Being what you really are is not difficult. Being what you are not and then arguing for or against it is what is difficult.
Notice that right now, if you just rest and welcome everything (really - everything - including your rejection of anything), there is nothing else that needs to be done in order for Isness to Is (so to speak!). It is only a thought which says "I'm not getting it," or "I am missing something." Even these thoughts are Isness taking shape as particular thoughts. Isness is is-ing everything: Isness is-ing as this computer; Isness is-ing as the big blond dog on the floor; Isness is-ing fingers; Isness is-ing uncertainty and confusion; Isness is-ing a Vince and a Tom and a Sue and a Roberta and a Karl and... Isness is-ing is-ing!
No effort is necessary for Is-ing to Is. Rest and welcome the fizzing Is-ing.
Nothing to do.
Right here.
Right now.
Rest.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Awareness Is Stuff, Stuff Is Awareness
Even though Awareness cannot be "experienced," this doesn't mean that Awareness-Being is somehow separate from all of the stuff of life. On the contrary, life is Awareness/Beingness itself. Absolutely everything is known in, by, and as Awareness. Nothing is separate from this Everyday Awareness present here-now...It is never anywhere other than here.
A line from the Heart Sutra says that "form is nothing other than emptiness and emptiness nothing other than form." It is only thought that separates the two. If you live in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois (as I do) you might say it this way: Awareness is full of stuff and stuff is full of Awareness!
A line from the Heart Sutra says that "form is nothing other than emptiness and emptiness nothing other than form." It is only thought that separates the two. If you live in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois (as I do) you might say it this way: Awareness is full of stuff and stuff is full of Awareness!
No Experience Necessary
What you are can never be experienced.
Looking for a particular experience as confirmation of what you are - whether peace or love or anger or irritation or rain or cold wind or sand between your toes or terror or calm or equanimity or hunger or sublime spiritual visions - takes you in the wrong direction and will keep you searching forever. Searching, finding, celebrating, losing, and grieving - only to begin searching again and again - is samsara/suffering.
No experience is what you are (read that again - yes, I mean that in both ways). In fact, any experience can only serve to point you back to this present Awareness upon/within/throughout which this very experience, right now, is registered.
Beingness, as an employer, has few requirements: no experience necessary.
Looking for a particular experience as confirmation of what you are - whether peace or love or anger or irritation or rain or cold wind or sand between your toes or terror or calm or equanimity or hunger or sublime spiritual visions - takes you in the wrong direction and will keep you searching forever. Searching, finding, celebrating, losing, and grieving - only to begin searching again and again - is samsara/suffering.
No experience is what you are (read that again - yes, I mean that in both ways). In fact, any experience can only serve to point you back to this present Awareness upon/within/throughout which this very experience, right now, is registered.
Beingness, as an employer, has few requirements: no experience necessary.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
There Isn't Really Anyone Who Rests in Amsterdam
Questioner: I keep trying to rest, but my mind just keeps going. Another teacher told me that this pointer to just rest will lead me astray. I'm afraid I'm not getting it.
Vince: Look, everyone who is talking about this stuff has his/her own way of trying to help people see what they have seen. I found, in my own seeking, that "trying" really got in the way of simply stopping and seeing what is ALREADY true - that the SEEING/AWARENESS is absolutely, totally, 100 percent, always functioning effortlessly.
Without "trying" to be aware of sensations, there is awareness of sensation.
Without "trying" to be aware of seeing, there is awareness of light/dark/shape/color, etc.
Without "trying" to be aware of hearing, there is awareness of sound.
Without "trying" to be aware of smelling, there is awareness of odor.
Without "trying" to be aware of tasting, there is awareness of taste.
Without "trying" to be aware of thinking, there is awareness of thinking.
All of this is happening all of the time; sometimes, one sense or another is dominant. No matter WHAT is the object of awareness, AWARENESS itself is present or there would be no way to KNOW experience. In your case, a lot of thinking is going on as well as the thought that there shouldn't be so much thinking - so what? Right now, isn't there awareness of the thinking? This thinking is happening in a vast, open, spaciousness that is not in the least disturbed by thinking.
Experience itself is ALWAYS changing. You can prove this to yourself by sitting quietly for a moment and just watching - the body moves slightly, an eye twitches, the wind blows, thoughts shift, light or shadow crosses the room, you smell the chicken soup on the stove and then that smell is replaced by something else, you feel at ease and then you feel tense - all of this can happen in an instant. Yet, there is something present and aware that is registering all of these tiny movements/changes...and THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE! "You" are the presence/awareness that KNOWS the changing.
When I say "just rest," I am saying "rest as THAT." We are really NEVER DOING OTHERWISE, anyway! Just rest is an attempt to help "you" see what you already are.
So, no, you don't "need" to rest in order to see what you already are (since you already are what you already are, anyway - my English teacher would not be happy with that one). I have just found that it helps people notice the awareness that is always, already present and to identify as that - and gives them permission to stop seeking/trying.
It is a little like the old pointer of someone standing in Amsterdam asking someone how to get to Amsterdam. If that person is frantically trying to find Amsterdam, someone who is trying to help might first say, "Stop. It's OK. Take a breath. Just rest. You are already here. There is nothing more you need to do other than to just rest right here, right now." You see, the resting isn't a "process" or "technique" that gets them to Amsterdam; but it increases the chance that s/he will see what is already true.
I hope this helps a bit. I hate to say this because it sounds so much the party line, but you really already ARE what you are looking for. WHAT you ARE (it really is more a "what" than a "who") is what is registering all of the looking and worrying and thinking and trying and efforting and...so, just rest. You are already in Amsterdam. And, after you've taken a breath, take a look - there really is no one resting in Amsterdam, either. Wink.
Vince: Look, everyone who is talking about this stuff has his/her own way of trying to help people see what they have seen. I found, in my own seeking, that "trying" really got in the way of simply stopping and seeing what is ALREADY true - that the SEEING/AWARENESS is absolutely, totally, 100 percent, always functioning effortlessly.
Without "trying" to be aware of sensations, there is awareness of sensation.
Without "trying" to be aware of seeing, there is awareness of light/dark/shape/color, etc.
Without "trying" to be aware of hearing, there is awareness of sound.
Without "trying" to be aware of smelling, there is awareness of odor.
Without "trying" to be aware of tasting, there is awareness of taste.
Without "trying" to be aware of thinking, there is awareness of thinking.
All of this is happening all of the time; sometimes, one sense or another is dominant. No matter WHAT is the object of awareness, AWARENESS itself is present or there would be no way to KNOW experience. In your case, a lot of thinking is going on as well as the thought that there shouldn't be so much thinking - so what? Right now, isn't there awareness of the thinking? This thinking is happening in a vast, open, spaciousness that is not in the least disturbed by thinking.
Experience itself is ALWAYS changing. You can prove this to yourself by sitting quietly for a moment and just watching - the body moves slightly, an eye twitches, the wind blows, thoughts shift, light or shadow crosses the room, you smell the chicken soup on the stove and then that smell is replaced by something else, you feel at ease and then you feel tense - all of this can happen in an instant. Yet, there is something present and aware that is registering all of these tiny movements/changes...and THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE! "You" are the presence/awareness that KNOWS the changing.
When I say "just rest," I am saying "rest as THAT." We are really NEVER DOING OTHERWISE, anyway! Just rest is an attempt to help "you" see what you already are.
So, no, you don't "need" to rest in order to see what you already are (since you already are what you already are, anyway - my English teacher would not be happy with that one). I have just found that it helps people notice the awareness that is always, already present and to identify as that - and gives them permission to stop seeking/trying.
It is a little like the old pointer of someone standing in Amsterdam asking someone how to get to Amsterdam. If that person is frantically trying to find Amsterdam, someone who is trying to help might first say, "Stop. It's OK. Take a breath. Just rest. You are already here. There is nothing more you need to do other than to just rest right here, right now." You see, the resting isn't a "process" or "technique" that gets them to Amsterdam; but it increases the chance that s/he will see what is already true.
I hope this helps a bit. I hate to say this because it sounds so much the party line, but you really already ARE what you are looking for. WHAT you ARE (it really is more a "what" than a "who") is what is registering all of the looking and worrying and thinking and trying and efforting and...so, just rest. You are already in Amsterdam. And, after you've taken a breath, take a look - there really is no one resting in Amsterdam, either. Wink.
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