Images of ourselves limit us
We feel it is important to have images of ourselves
To cater to the images
To keep polishing them
To keep propping them
We want our images of ourselves to be loved
To be respected.
To be respected.
We want to be popular
Or to go unnoticed
As an image
Or to go unnoticed
As an image
These images limit us
They are not what we are
They are limited appearances
When we identify with them
We are limited by them
No one is forcing us to do so
We often feel that without an image we are nobody
That we need to be somebody
We need to be someone
We hold on to the past
Which is a current image
A current thought
But there is no past
We hold on to the past
Which is a current image
A current thought
But there is no past
Look at children before they become someone
Everybody loves children
To look at them
To feel their presence
Their freedom
Their playfulness
Their innocence
They do not have yet that rigid personal structure
No image
No image
That they are trying to defend
They’re not trying to impress you
They want to play
They want to play
Look at the animals
The fish in the pond
The grace and the freedom with which they move
The birds flying by
Or hopping from branch to branch
Such ease, such grace
But somehow we feel the need to be someone
To maintain a personal impression, an image
And yet every day we love to go into deep sleep
We let go of all images, we let go of the person
We let go
We let go of our stories
What happened yesterday, What happened the day before
What happened between us in the neighbor
What will happen tomorrow
What will happen tomorrow
We let go
No past
No future
Everything is dissolved in the depth of deep sleep
The transparency of deep sleep
The no-thingness of deep sleep
The transparency of deep sleep
The no-thingness of deep sleep
Upon waking up
We feel so rested and restful
Rejuvenated
Rejuvenated
Then we pick up again
The stories
The stories
The limited personal identity
The personal travails
Worries and concerns
The stories
We go back to labor
Back to the labor camp
In the labor camp
There is the jailor
Forcing you
Forcing you to labor
Pushing you
Judging you
Demanding more and more
Never satisfied
Never satisfied
Always wanting more
Never satisfied
We go to the labor camp
And we are the laborer
As well as the jailor
As one
You are your own jailor
Pretty strange isn’t it?
You are your own jailor
Pretty strange isn’t it?
We feel we have to do that
We feel it is very important to be in jail
To be a person
To be a person
Because if I don’t identify
If I don’t define myself
If I don’t define myself
Something serious is at stake
I will be nobody
I have to be somebody
Where did this come from?
I can be nobody
Without stories.
Where did this come from?
I can be nobody
Without stories.
What will I be without all my stories?
Maybe it’s a good idea to be nobody
No?
What about being nobody?
No problems
No stories
No images to defend
No past
No judgments
No past
No judgments
In fact right now
What need is there to be somebody?
Everything is fresh and crisp
Pure presence
Uncomplicated
As God wishes it
Born moment by moment
Born moment by moment
We can rest as that
As God’s grace
Right?
Rest as being
Not rest as a human being or somebody being
But as transparent being
Undefined
Being somebody
Being a certain body
That is troublesome
Rest as borderless, Formless being
Letting go
You may wonder
How would they do that?
I don’t know how to rest as nobody
And yet every day you do that in your deep sleep
You rest as formless being
You let go of your stories
You let go of the body
You let go of the mind
You rest as nobody
You rest as nobody
It is possible right now
Just be open to this possibility
Of complete letting go
Trusting God
Trusting the reality of being
That takes care of everything
Everything arises out the One reality
It is the invisible that perceives the visible
Knowingness is at the formless level
Not at the form level
Not at manifest level
Not at the phenomenal level
The sunshine is at the sun level
Not at the moon level
Not at the level of what it is reflected upon
Complete onto itself
One reality
Second to none
Complete onto itself
One reality
Second to none
The sunlight recessed to itself
It does not refer to an external form
The sunlight remains as itself
While appearing as all forms
It can shine as the surface of the moon
Or as the surface of the lake
The visible is the moonlight
The invisible is the reality that makes the visible appear
Which is the sunlight
It’s a metaphor
Consciousness
Meaning Awareness, Beingness, Knowingness IS
This is not a nice philosophical statement
I am talking about the reality of experience
The one reality
Your experience is awareness
Transparency of being
Do you get that?
Your experience is Awareness, Beingness
ISNESS
You have to step out of your story
To understand
To be free
The freedom of Being-Awareness
The freedom of Being-Awareness
Thoughts arise out of awareness, in awareness, to awareness
Awareness
Knowingness
Knowingness
All perceptions
Are known by awareness
Are made out of awareness
They are at zero distance from awareness
One reality
One reality
When you are at rest
Awareness is resting as itself
Expressing itself
As the restfulness that it is
The peace of being
Awareness is peace
Intelligence
Intelligence
Understanding
Freedom
Love
Love
It expresses itself as that