Whatever is mind-created will lose you in its logic until you learn to rise above that creation.
Analyzing and dissecting why things are the way they are, can help the mind to understand and sometimes to relax enough to let go. But what mind has learned throughout a lifetime of experience runs along intricate and powerful neuropathways of habit. As anyone knows who has tried to kick an addiction – those habits are buried deep in mind’s solutions to that which it thinks it cannot handle. That is to say – situations arose long ago that were experienced by the mind as too uncomfortable to deal with, so it created distractions to those experiences which have grown into ingrained habits.
Disciplining the mind not to do something it has created so it doesn’t have to experience those feelings again, sometimes works, for a while. Eventually however, the side effects of escape have a way of catching up with us. Healing those habits so you are free from them can take a lot more than discipline. (Though discipline is a helpful tool to manage thoughts as you become more aware).
Getting into ‘That Place‘
There is a place deep within all of us where the peace that passes all understanding resides. Getting there involves allowing that which is free of habitual thinking to flow freely through you.
Staying there takes commitment and discipline, no doubt about it. It also takes ongoing giant leaps of faith to LET GO of all that is habitual and familiar. In every moment, those old brain tracks establish your thinking and behavior. This is how you think in this moment, in these circumstances, with these people, about these issues. In every moment, who you think you are dominates your life. It requires courage you might not think you have, to consciously let go in every moment of all those automatic thoughts and behaviors, feelings and emotions.
Is it possible to even do this?
Actually no, not from the perspective and place of the mind, it isn’t possible. And this is the point of entry into what IS possible. MIND CANNOT HEAL ITSELF. The ONLY possibility is the full and complete surrender to this moment.
Who are you if you don’t think/act/feel in a predetermined manner? Everything mind has learned provides a structure on which you can hang your identity. But who are you without that identity?
It can be like looking into a deep, dark, never-ending, black, bottomless pit, if mind doesn’t have an identity upon which to hang its hat. It can feel like you are free-falling through space with nowhere to go and no-one to be, nothing to have and nothing to do – a place that is totally unknown and unknowable. It can feel terrifying to the mind.
But unless and until you are willing to fall through this darkness, be consumed by its fire, you cannot know your true essence and so emerge into the light. You are NOT who you THINK you are. It is easy to pay homage to those words, but it is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of life on planet earth; the release of habituated concepts about everyone (including yourself) and everything.
Yet you MUST do this if you are to live in this world rooted in the essence of Life Itself. Yes, there are countless methods for doing this just as there are an infinite variety of ways to climb the mountain. But the top is the top. The result of getting to the top is always the same – the FREEDOM to live life as the energy entity that you are, in a physical body. And the ONLY way you can know this is by arriving at the top of the mountain, yourself. You can be guided by teachers and motivators and inspiration from the greatest saints on the planet. You still have to walk the path yourself. You aren’t alone in this journey, but you have to do the walking.
So understanding the mechanics of this journey – how brain tracks are created and how your life is lived from them while they live in your unconscious, can be very helpful. Just as a flashlight lights the path in the cave, so too can your path be lit by those who have gone before.
The Narrow Gate
There is a bible quote about the path being narrow that comes to mind. (Luke 13:22-30)
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
For me, this quote is talking about the wide gate and broad way as being the one that is lost in and operates solely from mind, from learned brain tracks perhaps with glimpses here and there of inspired connection (the mountain top). The small gateway and narrow way is the one where we are able to let go of mind and to live in the present moment which is where Life Itself lives.
Life Itself doesn’t live in the past, or the future – that’s where mind lives. When we are immersed in the essence of presence, and a thought arises from that space, it is clear thought that can be our guide and inspiration. THEN healing, guidance and inspiration can take place.
We can’t sugar coat this truth. I can baby myself when I hold on to my behaviors that create shields, like addiction to food, procrastinating, watching TV, keeping myself busy with busy things that mind considers important, but really aren’t. I am babying my fear of facing those uncomfortable feelings that arise when I stop the thinking and behavior.
Living from The Unknown Space of Presence
So you climb the mountain of facing fears directly and letting go of all that isn’t you – of being willing to dive into the darkness of the unknown. You get to the place of loving who you are in any and every moment, situation and with any person(s). You become willing to be all that you are, always.
You meet everyone and everything free of prejudgments and are willing to allow for the energy to flow back and forth freely and magnificently.
Learning and knowledge are good – but aren’t the experience. The world and no-one in it has to be a predetermined way for you to be in this space of presence. Trusting, knowing that Presence has ‘got it’, has your back, knows the perfect responses and actions (or non-actions), you can let go and allow Life Itself to unfold in all its majesty and magic right there in front of you.
A life lived in the past and/or future simply passes by, one apparently dramatic moment after the other. And yet, just as my mother used to say, (which used to annoy me enormously), you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. It takes the experiencing of life to learn and create wisdom. So too, it takes the experiencing of a life lived in the past and future to learn the true value of the present moment, which then becomes the greatest gift Life Itself can offer.