TO WHOM DO THESE THOUGHTS COME?

This can be one of the most important questions of your lifetime.  The assumption that there is “someone” to whom the thoughts come to and arise for … is a lie and it is a lie that is inadvertently perpetrated by most everyone you know. 

Thoughts do not arise for anyone … they just arise … if you pay attention to them they strengthen, if you don’t they disappear.

As you pay less and less attention to them you begin to become aware of what they arise IN.  This Awareness becomes stronger and the attention gets placed on the Awareness more and more fully, until you begin to see that you cannot be the thoughts. 

Once this discovery is made, you become Aware of the Self.  The Self that everyone is IN.  There is no out of it; however, very few are Aware that they are IN it (because it is not an “It” – there are no attributes to Awareness).

Awareness of Self becomes the Sanctuary until such time that a Sanctuary is no longer needed and Self is the only Thing (that is not a thing) that remains.

That you are reading this is proof enough that you are ready to begin to come from the Awareness of Self as opposed to coming from an idea of an individual and separated self.

The assignment for today:  Anytime that you hear the word “I” in regards to you or anyone – you replace it with “who.”  No as a question, as a replacement to both the question and the answer.

You change your assumption from that in which there is an “I” that exists (Blind Faith for this day will serve you well), to one in which the “I” thought doesn’t.  You keep the assumption that doesn’t exist and that you have been unknowingly lied to by most everyone in your life - since the day you were born.  Just like they have been.

Again, you meet the word “I” with “who.”

Soon you will not need Blind Faith or proof that this is so.  However it takes a bit of Blind Faith and Vigilance in the beginning for the Self to be Revealed.  It has been covered over for Centuries and although it can be Revealed in an instant, it usually takes a bit of probing and investigation into the non-existence of the “I” before it is Seen to be so.

Any and all reports of what is discovered is welcome here.

You are being most delicately unraveled.

FINDING A PIECE OF TRUTH

"Finding a Piece of Truth"
March 10, 2013

Q&A from a Philosophy Class at College of the Siskiyous, Weed, CA.

One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up on wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara’s attendant asked what that was and Mara replied, “A piece of truth.”

“Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?” his attendant asked. “No,” Mara replied. “Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it.”

This has been a funny scenario for me and even saying that is similarly funny, because there is no “me.”  But since there has been a learning, since apparent birth that there is a “me,” then it can be quite challenging at times to see that there is not.  It is truly all a matter of what the attention is on, whether it is a presumed “me,” or on the Stillness that one is In.

How does that relate to the above Zen Teaching, because “me” is the belief and even saying “no me” creates a belief.  So one’s hands are tied in a sense to being able to share anything about truth.  However, one can continually point and this is Known to work because “I” have been continually pointed and one might say “well who has been continually pointed?” and you might smile or you might frown … it depends on whether you are going to try and figure it out or whether you will direct the attention towards who you Are.

Words are like a balloon around air and you can use the example of Air being Truth … without the balloon/words … there would only be Truth/Air that includes all thoughts/balloons.

One of the funny things that have come to “me” to do (in a sense but not really) is to find ways to point … just like the Zen Teachers … all pointing must be away from understanding and yet it is understand that leads the Student to the Teaching … so eventually the Student must begin to see that although their understanding led them to the Teacher/Pointer, their understanding is now the block to the Teaching.

This is what surrender is … that the Teacher knows you because the Teacher knows theirSelf and all things that come from the Teacher (no matter how you interpret to understand them) are for the Self, to steer you (in a sense) away from who you thought you were, to the Awareness of who you Are.

So the Zen Teaching above is perfect in that the minute you think “ah ha I got it” is the instant it is gone.  Who would get it?  “Who?” is the wind blowing through your ears and the answer to all questions.  Who?  :o)

FEAR OF FEAR

(Click for Blog Post on Pros and Cons of Fear)

This morning it seems to be coming up to write about Fear.  Upon waking there was a great fear of being cold, of everyone in the building leaving and not being able to afford the electric to provide the heat, it was freezing.  This fear of cold continues to come up, and it has been shared that the only way to face fear is to face it, in the willingness to face it something appeared.  What appeared was that there was not cold in the moment that the fear was arising.  There was only a fear of cold, yet the body was actually sweating from the hot water bottle that I slept with.  This obviousness, of there not actually being cold, was overlooked because of the fear “thoughts” about being cold.  And “thoughts” breed/feed other “thoughts” because many stories about being cold appeared, but none of them were actually happening and this is where the Gift appeared.  There was not actual “Fear” because actual “Fear” shows up when something is actually happening…like you are being attacked by a mountain lion or being chased by someone, then actual fear will arise to help you in the situation, but what arose this morning was not actual “Fear” it was fear of Fear (one step removed from actual fear and therefore, not real).

There is a saying “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  And that can be overlooked because thoughts can seem very real…like they are actually happening or will happen.  So it takes a great deal of honesty to look around you and see that it isn’t happening.  Take any thought of fear that comes up at any time, whether it is fear of losing a job or a relationship or friendship or that you can’t afford something or whatever the fear is that appears before you and then take an honest look around you, is the fear actual (is it right in front of you) or is it imagined (about the past or the future).  Do you have everything you need (not want but need) to be in the moment you are in?  If the fear is about the past, then it is not in your present moment so it cannot be real, and if it is about the future, then it is not in your present moment and cannot be real. 

What is in your present moment?  Just look around … right here right now, I am in the kitchen, where it is warm the walls have recently been painted and look clean and pretty, Pete my dog is sleeping on the floor snoring away and these hands are typing what is being seen, that is all that is actually going on so any thoughts outside of that, are lies, they are not happening.

Another way of quickly facing the fear that comes, especially when it is something more direct and not so easy to disprove, like say it is a fear that you are not good enough.  Admitting that you do not know if you are, is one of the quickest ways that fear disappears, not that you don't know if you are and trying to find a way to get better or be worse, but to not know and be willing to find out, not through trying to find out, but by waiting to see how life plays out.  Saying Yes, I may be the worst or I may be the best, but I don't truly know (then be willing to find out ... allow Life show you who you Are).

Fear of fear can drain one of their energy and place them in a state of panic and worry and discontent.  All these things will quickly dissipate with the honest look at what is actually happening and not what is imagined to be happening.  Check it out … the next time fear shows up for you … don’t move/react … face it honestly.  :o)

Fear of Fear is learned, a thought of the past or future and is therefore, not real.  Actual fear is instinctual, primal and appears in the present moment to protect the body for survival.

DREAMS...

At night when we dream, people show up for us, friends, family, love ones we have lost, animals, stories, dramas...everything shows up in a dream for you to play in.  Have you ever had a dream that was as real as if you were awake?  Have you ever had a dream where you were in a different body?  Ever dream you were an animal, that you could fly, that you had powers you don't seem to have in waking life?  Have you ever wondered how all of these things appear for you?

Let's say that you see your friend in a dream, did they actually appear for you or did you create them?  If they just appear for you, where did they come from and if you created them how did you do that and simultaneously play out both the parts?  Is it possible that you are playing out all the parts in the dreams you have?  If not, who is playing them?  If so, how can you be everyone?

This is where if one is paying attention, something can be Revealed or Seen.  Because that last question if you are willing to look at the question deeply, you will begin to see that you have misidentified yourself.  Not only in dreams but in waking life.  If you look and can see the possibility that you are playing everyone in your dream, then who is the real you?  To be everyone in the dream ... you also have to be "dreamt."  

                    Who's Dreaming?

If you take the position that you are not playing all the parts, then who are they that have shown up for you, where do they come from and where do they go to when you wake?  As in your dreams, so is life, these same questions one can ask of dreaming one can ask of life.  Is there a possibility in you that you are being Dreamt, just as everyone that appears for you?  Remember the dreams that you have had that seemed so real it took some time after waking to Realize it was just a dream?  Such a similarity may appear for you in Life and it will appear for you upon Death which is the waking from the Dream of "Life."  That is why this simple question of "Who Am I?" is so significant because you do not need to wait for Death to find out who you are...who is actually Dreaming all of it.  The one thing that can be shared with you...is that it is not who you think it is.

                            "May all Beings awaken to itSelf."

The Game

How about looking at life like a computer game...

The game reveals to you ways to keep the game going like clues that lead you places in the game...keep you entranced and feeling like you are getting somewhere in the game...cause in a way you are...you get to go to the next level if you crack certain challenges...that's what challenges in a computer game do...but they don't really get you anywhere...your still sitting in your chair playing a game as if you have accomplished something...but that is the prize that is overlooked...you win in the game sure...but the Player...You...have not moved nor gained anything that wasn't there before you started playing.

If you've ever played a computer game...you first of all know...that everything that you are going to do in the game has already been set up for you and done...tested by its Creator and signed and sealed...in a sense the game is already over before you start playing and there is nothing you can do about that...but knowing this doesn't make you any better or less for playing...you bought the game to play it.

One of my favorites games for a while was Grand Theft Auto Vice City...good graphics...you can sort of feel like you are driving the car around in the game...good music...so I played for hours...watched my friends and family play and watched them use cheat codes to get all this extra cool stuff that is hidden in the game.... used information that is in the game to "seemingly" get places and win points...and this to me is such a good example of looking at life...cause it is set up to look like our so-called reality and is such a cool pointer as to see that maybe life as we think it is...how real we think it is...really isn't what we think it is...

A way to say this right now...is this body is a Joystick (no pun intend) :o) and You are playing a game but you don't have any real choices...cause it's all already set up...your choices are limited to the game. There aren't any real levels even though in this world it looks like their are...it keeps it entertaining.

Well if I had a point in typing it I am beginning to forget now.

Oh Yes...

You are already Awake and no one can tell you that (even though I just did)...no one can make you believe it (it's beyond belief) You know it...whether you resist, deny or preach It...It IZ.

Signed, sealed and delivered :o)))) 

~Joysters