Listen from SILENCE.
It’s not about stopping your thoughts.
It’s about losing interest in them; truly not caring about them one way or an other.
When attention is not habitually engaged with thoughts, what is left?
Peace and Stillness.
Michael Jeffreys
Q: You’re saying this moment is perfectly whole, free, and lacking nothing simply as it is? But my mind can’t accept that!
MICHAEL: No mind can accept the present moment as it is; already whole and free, lacking nothing. Why? Because the mind has a project to do: fix/improve “my” life. The mind imagines a “you” who has a “life.” And so in this imaginary, dualistic mind-made world, the present moment is seen as never being good enough… at least not for long.
The way out of the chronic suffering is to realize that thoughts are an appearance, not a cause. The only true cause is Life itself. Life is spontaneously “doing” Life, not thoughts. Thoughts are part of the production, an appearance within the dream. Just like at night when the dream character gets an idea during the dream… the idea is simply more dream.
Freedom is always already the case. It’s the BELIEF in thoughts that say otherwise that is the cause of our suffering.There is only ever what’s presently happening, however it’s showing up. So if boredom or stress or anxiety or sadness or depression is showing up, then that is perfectly what is showing up. The wishing it weren’t happening when it clearly is is the root of our suffering.
The moment is no less whole or complete just because a thought claims to be unhappy. Indeed, that unhappy thought is itself wholeness appearing as an unhappy thought! FREEDOM CAN LOOK LIKE ANYTHING, which is not how the mind imagines freedom is suppose to look like! And it’s precisely because we have learned ideas of what freedom is suppose to look/feel like that most of us overlook the fact that freedom is so free that it’s free to be whatever is presently showing up, however it’s showing up.
Again, note that a thought that says this isn’t how freedom is suppose to look/feel isn’t the problem. It’s the BELIEF in the thought that says this isn’t how freedom is suppose to look/feel that causes our suffering.
And yet, even if we are believing a thought that claims this shouldn’t be happening, seeing clearly that is simply what is happening brings an acceptance beyond trying to accept or not accept. This “resisting thought” too is clearly seen as simply what’s presently arising and thus not a problem.
Freedom is seeing that the present moment is already eternally free, regardless of any transient appearance.
MICHAEL: What is THIS moment like when “I” don’t identify with/as anything? No concept whatsoever, not even a nondual spiritual one. Silent Presence Being.
CHRIS: Yes, identity as non-dual, or the “I Am” has to go. Even identity as “Silent Presence Being” has to go!
MICHAEL: Exactly Chris!
If it changes it’s not You.
Michael Jeffreys
The way the illusion of “selfing” works is thusly: the brain processes information non-stop 24/7 and has to decide what is a threat and what is useful. But to whom is all this info. relevant to??
The answer is to the fictitious, purely mental “me” that I have mistakenly identified myself as. But, where did this “me” come from in the first place? Was it there at birth? No. It didn’t show up until around the age of 1-1 1/2 years old.
Once this sense of a separate self shows up, Consciousness automatically identifies with it, and our suffering/confusion/sense of separation/seeking begins. Thus, awakening is realizing that you, Consciousness, are intrinsically whole and cannot be this sense of separation, regardless of how “real” the illusion may feel/seem. Note that the brain did nothing wrong; if it wasn’t suppose to create this sense of a “false me,” it would not appear to happen.
Remember, an appearance is NOT the actual. The actual is changeless. An appearance changes, and thus cannot be your true nature. The good news is that just because an illusion arises doesn’t mean it can’t be seen through and recognized for what it is; an apparent modification of that which is eternally unmodifiable.
Michael Jeffreys
You naturally lose interest in identifying with thoughts when you realize a thought can’t awaken… a thought will never awaken. How exactly would a thought awaken??
And what is aware of thought=You= ISness, is already ever-present and obviously awake (Or how would you know anything?). Thus awakening is meaningless to It/You, as it’s simply Its/Your timeless natural stateless state.
Michael Jeffreys
