Sky

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Out of the blue,

you’ve always been You.

Here’s a re-source of clouds to see what makes you—

You

~

The best way to not be still and quiet is to try not to be still and quiet.

Is it quiet before I try to make it quiet?

It’s totally quiet before I try to make it quiet.

Stillness is still whether the mind is still or not.

~

The energy of thought,

when you’re really listening,

you can actually feel a thought trying to arise before it actually turns into a thought.

Cause thought after all is just energy.

~

Throughout our life we get an endless amount of opportunities to experience what is as it is,

before any story about It.

And no matter what it is, when it is as It is,

it’s not a problem.

Until the mind talks to itself about any event.

~

A thunderbolt strikes out of the blue,

Here comes the jolt of Pikachu!

Gotta catch ’em all I like Pikachu too,

But I want what’s real and true,

So I choose you!

Gee I wonder then what makes you—

You ⚡

~

To start to be disturbed is when we start to look underneath the veil of things.

You start to engage in deep forms of spirituality,

spirituality that really aims at waking You up.

~

So this unconditioned state of consciousness is something easy to miss because there’s no real content to it.

There’s nothing to grab hold of and yet there It is.

It’s listening, it’s just watching.

It’s not commentating.

~

There is something that begins to express itself through your humanness.

When it’s no longer being confined, compressed, held down by the mind’s ideas, by the world of delusion.

Have you ever felt like there’s something within you That wants to come out?

~

In that unconditioned consciousness,

there’s no commentator,

there’s no interpreter of the moment.

And that’s the first foretaste of our true state,

our true nature in That unconditioned state.

~

The spiritual awakening is to know directly, experientially know what we are.

When you know what you are, you know what your neighbor is, you know what the person across the street is.

When you know what-you-are, you know what everyone was no matter how far back in time you go.

~

Awareness is effortlessly functioning right now.

If you want to become less aware than you are right now, you wanna know how to do it?

Just try to become less aware.

~

Everybody would be well served,

no matter if it looks dualistic, nondualistic, direct path, gradual path,

whatever it is,

getting in touch with what inspires you.

Getting in touch with something deeper than the mind, getting in touch with that inspiration, with That heart.

~

When you stop you’ll see yourself everywhere.

That’s the spiritual awakening,

that’s the awakening,

to see yourself everywhere.

Not your ego-self, not your personality-self, not that.

But the essence of You.

~

Feel It.

Let that start to become at least part of your guidance, certainly your motivation.

That is its own discipline, that’s true discipline.

The discipline of paying attention enough so you’re living an inspired life.

~

It’s a great teaching to be in the now but it’s not great if we misunderstand what’s being talked about.

As if the now is something between the past and before the future in this moment that I hold onto.

It’s not something we hold onto or try to be in, it’s something we let go.

~

Part of this journey is the willingness to be really honest with oneself.

I’m not talking to the ego that it needs to do something or doesn’t need to do something.

I’m speaking to any sense of a separate self.

Spirit is speaking to spirit here.

Reality is speaking to Reality.

~

Is it not true that awareness is already present, fully functional before you even try to improve upon it?

Stillness is already here before I seek it.

Peace is already here before I look for it.

And Awareness is already fully present before I try to be aware.

~

And mysteriously,

when there’s nothing in you that’s trying to succeed anymore,

all there is,

is the success of it.

All there is,

is your own nature,

spirit awake to itself shining forth all the time.

~

Is it not true that before you even try to become quiet,

is quietness already present?

What about stillness that we already seek in meditation,

is it not true that stillness is already present?

And you just be quiet and listen.

And You sense stillness is already present.

~

How is it that I unenlighten myself moment-to-moment?

That’s the Real question, not some

“How do I sustain some awakening experience that I had at some point in time?”

That question is not a useful question.

It’s a common question, but it’s not useful.

~

Enlightenment is natural, that’s why they call it the natural state.

And everybody goes, “How do I get to the natural state?!” It’s like someone saying, “How do I relax?”

Whatever you’re doing, don’t do that anymore, that’s how you relax—

including trying to relax.

~

The idea is not to get rid of an egoic ‘me’,

the idea is not to be suckered in by it.

As long as you’re trying to get rid of it, you’re trapped by it.

The only thing that tries to get rid of a me is a me.

Unconditioned consciousness, it could care less.

~

Ideas themselves are totally foreign to this unconditioned state.

Ideas can arise from it,

just like ideas can arise from the egoic ‘me’ conditioned state.

So ideas can actually arise from the unconditioned state,

the difference is they’ll never be believed to be the Truth.

~

So this game of illusion is very magical.

If you understand this game,

if you’re willing to understand this game,

if you’re willing to see it,

cause it’s seeing the nature of illusion that stops you.

The best way to get trapped by illusion is to try to escape it.

~

As long as you’re running toward something and away from something,

the game of illusion continues.

The game of illusion doesn’t care what you’re seeking.

It doesn’t care if you’re seeking a million dollars, great recognition, to be loved,

or to be enlightened.

~

The best way to stay trapped in who you imagined yourself to be is always trying to be somebody else different.

Something different, something better.

Maybe it’s more spiritual, more enlightened.

Maybe it’s actually less spiritual, less enlightened.

~

There is no such thing as a true thought.

There are truer thoughts and less true thoughts,

some thoughts are really untrue and some are slightly untrue.

But no thought can encompass the totality of our true nature.

Therefore we cannot comprehend our true nature into thought.

~

If you ask yourself, “How is it that I’m unenlightening myself right now?”

There’s no future to that is there?

It brings you back to your own authority.

Which means you can look for yourself.

At any moment.

And start to see how you unenlighten yourself.

~

Right action becomes much clearer when you realize that to function from wholeness,

we can’t be functioning from a place of self-interest.

When we function from a place of self-interest,

we’re functioning from a place of self-division.

We’re functioning from ego.

~

If you really look at the nature of your own Self,

it will bring you into stillness cause you’ll realize you get simple enough you can see that almost everything you think you know about yourself,

is contained in thought.

It’s just thought.

~

The first thought is always ‘me’,

and then the ‘me’ talks to itself about its relationship with the moment.

So it’s like an imaginary character having an imaginary relationship with what is,

which is called suffering or what sages and sages have called the dream state.

~

If you do a little experiment and notice what disappears when you stop thinking for 5 seconds.

Just for 5 seconds, you’re looking into the real nature of your Self.

What am I without referring to a thought to tell me who I am?

Well, it all disappears, does it not?

~

Almost every human being you meet has the ‘I’, which belongs to our existence, completely mixed up with their ‘me’.

I believe this. No, your me believes that.

I think this. No, your me thinks that.

I wants. No, your me wants.

I is happy, I doesn’t want.

Me always wants.

~

Plants desire sun and rain and soil.

When they don’t get what they desire, they die, they wither away and that’s it.

So life in many ways runs on desire,

not on egoic desire,

but Life’s desire.

~

Even biologically we’re hooked up so that when we move from wholeness or truth,

it feels good in our organism.

To be Whole feels good.

~

What is this ‘I’?

The ‘I’ is not the ‘me’,

the true ‘I’ is what is watching the ‘me’.

The true ‘I’ has no form, no shape, no color, no smell, no taste.

The true ‘I’ is all transcendent consciousness.

It’s not your ‘I’ or my ‘I’,

it’s thee ‘I’.

I am that I am.

~

If we’re functioning from a nonegoic place, what is life desiring right now?

What is life wanting right now?

Where is life moving right now?

And then you see it,

you feel it,

you put yourself in harmony with it.

And when you do you,

Life gets magical.

~

When your ‘I’s are truly open, you know the expressions may differ.

Some are big, some are small,

some are noticed, some are unnoticed,

some have immense impact, some have less impact,

but the essence is exactly the same.

~

There is stillness amidst the chatter.

There is silence amidst the noise.

It has no form to it.

It has no idea to it.

It’s just a subtle, sometimes strong, but a sense of presence.

It’s just there.

~

When you look inside and you don’t find yourself, that itself is the finding.

You have found what-you-are, when you look in and don’t find.

You have found your own self-luminous quality,

infinite consciousness,

Spirit.

~

It’s totally natural for you to perceive All is one, that’s what’s natural.

Everything else isn’t so natural, it feels natural because it’s common.

At some point, you realize in retrospect how much effort it took you to continually perceive division.

~

A good indication that you have stumbled upon the beautiful truth is that inside you you have become a lover of what is.

A lover of what is-ness, no longer a lover of what could be.

What could be stops interesting you as soon as you find your true nature.

~

It sounds simple until you find the truth really is a lover of what is.

What is could be rotten.

What is could be sickness.

Old age, death, decay, being cold, being hungry, being disagreed with,

but still the true lover is a lover of what is.

~

In the actual instant of what is,

without referring to thought,

there is no commentary,

there is no commentator.

In that perception, you begin to see through your own experience for yourself that there isn’t a problem.

There can’t be a problem unless the mind is believed.

~

Without referring to a thought…

Are you a man? Are you a woman?

Are you a human being?

Are you good? Are you bad?

Are you indifferent?

Are you worthy? Are you unworthy?

Do you have to think about it?

Or does all that disappear if you’re not thinking about It?

~

Looking within doesn’t mean see if you can find yourself,

or something called the Truth, or the Divine, or God as if you were looking around inside for something.

Looking within means something more like stop.

Stop at the boundary between looking in and looking outside.

~

When you understand looking within doesn’t mean looking into your inner environment.

There’s a time and a place for that of course and a usefulness for that.

But that’s not where we’re gonna find the Truth of what we are.

~

The most significant thing about stillness isn’t that there’s just the experience kinesthetically and psychologically.

The most amazing thing about stillness is you lose your whole self.

The whole identity is only in thought.

Your worldview is just thought.

~

With anything that’s happening,

the ‘me’ or the ‘I’ is constantly commenting on what it is.

Is it good? Is it bad?

Do I agree? Do I disagree?

How do I attain that? How do I get rid of that?

Right up to I am enlightened to I am not enlightened.

~

It’s only through the mind talking to itself about what is happening,

or what has happened,

or what may happen that causes this psychological phenomena called suffering or stress.

~

Awakening isn’t about a better version of ‘me’.

It’s the great relief of realizing that essentially you’re not defined by ‘me’,

or an ego, or an exterior, or by

anything.

~

There’s always the next thing that’s happening.

Sometimes the next thing your mind says is good or not good.

Either way, none of the thoughts about what’s happening have any truth to them whether they’re positive or negative.

What’s happening is just,

what’s happening.

~

Looking within means don’t look outside.

And it also means don’t look inside.

You always find something when you look inside.

You’ll find a thought, you’ll find a feeling.

To look within actually means to stop looking without.

~

Stop right in that boundary between inside and outside.

So you’re not searching for something on the outside and not searching for something on the inside.

As soon as you stop at the boundary, then inside and outside stop making sense.

That’s what looking within really means.

~

It is very telling what we think as news.

What is worthy to communicate to the populace,

are the absolute worse things that happened today.

It’s very telling.

It’s very indicative of how egos bond.

~

You realize everybody’s bonding in pain,

in some sort of trauma, or a bad story, or working something through, that’s what brings people close.

And the more awake we get, those same events aren’t what bring us close.

~

Egoic consciousness,

it’s held together through a certain sort of conflict and mutual suffering.

Now what happens when we start to wake up from that?

When we start to realize that is not who and what I am.

That’s not who and what you are.

That’s not who and what we are.

~

We all want to feel better, we’re hooked up that way.

But when it’s no longer the sole driving force, when this other thing comes into our consciousness, it’s that impulse towards what’s true—what’s Real.

That’s a different impulse you see?

~

Let me look right now.

That thought, is that thought true, is it real?

This is who I become when I believe this thought.

And it’s innocent, there’s no blame in it, it just happens.

And the seeing of it,

is the acceptance of It.

And you’re back in harmony.

~

One of the disconnects in the mind when you really see,

“But everybody’s awake, why are they pretending?”

Everything is awake.

Everything was awake from the very beginning

“But why is the world pretending to be asleep?”

~

We’re taught be this way, be that way, stop doing that, do this…

We’re taught all that stuff but we’re not really taught of like,

“Gee, maybe you could treat yourself a little nicer.”

Maybe you could start there.

What would that even mean to be kinder to oneself?

~

If we’re not at peace right now,

if we don’t recognize peace right now,

we aren’t going to get at peace tomorrow.

When we realize peace now, then the next moment looks like peace.

And the next moment.

~

When you really want to know what’s true,

you may have to go through things that don’t make you feel good.

When that becomes our orientation,

when what’s Real becomes our orientation,

then our relationship with our whole existence starts to shift.

~

The most important thing that’s often missing in a lot of activism,

no matter which point of view we’re coming from,

is first we got to come to grips with our own inner division.

~

That which feels threatened is just an illusion.

What to do in the face of that?

Relax.

There’s no necessity to fight It.

Although you will instinctively fight it or resist.

There’s no need to resist the resistance.

~

The being-ness that is flowing in through their humanity,

their humanness,

it’s this sort of beauty.

It often starts as moments of wonder or awe.

You know it’s looking up at the night sky and realizing that really You don’t know anything about it at all.

~

We find that at That stopping place.

Not outside.

Not inside.

And when we stop at that perceived boundary, there’s not really in and out.

If the direction was most concise, it would just be don’t look outside, don’t look inside.

Don’t look.

~

All is so well, you couldn’t imagine how well it actually is.

The more terrified your egoic ‘me’ is,

the more well it actually Is.

Let go of trying to make it go in any way.

Let go of controlling it.

Cause that’s where the piece that surpasses all understanding Is.

~

It feels like when you get tired of it you’re doing something wrong or you’re not getting it right.

But actually, getting tired of it is often what allows the letting go of it to happen.

All is well, just remember that.

Especially when it’s Not.

~

We act from a place of peace, which is a place of nondivision.

We respond to life from that place, we move from that place, and we’re motivated from that place.

It doesn’t mean You just sit on your couch going,

“I’m at peace.”

That’s a false peace.

~

To be loving isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be connected.

It’s to be residing in the humble heart, okay with your imperfections as well as others.

Not being arrogantly attached to perfection and not dismissing your own responsibility.

~

Your mind knows you better than you know You.

It’s constantly on a fishing expedition to hook.

It knows exactly what idea to drop into consciousness that the mind bites on and says,

“Yeah, that’s what I need in order to awaken.”

That’s the seduction, that’s the dance of Maya.

~

If you’re pushing to have some spiritual breakthrough, it really gets in the way of the breakthrough.

Reality has to exist in every single moment.

So if we’re pushing for something to happen in some other moment, we’re not actually exploring the nature of the current moment.

~

Just dip for a moment underneath

the evaluations of being,

the judgments of being,

the ideas of being,

and it doesn’t take much attention, a moment really, to connect with the sense of you

Being this extraordinary conscious mystery.

~

There is this sort of fundamental or irreducible quality of being.

What does that mean?

It sort of can sound complex, but it’s actually really simple.

Just the irreducible quality of being, that immediate sense, and feel,

of existing—

or just Being.

~

A really good ritual connects you with some deep dimension of being.

If you just do a ritual in a mechanical way, it doesn’t connect you because we’re not really bringing the kind of intimacy into the moment.

~

Just play for just a moment.

Imagine the direct realization, shattering so big that it couldn’t be gotten rid of, that nothing’s wrong.

Just start there.

Okay now with that realization, try to suffer.

Try not to love now.

~

At that boundary,

there’s the collapse of what should and shouldn’t be.

Who I think I am.

Who I imagine myself to be.

What the world is.

What I think about you and others.

~

It’s often when you’re pushed up against a wall.

Sickness, death of a loved one, threat of your own death—

something that pushes you so hard That something in you has to let go of control.

And all of a sudden, some great transformation.

~

That moment of that recognition,

that right in this world of form in your humanness, male or female, whatever it may be,

there is simultaneously the recognition of a light of being that’s neither man nor woman.

It’s the recognition of the essence of All of us.

~

Most of the way human beings bond is through trauma, problems, and drama.

“Tell me what’s rotten?”

“Tell me what you’re afraid of?”

“Tell me what’s the worst thing that happened to you?”

It’s the whole way that egos ultimately bond through pain.

~

Falling back through loneliness is part of its trajectory.

But you fall through that too.

So really you are falling through back to the source of your longing.

Cause even the longing itself is nirvana.

If you really are falling into It, it’s rich right from the beginning.

~

That push-pull between awakening and that part that feels like,

“I won’t actually know how to relate. Maybe people won’t understand me. Maybe they won’t even like me.”

That underlying deep fear of egoic consciousness,

it’s very tribal against not being part of the tribe.

~

To be not in Truth will feel more and more toxic to your system.

Not that it becomes more toxic, it’s because you’re more conscious.

And that doesn’t feel good, but it gets attention doesn’t it?

~

If we’re meditating and we’re just trying to do it correctly, treating it like some sort of skill we’re supposed to master, then we won’t feel a connection.

Even if you get good at the skill, you will often miss the vital sense of deep and profound connection.

~

There’s an ease in you that’s always and already present.

It’s not an ease that you need to create, or maintain, or manufacture.

There is something about true nature that is actually quite an effortless effort.

~

The funny thing is your formless nature also has its own impulse and its impulse is towards embodiment, its nature to get embodied in form.

You’re trying to get out and Its nature is trying to get in.

True nature’s perspective is:

Let’s see how embodied I can become.

~

Re: Cognize to Recognize

Our true nature is always present.

The only thing that comes and goes is our re-cognition of it.

The mind cannot know it but It knows the mind.

~

What could be is just a painful dream.

It’s what we do when we’re completely asleep at the wheel and already dead.

Most people are already dead, or half alive.

What a gift we find that this Self-luminous, this awake presence is a lover of what is.

It loves what is.

~

The best way to get trapped is to think about ways to not be trapped.

And the most perfect way to be trapped is to be convinced you know the way out.

That is high illusion, that’s like Einstein illusion.

So the best way to stay trapped is to try to get away.

~

It’s just ego, it’s just a state of mind.

See it as if it was somebody else’s as if it was the person next to you.

And you were looking at their ego.

Start to see it more impersonally.

Stop seeing ego as something that’s yours,

something that defines You.

~

The first layer Of emptiness, not emptiness from the ego’s perspective.

Cause when the ego experiences emptiness it’s very depressing.

But this is emptiness not seen from the ego’s perspective,

it’s from the perspective of our innermost being.

“Empty… Oh!”

~

Your heart just beats.

Thoughts just think.

Nobody’s doing any of it.

Your system becomes more accustomed.

Literally, your body and mind become more accustomed to living in what’s true—

in that space Of gratitude, happiness, and peace.

~

We can do the best possible work…

to care for the sick, feed the needy, save the environment, plant trees, stop burning so much fuel, and all these things…

Yet if we are being involved in our concern…

often we’ll notice we’re doing It from a divided state.

~

At that boundary,

you notice if You actually stop right at the boundary between outside and inside,

it’s totally still.

There’s no conceptualizing happening there.

There’s no distortion.

And it’s right there where our own being can reveal itself.

~