REALIZATIONS FROM NO-MIND AWARENESS
Nothing is personal
It is what it is.
Nothing is anybody else's fault
Everyone is doing the best they can.
You are doing the best you can.
There is no need for judgment of self or others.
Nothing could have been any different from what it was.
CONTROL
We actually control nothing.
Our efforts to control Reality are doomed to fail.
Our beliefs are based on largely unconscious assumptions we have been taught.
None of these assumptions is true.
Our experience of reality is solely the result of our unexamined
conditioned beliefs.
All beliefs and opinions are meaningless.
Everything we think we know is untrue.
All our beliefs and knowledge obscure our direct perception of Reality.
Everything we think we know is a barrier to awakening.
EGO
We must disidentify with the ego to awaken.
Through careful and repeated observation, we will naturally lost interest in our ego.
No one's ego is interesting.
Everyone's ego is more or less the same in structure.
The more we know or think we know, the more obstructed is our ability to see clearly.
THINKING
What we normally call thinking is not thinking.
The thinking we do is actually ruminating, obsessing, and worrying about imaginary pasts and futures.
What we normally call thinking has no value.
Real thinking is useful, but limited in the kinds of problems it can
productively address.
We spend very little time thinking in a useful, productive manner.
We must learn to observe our own mind to recognize this truth
for ourselves.
OBSESSING and RUMINATING
Nothing in our minds merits our attention.
We never have a good reason to worry.
A mind is a terrible place to be.
Everyone's mind is a terrible place to be.
The sooner we let go of our attachment to our thinking mind, the better.
We will never see the Truth for ourselves until we give up
the acquired addiction to what we call thinking.
We are all completely addicted to this pseudo thinking.
We falsely believe that we can know the Truth by thinking about it.
This has never once been true in human history.
It never will be true.
OBSERVE the CONTENT of YOUR MIND
The best way to evaluate the truth of these statements is
to observe carefully and objectively our own mind.
The only reason to watch the mind is to see it for what it is.
When you see your own mind as it is, you will lose complete interest in it.
If you wish, take five minutes now to observe the content of your mind.
Allow the mind to continue as usual without trying to change anything.
Avoid self-judgment as you perform this brief exercise.
If you do judge your thoughts, notice that self-judgment.
The goal is to allow the thoughts to arise naturally, just as they would if you were not observing the arising of your thoughts.
If you do this exercise with curiosity and self-acceptance,
you will notice several patterns emerge.
You will notice that your thoughts are repetitive, boring, and trivial.
You will notice that your thoughts are without value.
NARCISSISM
The vast majority of our thoughts during a typical day are self-centered.
We rarely think of anything except ourselves.
We are all completely self-absorbed and narcissistic.
We literally worship ourselves.
Most of our thoughts focus on defending and protecting ourselves.
FEELINGS
We also worship our feelings.
We are the direct and sole cause of how we feel.
No one else is ever to blame for any of our feelings.
Our feelings depend on how we interpret what happens to us.
If we interpret our experiences differently, we will instantly feel different.
This truth is extremely important to realize directly for ourselves.
Changing our emotional experience is solely up to us.
How we feel is never the result of external reality.
Changing external reality will change our feelings only briefly, at best.
How we feel is never the result of another person's behavior.
As long as we believe our feelings are the result of events
outside ourselves, we will suffer.
ENERGY
Begin to observe your overall energy level as you go through your day.
Notice how you sap your energy by your thoughts, beliefs,
emotional reactions, and automatic behavior.
Notice people, places, and experiences that seem to drain you.
Ask yourself if it is truly necessary to continue involvements that appear to drain you.
Increasing your overall energy level (Chi) is important in the awakening process.
RELATIONSHIPS
We try to control those we love.
We believe we need the other to survive.
This belief creates separation anxiety, jealousy and paranoia.
No other person can complete you.
You do not need completing.
CODEPENDENCY
Our attempts to help are usually attempts to control.
Codependency and avoidance define our relationships.
We can best help others by raising our own level of consciousness.
When we stop trying to control others, they may change on their own.
REAL vs. MANUFACTURED FEELINGS
In pure awareness, normal human feelings continue.
They come and go, quickly.
Feelings do not pass because we recreate them in our minds.
Many feelings are the result of our beliefs and are therefore optional.
Consider being offended, wounded, disrespected, etc.
Could you get by in life without such feelings?
INTIMACY
Although nothing is personal, we relate to nothing impersonally.
Intimacy results when self and other disappear.
Lose interest in yourself, and you will become intimate with all that is.
Real intimacy depends on selfless or no-self awareness.
What we call intimacy is often codependent enmeshment.
HELPING OTHERS
We do not help others when we only identify with their predicament.
Yet empathy as usually understood is important, just not enough.
A genuine lightness of being is transformative for all.
PRESENCE AWARENESS
Just this, nothing more.
In going and returning we never leave home.
All that you seek is here, now.
Michael Hall PhD August, 2008
1 comment:
Thank you Michael, I needed to hear these things again. I had a real pain body uprising in response to a friend becoming really angry and expressing that anger to me. I sucked it right into me, and it's taken me till now to let go.
Thanks again!
Charlotte
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