Yes! Right now is all there is, and in the realization of this comes healing and wholeness. The direct realization of this is irrefutable and immediate. No need for belief whatsoever. In fact, even the belief of the reality of now obscures reality. Drop ALL beliefs about everything.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  poppers,
  
  "Drop ALL beliefs about everything."
  
  thanks. i understand what you are saying. it's a tall order as words on a page, but i guess it's just something that one has to experience. it goes back to fear. but i am open. i will just do it. after all, you have basically explained the secret haven't you? doing is all that is left for me. thank you.
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  poppers

  tetra,

  Please allow me to give you my perspective on your question to JT -

  'it's so simple it's almost scary. but, it makes sense inately, deep inside somewhere.'

  It is simple - it is simplicity itself. Anything beyond simplicity is an intrusion of the mind. It makes sense innately because the real you recognizes itself in JT's words. Pure awareness/You is unmodified awareness without limitation, while mind is modified awareness with limitation. 'Scary' is an idea projected by the mind which is used as a strategy to maintain control and dominance - giving up control is scary indeed for the mind, but mind will always be available when necessary. When this is recognized 'scary' fades away on its own.

  'is this being, with life and aliveness in the moment, something that people take time out of their schedules to do?'

  When one first encounters these ideas which point beyond all ideas there can be a familiarization period where taking 'time out' may appear helpful. When the recognition of awareness becomes stabilized in consciousness it will be seen that awareness is always here, and that presence is eternal because it is beyond time (time is a concept created by the mind).

  'or, is it something permeates everything in ones life?'

  It is here, now; it is with everything in every circumstance. Every event, every encounter, every 'thing' which is seen, felt, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched arises out of this pure awareness/You. Life simply flows and flowers and isn't even thought about unless one consciously takes 'time' to think about it. And all the while there is the silence and stillness, the peace and contentment and fulfillment of Life/You/awareness caressing the all.

  'is it a way of living, or a way of healing?'

  It is the source of life itself. It unifies what had been separted by the mind. In the seeing of all as an expression of oneness is healing because the separate has been realized to be whole.

  'strangely, this is all so new to me...'

  You are in for a delightful discovery. 'This' is ever new, ever fresh, ever vibrant, and always here, now.
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  Tigerman

  Yeah, it's all cool . . .' cept we have too many sperms going into too many eggs.
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  poppers

  tetra,

  'doing is all that is left for me.'

  In reality, it is in not 'doing' that this is seen. Doing is of the mind - being simply is. We are human beings - we're very familiar with the human part, but we are out of balance because the being part has been overlooked. In being, there is no doing at all. The human part is the part that does all doing - just recognize how and when doing manifests. In the recognition of how doing manifests beingness is revealed.

  The simplest thing is to remain present and not get caught up in ideas. Once there is a basic understanding there is really nothing to think about - that will only complicate it. Simply soak in the immediacy of the moment; be present with what is, as it is, because it is, and when mind is noticed again return to the present moment.
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  codeblue

  Poppers and James Thomas,

  Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question.

  You both make it sound so "easy"....but for me it is a struggle...Maybe it has to do with the JW mindset of always living for what you MIGHT receive in the future.

  CodeBlue
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  EvilForce

  Poppers...thanks for your posts :)
  
  CodeBlue I've sent you a PM about buddhism / taoism.