Under-Stand

Standing no-where

As no-one

There is nothing to get

And no-where to go.

Who dares to boast Enlightenment?

Who would cleave the universe in two?

Ever-is

So, here we are. This is it, happening exactly as it happens. Nothing to be added to it and nothing that can be taken away. This happening is undeniable and obvious. It is so normal that is doesn’t require words to spell it out. Life speaks for itself.

This moment is total and all-inclusive; everything in the moment is the moment. Even the word moment gets in the way here – there simply IS: IS-ness happening.

Because this ever flowering IS-ness includes all that happens, there is nothing which can stand apart from it. What IS always IS, and in totality there can be no conflict. Even the idea that you are in conflict is simply what is happening. It IS.

So give up the life-sapping effort of trying to maintain the illusion that you are separate and relax into your simple IS-ness. Rest in totality.

How could you do anything else?

The Cave-Dweller (The Café Dweller)

He was sunlit and silent but his eyes glared like moons. Seated in the auspicious place (his favourite café near the Place Saint-German Des Pres) in the pose of the Yogi (leaning back in his chair, legs idly crossed, one hand holding a cup of black coffee), his calm joy radiated out into the passers-by (he read the paper, laughed at a cartoon). His simple clothing hinted at the dress of a Pandit, a learned man who was of the world but not in the world (a white crumpled linen jacket that he bought years ago, an old shirt a friend had given to him, a pair of trousers scuffed at the hem, and a new pair of converse sneakers). Before him lay sacred manuscripts, holy objects which he studied serenely (the Review section of the Paper and Paul Austers’ latest novel). Devotees milled about him (the waiters were very busy it being a public holiday) and before too long the Self-realized One looked up from his ocean of Brahmanic bliss and slowly, ever so lightly, raising his hand, spoke the ultimate truth - "Excusez-moi! Un autre café s'il vous plait!”

Poem to the Sky-clad

How bitter-sweet,

- Heartbreaking really,

That the sky should believe itself

To be a cloud.

How remarkable!

- Truly joyful!

That the sky should suddenly realize

Its unchanging sky-hood!

Solidity Is Boundless Space

There is no referent of your experience.

There is no back wall, no solid entity, no nugget of you-ness, which experience 'hits'.

Every sensation that appears solid is actually pure space. Choose a sensation, the one which seems to be most intimately associated with you and you will soon discover that there is nothing solid or tangible about it. All of your sensations are in flux and that flux is itself empty. Really, there is nothing happening.

Experience happens to no-body and the only referent is empty space.

Spontaneous Miraculous!

It can seem that thoughts get in the way.

But what gets in the way of thought?

Brain Storm

Thoughts are not a barrier to seeing 'This'.

There is not need to fret or panic about your doubts.

Can the sky be toppled by a cloud?

You Are Happening To Yourself

So much of our experience of the world and ourselves is visual, so we’ll begin there. Look at an object, it can be anything; this word, the screen, your hand, a tree, anything you like. Ok, now just stop thinking for a moment and be interested in how it looks. Don’t add names, keep the mind quiet and just see. Easy.

What you are seeing is a fact. It is there. To argue is to think. Be dumb and see. What you are seeing is just there, it is self-evident, obvious. Beyond doubt.

Ok, now notice how the object is actually seen only in seeing.

You are seeing and the object is there in it. There is no division between your seeing and the object is there? No, the seeing is the object. We could say that the object is made out of seeing!

So look around and notice that everything you see is made from your own seeing. There can be nothing seen that is outside if your seeing. Everything you look at is made from the fabric of seeing.

This can be a powerful realisation. That wherever you go, all you’re ever seeing is made from your own seeing! The same seeing sees many different things, yet all things can only be made from your own seeing!

Now try to notice if there is any distance between you and the object. Is there a boundary or line between you and what you see?

No. The seen is just there. We may say the bottle is ‘over there’, but the bottle and the distance only exist as part of sight. And where does sight happen? Here – in Me.

How close is here? Well for me, when I look at any object it’s like there’s a wide space where I think my face is and everything fills that space. Anything I look at fills it. It doesn’t just fill it partially – but totally. I am this wide space which contains what is seen. This seeing, this hereness, happens so close to me, so intimately within me, that actually I cannot perceive any distance at all. I am the Here.

So there are two things to notice here; that everything you see is made from your own seeing and that therefore everything you see happens not ‘out there’, but only in your immediacy, right here, and this hereness is so close that you are already merged with it. You are this intimate hereness.

You are what you see because what you see is only your own seeing. It never takes place ‘out there’ for ‘distance’ also happens in seeing and all seeing only happens ‘here’ in the intimate immediacy of your experience.

There is no distance between you and seeing: you literally are what you see.

Now try this with other sensations. Try finding where sound happens, how close is sound to you? Is not sound only made of your own hearing? And doesn’t sound always happen ‘here’?

Are not your current sensations only made from your own feelings? And doesn’t your feelings always happen ‘here’, intimately?

Life is not something ‘out there’. It is so intimate, so close and so full. This is what we miss. We put concepts between this freely given intimacy and the obvious fact of fullness. It’s the labels and words which seem to split things apart.

So what are you amongst all this fullness? Well, you are so full that you are merged with all things, all experiences and sensations. You are merged with every thought and perception. It’s all you. Why? Because there is no boundary between your perceptions and yourself. It all happens Here. Intimately.

You are ALL things. No gaps can be found. Life floods in. No ‘you’ to stop it. Even the idea of ‘You’ has flooded in without your choice; it too is only your own awareness.

Your whole life you have thought that you were separate from the world. In fact you missed how close the world was to you, that it only happens within you. Your room, your body and sensations, your friends and family, the ocean, the Himalayas, the Sun, Moon and Cosmos are all made from you. You are all of these things.

See it all as yourself. Claim your birthright. Even your doubts are just one more flavour of yourself. Just to make life a bit more interesting!

There is absolutely nothing to get rid off or avoid. Just see how everything is already caressing you tenderly whispering your name. When this is realised, then all that falls away is the strong conviction that you were ever a limited separate being, and then this realisation bears its own fruit both in understanding and action.

You are all and all is you. This is not a cliché, this is fact. See it.

Forget emptiness and non-self: See how vast and full you are in each moment.

You are happening to yourself.

Stay with this quiet and obvious fullness.