Floating...

Floating… 18
You know the story of the boy who cried wolf—this kid is watching over the village sheep and he’s bored and does what I would have done as a boy, let’s just see what happens if I cry wolf, and the villagers come running out, once, twice, and the third time they don’t come and of course there’s actually a wolf munching up the sheep, and we’re supposed to learn something from this, I don’t know, something like we shouldn’t lie, certainly not three times, but the thought that springs up is what kind of dumb-ass villagers would leave a silly boy in charge of their livestock?
The point is—well, I’m not sure what the point is, except it seemed like a funny thing to say, and I’m in a funny mood, but there is the point that there are many ways to see the same thing. And this is what happens with the simplicity of the joy of being, which is a simple thing, it’s just floating, rather than being stuck in mud, but the mind makes all sorts of things out of it, and that’s why we have religions, and all flavors of spirituality, and the new age stuff and philosophy and self-help and the rest, with so many versions of truth.
The thinking mind has even taken what the Buddha said, which was be aware over the thinking mind and let go of fear, and look at what we have today, not awareness, but so many different versions of Buddhisms and monks and percepts and all that exhausting doing.
To float, we lighten the load. We develop Awareness, so thoughts get lighter. All those heavy thoughts, clunking around in the skull, making think-think-think noise—well, they get lighter and quieter. Doesn’t that sound good?
And we release—soon we can release emotions whenever we want to. Emotions rise mostly from stored reactions in past and yet it’s hard for us to decide to let go of emotions because we think emotions define us, we write poems about emotions, we’re proud of being emotional, we think my emotions is what makes me me, and yes indeed the wonderful emotions are wonderful, and the not-so-wonderful emotions suck, and releasing is more wonderful still. Don’t worry you won’t turn into Spock. When we learn that that letting go is so very natural and easy, it’s a liberating experience, and we find, with some surprise, that feelings become much more authentic, and intense, and real, and they cover a wider range, because we are no longer afraid of any feeling.
As we lighten up and float, some amazing experiences unfold.
Genuine revelation comes not from thought or emotion or stale conditioning, but from this other place, from the quiet unknown. We begin to release struggle and effort, and we stop looking for completion in desires and aversions, and we accept, forgive, release, and detach from the ego’s drama, because these are no longer ideas, but actual easy experience, and and then difficulty is seen as just another opportunity to be aware and to release. When something is challenging we don’t resist, we see that the very fact that it is happening is an invitation to learn how to handle it.
What is your difficulty? If you’re reading this, it isn’t food or water or shelter or safety. Is it money, job, career? Is it loneliness or an imperfect relationship? You’re struggling to find your purpose? Addictions, depression, anxiety? Uncertainty, fear of the future? Is it unrequited love, because that’s really the best opportunity to release!
As we release, we become aware of the ego’s movements, not intellectually, because that is just the ego discovering itself, but in awareness, and we see that much of what we do and say and feel comes from conditioning. We begin to see, that which Eckhart Tolle calls the pain-body, is the painful past of samskara, the stuff of conditioning, and seeing it is vaporizing it. We may smile, amused that we gave power to something as unreal as the ego.
We begin to get comfortable with not knowing. What do we really know? We don’t even know where we are. We’re on this spaceship earth hurtling at some 65000 miles an hour around a less than average star, which is zooming around in this spiraly galaxy at an even more ridiculous speed, and the galaxy is dancing with billions of other galaxies, in a universe which is…doing what? We have no idea. We don’t even know where we are.
We don’t know ultimately about God or what life is about or death or consciousness. Sure, we can and do come up with complicated theories—this is religion and science and philosophy and spirituality. All these complicated theories of being and consciousness and oneness and bliss and God and heaven and hell, and all these power-theories like the Law of Attraction which mesmerize us–all of these are interesting to the mind but where is their place in living right here, right now? It’s just more clinging to concepts.
It’s like watching a movie and identifying too closely with a character in the movie, telling her don’t pick up that bloodied knife and get your fingerprints all over it, don’t you watch CSI, and then someone in back nudges us, and says, man it’s only a movie, and we say yeah it is, how is it that I didn’t see that before, and the chase begins to understand it all, with spirituality and self-help and rest, or chasing some power thing, and then we have the humbling shocking realization that sitting there in the movie theatre realizing the delusion and spouting theories about it was itself a delusion, the whole thing is a marvelous movie!
But no metaphor is adequate. See for yourself.
Be aware, and release fear, and see for yourself. When we are able to observe thought rather than be immersed in thought, and when we are able to release fear, it’s gloriously freeing, and what does it feel like, this freedom?
It feels like floating.
Observe thoughts. Observe, without judgement or analysis, and awareness will expand. Awareness is the gap between thoughts, and with observing, the gaps expand and abide. Yes, it may feel like it is effort in the beginning, but soon the effort goes away, and then it expands on its own.
And, release. Release fear.
And, maybe, you can decide right here and right now, to drop beliefs. Don’t deny, and be completely open, and if you accept something, accept it for the checking. “Cease to cherish opinion.”
I am the student. I am learning, with stillness, and with releasing fear. When I feel difficulty it is because I am not aware enough or I have not released enough. This is not a judgment of myself—that would be the ego discovering itself. This is what it is and where I am. I am blind somewhere and I am willing to see.
Difficulty is only difficult until the lesson of letting go of fear is learned. Then it is just floating.

Re: Floating...

i am discovering a lot of lessons in love these days. good to see you again, i have missed you! thank you for this excellent and insightful post.