Gratitude to Life!
Thank you Jim, for complaining (yesterday, 12/09/2020) that my words are too poetic and impractical! You inspired me to create this website, here.
Deep gratitude to uncounted people and circumstances, who each contribute in seeing again and again beyond my assumptions.
Okay, I don't want to get too poetic... let's keep it practical: enjoy this page with an open heart; read it slowly, ponder it, and if you like send me an email for clarity, celebration and practicality.
Thank you!
What do I really want?
"The only truth in the manifestation is the impersonal, effortless sense I am -- I exist;
the rest are concepts."
the rest are concepts."
My Fulfillment is independent of circumstances
"My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."
John 18:36
kingdom = our natural state, inner space, fulfillment
Jews = anyone seeking for truth
another place = Awareness/Consciousness.
"Happiness is not to be found in the flow of life". Roger Castillo
Happiness is our true nature, it simply is the absence of suffering.
Not to neglect our daily life or to disregard our preferences... but to discover our faulty thinking that sucks so much energy.
I am the truth... youWho? juhu... hooray.
Truth is that which never changes.
What does never change in you?
Awareness is always the same: empty, open, faceless, formless; not an object in space and time, but always here and now.
Our mind cannot process stillness, and disregards the pearl of great price -- Presence -- in favor of thinking, should, would and could.
"I am that, living as this."
"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone"... we are the builders unaware of our true nature as Awareness.
"I am with you always" -- Awareness.
"know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Truth is simple, but the seeker is complex.
The pointers were always given to me, during the last 50+ years in "my" life, but there was too much fear to draw closer, to relax, to bravely look and investigate; to see the root of my resistance to the flow of life.
"Experience is the test of Reality."
"Where are you going, what is wrong with the now?"
Contemplation is effortless; but alone we might get easily intimidated or distracted from seeing the obvious.
We might spend our whole lifespan thinking and feeling on behalf of a "me" that is only imaginary/assumed.
Contemplating our true nature -- Who cares?
Thinking allowed,
thinking aloud!
Thinking is powerful. Personally, it keeps us in slavery; impersonally it can point us to our true nature, Peace and Happiness, here and now.
In old Bible language thinking is depicted as the servant and I am -- Presence/Awareness -- the master.
What do I really want?
Who is this "me" invested in 'my' pain, in 'my' resistance, in 'my' most subtle "I don't like this?"
Who am I?
I am reading these words... this "I am" is myself -- Awareness --, that which is aware of body, mind, world, but not to be found in body, mind, world.
We might spend our whole lifespan thinking, feeling, hoping, believing, waiting on behalf of a "me" that itself is only imaginary, rooted in faulty thinking/feeling.
I can see now how I created and defended my own suffering, blaming circumstances.
Allowing paradoxes: Non-Doership
“All actions are wrought in all cases by the qualities of Nature only.
He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks:
‘I am the doer’.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, III.27
"I [person] of mine own self can do nothing, it is the Father [Consciousness], who lives in me, does what he wants."
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me [Consciousness], and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
What do I really want?
Suggested answer:
What we are really looking for is Happiness through Peace of mind, in daily living, independent of circumstances. (Roger Castillo)
We just entertain different ideas on how to get "there".
The "there" is the fresh experience of our true nature.
"A distanceless journey".
"A feelingless feeling".
"A pathless path."
Peace of mind in daily living.
"Excitement is a scam of the mind."
Working Mind vs Thinking Mind
Whatever comes goes.
Peace vs Pleasure
Alone vs lonely
"Unfinished" (12/09/2020) ...
Thank you Priyam for your Art, inspiration, encouragement, feedback, your love for truth.
Pain vs Suffering
~Pain is circumstantial,
suffering is attitudinal;
suffering can completely drop away.
Happiness is simply the absence of suffering.
Our faulty thinking veils our natural, effortless peace.~
(Roger Castillo)
Who am I?
Not as a thinker's question, but as a pointer to effortlessly follow our attention back to its Source -- Awareness.
Raw experience (Presence) vs thinking "I am"
How do I know that I am not again fooling myself, like so many uncounted times in the past?
Our unattended thinking mind is clever -- the snake in Eden. Our spiritual ego most subtle, humble, understanding, sensitive and forgiving.
What is the subtle difference between thinking 'I am' and simply being I am?
How do we know that we reached the end of seeking?
How to discern between dreaming and waking?
"It takes a universe to make a sandwich."
"The way is straight and narrow."
Mr. Jesus
It is super easy to get distracted...
"Honor your understanding."
(Magdi Badawy)