“Watching the moon at dawn,
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely,
no part left out.”
~Izumi Shikibu
As humans, we tend to seek pleasure and avoid pain. This is a survival mechanism reinforced by the brain that keeps us alert and ready for action.
Painful emotions? Feelings behind our compulsive behaviors? Thoughts that won’t stop?
We numb ourselves with food, busyness, or the hope that everything will somehow miraculously improve in the future. This is what we call normal human life.
Maybe avoiding difficult experiences helps us to cope in the short-term, but what I’ve noticed is that we’re still left feeling confused and separate…and wondering why we don’t feel content.
A friend recently asked my perspective on slaying his demons. Whether you want to get rid of demons, pesky thoughts, deeply held emotions, memories from the past, or the ego, I’m afraid slaying just won’t work.
No matter how desperately you want your experience to be different than it is, the facts will show you what’s true. To say an obvious truth: what is here is your present moment experience.
Wanting to change or eliminate what naturally arises in the precious moments of our lives is mechanical and harsh. It assumes we’re broken and need to be fixed, that there’s something wrong with the thoughts and feelings that are present.
So something different is needed—a radical departure from the programmed human tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain…a paradigm shift for how we meet the free flow of our experience.
And this is how awakening out of the dream of mind-created separation sets you free.
Consciousness, the infinite formless Beingness from which all forms arise, is always welcoming everything unconditionally. It doesn’t judge or interpret, so it has no problem with anything that appears.
By its nature, it includes everything as it is. Just as waves dissolve back into the ocean, it sees all forms as temporary arisings that eventually return to their source. All flows like water.
By bringing unconditional, compassionate welcoming to all of your experience, you’re aligning with consciousness which never had resistance to anything.
Consider the human mind that needs to stay vigilant in order to protect you from pain and threat. Then feel into the infinitely relaxed boundless space of awareness that just is…no matter what arises in it.
How does that feel? What do you notice?
It will seem counterintuitive to the mind to welcome pain in order to find peace. So neutralize the mind’s definition of the experience as painful. Just be with what is directly with no interpretation attached.
Simply be consciousness. Be who you already are. Bring loving acceptance to every reaction, every emotion, every sensation in your body with endless kindness.
Ignore the mind’s chatter about it, and be with the direct experience of all that is. Nothing left out…all included in this unity.
Instead of being a demon slayer, you’re a fierce and gentle warrior for oceans of wisdom and love…
image: from my travels in Chile