What conversation do we take into our Life in each moment? Did you ever notice how much stuff we have to say about almost everything… There hasn’t been much space created to actually be present. The busyness that has been present in the mind has had to do with a thinking process versus a “Being” process. As the mind is stayed on determining things, it is clearly not available. But the Bible said this, and here is something else that we need to address. Oh yes, we have consciously “addressed” so many things that we forgot where we actually lived! Imagine relinquishing the controlling aspects of the mind. There is really nothing that our minds are here to determine. The whole determining aspect of conscious thought is not very conscious.
Trying to consciously determine things has become an addiction – an addiction completely based in illusion. Going back a couple of decades, I experienced hallucinogenic drugs such as acid, marijuana and a few others and the state of illusion that can be the byproduct of such an experience is perhaps magnified, but not greatly dissimilar from any other illusion. Noise, silent or audible, is the incubator of illusion. We can’t notice anything “real” while our conscious capacities are filled or are just plain “busy.” We have created a lifestyle where “goals” are frequently set and effort made to adhere to them. How might that affect our ability to move in Life’s flow?
Frequently, I hear a young 13-year-old girl, who is like a daughter to me, say, “I’m bored.” Well, I have to give her credit for her honesty in this regard. Heretofore, many or perhaps most people have created an addictive lifestyle. We have been stimulation junkies. We don’t really know very much about being present because our “cause” has been focused on how we feel and think about things. There has been an almost constant focus on trying to get or create an experience of feeling better. And we say things like, “All good things come from God”. Well, OK, what doesn’t come from the Creator?… and what is ‘good?’ The flow of Life doesn’t require a separate determining factor. Life simply flows and while one doesn’t need to live Life as if they were oblivious to what is working out, we can only truly be a creative instrument by “letting” things flow . Discoveries are made as I/we let these capacities be still and unobstructed. From the stillness of “Being,” we each know our completeness and may glimpse through our telescopes the new land that lies before us. Be still and “Know!”
These are the thoughts that are moving through me. I invite you to click on ‘comments ‘ and share your thoughts and experiences on this subject.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
“Be still and know.” As you said, stillness in our present world, in MY present world, is conspicuous by its absence. Without rehearsing the myriad examples, I think few people would dispute this observation. However, the more pertinent question is, how much stillness do I allow in my life?
Looking in the mirror, I would have to say that I have kept my mind and consciousness pretty full with words of all kinds. Mostly, the words seek to describe, convey or otherwise process my experience in living. But what other species on earth requires a running commentary to feel alive? Opinions, even opinions about spiritual matters, make up a large part of the internal chatter. Yet, what is an opinion other than a judgement? In this moment, I remind myself that all expression is a choice. Can I own responsibility for having judged and then step, without any further self-judgement, into a clear place of simple openness to Being? With my attention riveted on Being, I experientially know more about Being in each new moment as it flows into every crevice of available consciousness. Being is the Truth of who I AM. “And the Truth shall make you free.”
There are so many books and movements today devoted to “self-improvement.” What self are we all trying to improve? And according to whose notions of what improvement is? Mankind makes so much work for itself, when all that is required is relaxing into a loving and thankful acknowledgement of What Is. I AM Being and who I AM knows what is to be done Now. Let me/us proclaim this freedom in each new moment of living.