Hello. My name is Nina and I’m an addict. My drug of choice is “story”. I drink and get drunk off of “My Story”. The drinking has gotten to a critical point in my life. It’s not enjoyable anymore. I have gotten control of it when I’m alone, but Im afraid to say no to others. I’m angry when I believe I need to drink my story when I’m in conversation with others. I believe in my story that “I need their approval & love.”
And so I’m happy that I do not have any cravings to drink when I’m alone. But I still believe in my story when I accept drinks from others . (“Other People’s Stories”.) I’m not being true to myself when I do this. I then blame the other for forcing their addiction onto me. But I’m the only addict in reality, and I’m the only one that can stop drinking. I have no control over my story of other people’s story.
Stories are separation. They include everything that holds the I-identity in place as real (I need other people’s love and approval.)This progressive addiction has come to its end. I’m aware that its in the constant drinking that I stay sick. I now know that it is my addiction that is the cause of my suffering. Its keeping me separate from ever-present awareness.
I need to quit. I need to be aware when I am about to take that first drink.I project the reason I drink of my story onto others who I believe are pushing their drinking stories onto me, and I blame them for it. So, in believing that I must drink because they’re offering their story, I stay drunk. I wasn’t even aware that I was the one getting drunker, not them.
I am addicted to story. I know I am by the way Im feeling after I ingest it. I want to stop, but the people that I hang out with, are also drinkers of stories. We are both unconscious of the damages that it is doing to the mind. I need help.
This is how it works. Somebody will unconsciously offer me a drink and I am afraid that if I don’t accept it from them, they won’t like me; so I reluctantly take it. Then I realize that I didn’t want it and I’m angry and fearful at the person for what I did. I blame them for forcing me to drink. But am realizing that it is in accepting this drink of story that I become drunk off it. I blame the other person for the reason I’m angry. And the more I drink of my story about them (ruminate), the angrier I get.
I have to tell myself that I cannot drink anymore drinks of the past or future. And I need to gently remind myself that I cannot accept other people’s offers anymore. It kills my happiness.
Author: Nina Krebbers
Freedom is Realized
As far back as I can remember, I have always tried to protect ‘self & other’ from pain, but I did not know what it meant to love ‘self & other’. There really isn’t any ‘self & other’ as they’ve been referred to. There is only the Truth of who we both are. This is my True Self.
So, in my ignorance of who I truly am, I showed up the best way I believed how, based on my beliefs of ‘self and other’. But, I always experienced terrible and destructive feelings of defense & attack from self and other (if I didn’t please you, and you didn’t please me, love and acceptance was withheld)
I lived with this conflict all my life.
So, NOW, waking up to who I truly am, I’m willing to experience something new. It’s taken much courage to face my fears of rejection.
But, with the Truth, comes great wisdom. The truth of who I am (True Self) does not reject ‘self & other’, its the beliefs of self that reject ‘self & other’.
It’s been quite a journey so far, but I have a deeper faith now in this Freedom called Love.
NOW, if ‘other’ ever feels triggered by me, (which is nothing new) and I find out, I can remember to stand in My Truth, My Safe Place, and being that Safe Place for ‘other’. I look forward to acting as the object of the other’s blame for pain that it believes I am. I look forward to feeling any stressful feelings within me that are still hiding.
For example, one stressful belief that causes me stressful feelings is , “I am responsible for the hurt and wounding you experience” AND “You are responsible for the hurt and wounding I experience”.
I’m grateful the ‘other’ shows up for me in this life so that what’s still dormant within me can come up and out. This is about healing beliefs and feelings that are false and stressful about “self & other”. In the healing, we all benefit in the healing when a projection is seen for the mistaken belief that lies behind it.
In the healing, ‘self & other’ fade away, along with all feelings of pain and suffering.
No Other
This one life is not about trying to get the ‘other one’ to open up to love ‘this one’ more, respect ‘this one’ more, and to make ‘this one’ more of a priority. It’s not about trying to get the ‘other one’ to wake up, work harder & live up to their highest potential. As long as there is a thought believed in of ‘self & other’, then one will, indeed, trigger feelings of agitation and irritation in other.
‘This one’ is asleep. This whole story is about ‘this one’ experiencing a delusional story of past, present, & future. Waking up is about remembering who ‘this one and the other one’ truly IS’:Perfect Love.Being awake is about giving This One perfect love, giving This One perfect respect, giving This One perfect compassion. Upon seeing this realization, each stressful past/future image or thought is seen through clearly for the mirage-like dream-story that it is.
This one life’s purpose is to see a stressful belief as not true. What is the root thought that spawns all subsequent thoughts?
“I am not you”.
“This one is not that one”.
This is about remembering that ‘this one’ is to join with the ‘other one’ to realize no separation: Perfect Love: to be That One.
This is about how to serve Perfect Love to ItSelf. It’s all Perfect Love. It is the Dreamer & the dream, and all the ones in that dream. ‘This one’ only appears to exist as ‘this one’ in Perfect Love in order to realize unity, and to serve ItSelf; Perfect Love, Perfect honour; to see perfectly, hear perfectly, support & appreciate perfectly, and trust perfectly. But, as long as ‘this one’ believes in ‘one and the other one ’, then the ‘other one’ “should” trigger me and push my buttons, because vision is not yet perfect. It is still impaired. It still mistakenly believes in ‘self and other’ and believing untrue thoughts about ‘both ’.
What does ‘this one’ believe?
I still believe the other one is a walking contradiction and I have the answer for them.
I still believe the other one is arrogant and stubborn and I have the answer for them.
I still believe the other one is storytelling and I have the answer for them.
‘This one’ still believes that ‘this one’ believes the ‘other one’ imposes its thoughts and beliefs onto ‘this one’ to get ‘this one’ to see what ‘the other one’ sees.
‘This one’ still believes the ‘other one’ needs ‘this one’ to understand ‘the other one’.
‘This one’ still believes the ‘other one’ is demanding.
This one still believes the other one is afraid, hurt & in pain and this one has the answer for it.
This one still believes the other one is angry, selfish and ready to explode if offended by this one.
I still believe that I ‘must behave’ according to the rules of the other’s confused mind telling itself how I ‘should behave’.
This one has the answer for that one.
This one believes it is the bringer of correction for all other ones. “Love Yourself”. This one believes it’s its job to get the other one to stop the orders.
This one believes it’s it’s job to see and admit how wrong and delusional the other one has been.
If the other one doesn’t love itself, this one becomes unwilling to join with it.
This one wants the other one to love itself and this one.
This one wants the other one to show humility; to change itself so it can finally have its peace (and this one can have its peace). Then, this one and the other one can be happy.
This one believes it’s its job to tell the other one why it is suffering.
This one believes, “that one needs to wake up and see the error of its beliefs”, in order that all stress will be removed.
How wrong this story is sounding.
In fact, they’re is no such thing as separate ‘this one and the other one’. Mind is delusional. Wholeness of Mind has made a separate identity out of The One, making it ‘this one’. Then, out of no-where, in comes “the other one”.
This one needs help, not the other one.This one is seeing double.
In calling out for help, that call for help is received and the answer is given. The ‘other one’ gets placed in my life to actually help ‘this one’ wake up from the error of two ones.This one is certainly not in this life to stay asleep and believe its awake only to look out and see that the other one has a real problem, or is the real problem.
This one is not here to correct the faults it believes it sees in that non-existent other one. That other one’s job is to turn this whole thing around onto this one and to see where this one has forgotten unity.
This one is to wake up and remember it is the one to do all these things it believed the ‘other one’ should do. I am The Only One and I am to serve The One; Nothing and Everything.
This one is to be The One, being the Truth; not to project it onto ‘the other one’.
This one is to be The One, broadcasting the Truth; not to teach it to ‘the other one’.
Everything else is a waste of time.
THE FOUR AGREEMENTS
The Four Agreements
- Be Impeccable with Your Word. Let your Word reflect the Ever-Present Being of Awareness that You are. With Love & Understanding, hold the space for thoughts, objects, appearances, and their expressions. Speak with integrity. Say only what You mean. Say it from gentle and compassionate Self-Assurance. Use the power of your Word in the abiding direction of Your Loving Identity.
- Don’t take Anything Personally. Nothing others do or express is because of You. If you believe you are a ‘you’ in a world of ‘others’, then everything you do will be subject to scrutiny & suspicion of motive. There is constant blame and punishment involved in attachment to mind. This entire inner resistance of thinking, feeling and perceiving, (taking things others say and do personally), stems from identifying Yourself as a separate living object, living in a world of other separate living objects. These ‘identities’ seem to be ‘real’ and subject to misunderstandings. By their very nature of not knowing awareness, they are resistant and fearful, attempting in every moment to project this resistance on ‘others’. If you believe you are this false identity, you will take everything personal, and point a finger at another ‘object of blame’ for taking away your happiness. But this so-called conceptual reality is a made-up story in the mind, and is a complete fabrication based on no experiential foundation. So, the story of being a separate living entity with it’s own story, living in a world of ‘others’ with their own story, can be a scary and dangerous place to live, Especially if you say or do the wrong thing. What any separate living entity thinks, says and does is a result of its own thoughts, feelings & perceptions, (its own story). Its only function is to project that story onto others, make it seem believable, and try to get the love and happiness it seeks. This is a bad habit of ‘objects finding other objects’ to project onto, inducing guilt to get love. It is this very mis-identification of identity and its perpetuation of the story that is the veil that blocks the awareness of Your Ever-Present Loving Awareness. When you know Your Real Identity as the Ever-Present Awareness, then You are immune to the thoughts, opinions, actions, sufferings and stories coming from the mind (and the apparent separate living entities). You will no longer be the victim of a separate living identity that does not exist.
- Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Do you want to continue making false assumptions based on being a separate living entity? Do you want to continue investing all your energy into trying to get your needs met from other separate living entities? Ask yourself, “Who is the YOU that you refer to when you speak of Yourself? An object? Or ‘that which knows and is aware’ of It’s True Reality. This is Your True Identity. Be that Awareness aware of being aware. Find a way to BE it. Inquire. Investigate. Look into. Study. Meditate. Peer deeper. Devote yourself to knowing what you are. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. Listen. Hold space. Accept where others are at. Avoid trying to interfere with the stories of separation. Allow them. Allow the resistance to unwind itself. With just this one agreement, You, as Awareness, can completely transform Your Life.
- Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment. It will be different when your body is feeling well as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and You will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret. Return to being aware of Your Awareness. Detach from wandering thoughts about what you are, who others are, what you aught to think, say, and do at any moment. Don’t allow thoughts & opinions to beat up on your own self. Be Present. Stay in Your true Identity, Aware of being Aware; for Yourself, as Yourself.
Awareness Returns to Mind
Awareness re-directed its awareness away from ItSelf.
Why?
Because Awareness desired to experience something It was not.
A long time ago, (one thought ago) Awareness created Mind, a filter of Feeling & Desire, through which worlds can be experienced by Awareness. Soon afterwards, Awareness, (with the desire of mind), desired to experience ItSelf as NOT ITSELF. Awareness willingly allowed itself to go to sleep, and willingly gave up its awareness of ItSelf: Its Infinite Eternal Loving Oneness, Freedom, Peace, Unity in order to experience duality (good/evil); something other than being aware of ItSelf alone.
Mind, without Awareness to direct it, was left orphaned and abandoned. It felt separate. There was now a void of unawareness out of which mind decided it had to fill. With “no awareness” being aware and in charge, mind became frightened and guilty. It thought it had done something wrong. It now felt it had to take on a role it did not know, in a world it did not know. No longer able to function as servant, it assumed the role of master. Mind assumed the power of Awareness without Awareness being aware. Mind, as feeling & desire, led without awareness.
With awareness ignored, and mind in charge, mind now attempts to create like its master. Being made of feeling & desire, it makes up thoughts, ideas, sensations, beliefs, concepts. Then it does what it does best: PROJECT. Mind’s only ability is to project itself. It attempts to create, but with no awareness in doing so, manifests an objective world, made up of subjects and objects.
With awareness present, (but unaware of Itself as Itself), an I-body/mind is made up. (thoughts, feelings, sensations, ideas, opinions, beliefs, concepts desires and imaginings, memories, narratives, monologues, dialogues, stories).
With awareness present, (but unaware of Itself as Itself), I-body/mind becomes an apparent living ‘thing’, a ‘subject’ among other ‘subjects’ called ‘objects’. It has taken on a life of its own. It now boastfully declares it’s stuff: I hear stuff. I see stuff. I smell stuff. I taste stuff. I touch stuff. I feel stuff. I think stuff.
I know stuff. I believe stuff. I have stuff. I take positions on stuff. I narrate stuff. I monologue and dialogue stuff. I believe I know the truth about stuff.
I love stuff. I hate stuff. I fear stuff. I’m proud of stuff. I remember stuff. I forget stuff. I am sentimental about stuff. I am resentful about stuff. I am forgiving about stuff. I know what the good stuff is and what the bad stuff is, even if others disagree on my stuff. I demand stuff. I compare stuff. I ask for stuff. I deserve stuff. I am worthy of stuff. I know this stuff. I don’t know other stuff. I know I can feel impatient with stuff. I know all this stuff. And on and on the list of stuff goes.
With awareness present, (but unaware of ItSelf as ItSelf), I-body/mind IS made of the very stuff that conceptualizes and perceptualizes stuff. It then puts this conceptual stuff all together into categories of polarity stuff:
Good bad, right wrong, forwards backwards, true false, worthy unworthy, smart stupid, beautiful, ugly, heaven hell, life death, greater worse, more less, far near, big small, win lose, rich poor, here there, past present future, time space, light dark, giving receiving…. And the list goes on.
It takes credit for the good stuff, blames other stuff for the bad stuff. Little does it know, however, that all this stuff is made out of the same stuff it is made of. STUFF. It’s not real apart from awareness, but mind has forgotten that it ever had a master. It forgot its true function as servant. Its a world led by an insane master.
Awareness is now fully asleep, unaware that the mind made up an objective reality, was taken hostage to ‘be’ a separate subjective body/mind identity. As long as unawareness ensues, it’s all allowed, and so the mind keeps on making more stuff up. After some time, in this world of time and space, mind gets stronger and stronger. It’s still allowed. Over time, mind gets fully established in the I-body identity. It ‘believes’ its in charge of its world. Desire grows and grows. Seeking pleasures in objects and avoiding pain from objects becomes its addictive function. It is never satisfied, no matter what it achieves, accomplishes or gets. I-body/mind is frustrated and wants more and more. The suffering becomes greater and greater, and more frequently. Pleasures also become greater and greater. I-body/mind grows and grows in its seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Pleasure seeking takes on destructive forms. Will this dream world self-destruct?
All of a sudden, something happens to bring awareness. To the insane mind, it appears as intense pain. But, now, mind is insane. It has gotten so habitually addicted to acting as the controller, it doesn’t want to give up it’s apparent power. It blames people, places, and events for its pain, as a way to perpetuate itself; to keep awareness from awakening to ItSelf.
As awareness awakens slowly, mind becomes suspicious, to downright vicious, attempting to convince the I-body/mind to be very afraid OR ELSE. It takes on defensive/attacking positions, threatening, and controlling. It lashes out and retreats. It’s only function now is to keep awareness ignorant. (Mind is ignorant if left to be its own master). It must deceive the I-body/mind to obey, and that it has the rules to convince awareness that ‘it’ must submit. It is the arrogant blind leading the naïve blind.
Mind is the only stuff in existence, made by awareness, given the power to make universes. But this universe of duality was made by the mind without Awareness being aware of ItSelf. Mind assumed charge, ate from the tree of good & evil, and now, does not have the awareness to get rid of the apparent problems it made.
After what seems to be millennia, after multitudes and multitudes of I-body/minds living and dying, with stories and narratives of stories being experienced, a question arises?
Where did Awareness go?
Everything is confusing, fearful and insane. It’s time to set things right.
Awareness arrives as the Answer to a call for Love.
Now, with awareness coming back to the I-body/mind, it is seen that this apparent temporal ‘living entity’ is not really real. It’s all been a sleeping game, a trick-of-hand of role reversal. Awareness asleep, and a mind whose sole duty was to ‘run the show’.
The mind, its movement being feeling & desire, was never created to lead. It was created to follow. It disobeyed, out of ignorance.
After so-called billions and billions of years, awareness awakens in the mind/body that is tired of seeking and leading blindly. It begins to turn inward. It admits it doesn’t know it’s True Master. It desires to revert back to its true nature of being servant. It’s becoming ready to follow.
Once mind desires to return to Awareness more than it desires chasing mind-stuff, desire increases, and so does Awareness. It is at this point, that Awareness is able to recognize ItSelf as Awareness. It can see that the I-body/mind is NOT what it is. It is then able to break away and detach from the mind stuff, and BE ITSELF, aware and awake, independent of mind. The sense of an I-body/mind self is gone. With Awareness present and aware of being aware, there is only Awareness, and no sense of separate identity in a story.
Awareness stands as Awareness; aware & present. Thinking, sensing and perceiving still happen, but they happen to nobody.
It is the journey of Awareness falling asleep, (with mind in charge, dreaming of a world with the existence of separate aware characters in stories of birth & death, time & space) then Awareness guiding the mind back into ItSelf, and re-awakening to ItSelf in the dream back to ItSelf as Infinite Awareness. Awareness is its True Identity, and not the separate I-body/mind identity. Awareness is Present Now. Awareness is aware of being aware. It knows Its Only Function. Happiness and Peace have returned for body/mind. They know their function is simply to emulate Awareness. All is One at rest in Awareness as Awareness. Nothing else needs to be done. The rest will unfold naturally.
I am Present-Awareness Itself
I am Present-Awareness.
How do I know this?
Lets see…
I know I exist.
I know I am presently aware.
Being presently aware of myself, I am the same as Present-Awareness.
I am Present Awareness.
What am I made from?
I am made from the same stuff as Present-Awareness.
I am Present Awareness.
I can test this out.
I can watch my own Present-Awareness.
I am presently aware of watching Present-Awareness.
I can watch myself, as Awareness.
Awareness watching Awareness.
Within Awareness, things seem to appear & disappear.
Perceiving appears to happen,
Thinking appears to happen,
Sensing appears to happen,
Feeling appears to happen.
But, I, being aware, stay in awareness of myself as Present-Awareness.
When these appearances divert my attention for a long time, and then for longer times, I can forget my awareness, and then my reality appears to become something it is not, something else other that what I am, as Awareness.
I forget myself as Awareness, and become aware of myself in a world of good & bad.
I then hold thoughts, feelings, sense-perceptions as my own. I believe there are real problems I or others must solve.
When I forget myself as Awareness, then my reality is fearful, uncertain, and doubtful.
When Awareness comes back to the lost awareness, it is rediscovered that I, Awareness, is aware.
During unawareness of True Reality, I am not identified with Awareness but with those appearances that I mistakenly thought myself to be.
When Awareness returns, I come back to myself as Awareness Itself.
I sense that when a sensation happens, it is present, made out of presence, just as I am presence, so it is made out of Awareness. I give it my Awareness.
I understand that when thinking happens, it is present, made out of presence, just as I am presence, so it is made out of Awareness. I give it my Awareness.
I feel that when a feeling happens, it is present, made out of presence, just as I am present, so it is made out of Myself, Awareness. I give it my Awareness.
I perceive that when seeing, hearing, touching, tasting & smelling happens, it is present, made out of Presence, just as I am Presence, so it is made out of Myself, Awareness. I give it my Awareness.
Being Aware, I bring my Awareness wherever I go.
I can bring my awareness to the content of those appearances, and still stay in knowing Awareness.
I am presently aware now, created out of Presence-Awareness.
I remain Awareness independent of all appearances.
Appearances can come, and appearances can go.
I remain Awareness. I know who I am.
I am Presence.
I am Awareness.
Awareness is the knowing of Awareness.
Nothing exists outside of Myself, as Presence-Awareness.
This is the truth of Reality.
This is Reality.
Awareness: You Be In Charge
Today, when I woke up this morning, (before thoughts and sense-perceptions came rushing in), the first thing I did, was be aware of who I am. I rested in this Awareness. My name is SatNinAnanda. I am a conscious living being. (Nina). I am awareness, consciously & intimately connected with Infinite-Eternal Conscious-Awareness (Sat). The experience of knowing Conscious-Awareness, is Love-Peace-Bliss. (Ananda)
Then, in an instant, I became aware of my thoughts and sense-perceptions. They are my creations. Like children, they awoke too, surrounding me from all sides. Their names are ‘thinking’, ‘feeling’, ‘sensing’, and ‘perceiving’. I became aware that I have busy, active, creations of my own. They are precious, and beautiful, innocent, but they are ignorant and naïve of who I am. When I forget the Truth of MySelf, and focus on them, they become something else entirely. They start attaching and meshing with each other. They divide and morph into more complex beings: ‘thoughts’, ‘desires’ ‘emotions’, ‘sensations’, and ‘perceptions’. Little monsters. Hell, I sure wouldn’t want them to grow into big ones now, would I? To go further into the illusion, those creations become real conceptual things, like bodies, objects, events, relationships, sex, money, buying, selling, education, science, security, safety, love and marriage, envy, greed, lack, loss, light, dark, birth, death, more, less, governments, hierarchies, dynasties, empires, nations, planets, universe, … the world.
Whoa! Back up…way, way up. I am Awareness, and it came to Me that I must BE AWARE. I must lovingly, firmly, direct these ‘ignorant, innocent children’ in the way they must go. I am their parent and I must teach them who they are by being who I AM, Awareness ItSelf. I am to help them remember I am their Parent, because they need one. When they get together inside of me, their voices are noisy and distracting, and can so easily get my attention. Then as I lose awareness of My Awareness, the voices seem become one-voice, and now, I have become something else, something that I am not. It’s a wild experience when this occurs. This one-voice begins directing Me, as if I ‘am’ the voice. I take on form and perceive a world. I have needs, and wants, and feelings, am obsessed with right and wrong, good and bad. I am possessive. I hold onto guilt and shame for something I don’t remember I have done. I can become demanding of respect and indignant if I am offended, wronged, or betrayed. I’m at conflict with myself and I feel completely out of control. I, no longer aware of Awareness Itself, have ‘become’ the voice of fear, indecision and doubt. I can also be sweet and manipulative to get what I want. I am relentless in my pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. I simply can not stop. Feeling and desire are calling out for help, and I feel like a tired, helpless victim without an answer.
But awareness came, and I realized no one with awareness was running the show. The children did not know ME because I was not BEING their parent. I was not being what I was created to be. With no Awareness, all is lost. With no awareness, all is chaos. All attractions & repulsions, pleasures and pain have been created from unawareness. The True Aware Parent has been forgotten. The child is lost. And a ‘lost child’ has the capability of creating havoc in worlds within worlds, all ending in pain, suffering and destruction.
Whoa! Coming back to Awareness, and after spending much time with Awareness, in Awareness of Awareness, my children (thinking, feeling, sensing, perceiving) are now beginning to reflect their true selves more and more. I am now back to being Aware, as Guide, Organizer, Director, Inner Silence. I now see with the inner Eye of Awareness. I see that when I had no awareness of Myself, I seemed to become aware of something else, (to the point where I was lost and confused), no one was in charge. The world became full of victims and victimizers, I was not attending to myself, as Awareness. And I, who was acting on behalf of a ‘lost voice’ have now regained Awareness, and I can now return to Awareness and be the Parent in Charge of my children once again; ‘thinking’, ‘feeling’, ‘sensing’, ‘perceiving’, (my children)”.
So, today, I sat up, and remembered who I am, and what I am to do. I told each of my creations to take a break. I told them that I will be needing them in time, but that I need to Be who I truly am NOW. I am Awareness, and I need to be with Awareness now and forever. While I am awake and aware in day to day life, my creations will serve me well. I explained to each of them they would all have a function to serve in my Self-Expression. They would be seen and heard when I am Being Aware, not at any other time. I told them I will be taking time for me more, Awareness, in holy communion with MYSELF, Awareness, so, they would all have more time when I express MySelf. I gave them all re-assurance that while I am practicing Awareness in meditation, that they respect and honor the Silence. They can show up spontaneously and functionally in daily life. I informed them lovingly and gently that I will not abandon them, or hurt them. They will be receiving all the lessons they will need when I choose to focus and stay aware as the Parent that I am. I promised them, as I become more aware of Awareness, they will come to understand, feel, desire, sense and perceive truly. They are not to attach or demand of Me my Attention. They must wait until I need them to show up truly. I win, and they win. WE all WIN. I am truly Independent of them, but as a living-conscious being of Awareness, those emanations of Me will shine bright and become as I am, gracefully and lovingly expressing ourselves as Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Peace-Bliss.
“Desire, What Am I To Do With You?”
To blindly follow desire in its “outward” search, is the path to perpetuate pain and suffering.
This is the Truth.
I am looking for something to relieve my suffering; or should I say, energy of desire. The energy of desire is ongoing, and perpetual, and it’s function is to grow and grow. It can not give up its need to desire. It mistakenly looks outward, to a ‘person, place, or thing’ in order to end it’s desire, and achieve success, love, peace & fulfillment.
If I try to stop desire, I see that it gets more and more intense, threatening me with words of pain and suffering. If I follow desire, it may bring glimmerings of joy and excitement, declaring promised outcomes, but this too eventually ends in disappointment, frustration, anger, rage. If desire is lacking in one situation, and I try to force desire to a different direction, it ends up in grief and sorrow. They are all dead-ends eventually. But, it doesn’t end. Desire tells me that I must submit & agree to becoming its partner in finding what it is looking for, AND, it is I that must help ‘it’ look for it. I am tired. I don’t know what else to look for in order to appease it for long. I still see it desiring, and so, I go back to the drawing board once again. I look for clues, for signs…waiting for desire to tell me what to do. I don’t know who I am, and so I believe my job to get something or to arrive somewhere in the world is real. I believe that something is missing within me. I feel shame because I haven’t yet found it. I begin to compare myself with others. I begin to use deception with others pretending to be happy and fulfilled, but knowing I have no real lasting commitment in the activities of the world. I am trying to solve a problem on behalf of this thing called ‘desire’. A problem to solve.
I come back to awareness, get honest, and I see that I got tangled up in desire, looking for a world nugget to be excited about, but I came up empty. Getting something or someone in this world only makes desire go away temporarily.
Believing I saw that there was a problem in the desiring; I took it upon myself to solve it. It seemed that there was a problem that I must figure out either with myself or with others. If I control ‘desire’ in order to get rid of desire, I use my power destructively and I suffer. If I allow ‘desire’ to control me to get what it wants, (so desire will end), I use my power destructively. I’m shocked that this has been going on for so long.
As I return to Awareness, I’m aware that I became a partner in crime with desire, going out into the world to find its objects of desire, (thinking they were mine) in order to end the suffering. But the very existence of desire, and not knowing what to do with it, IS the suffering. This I’m aware of.
Desires reaching outward, seeking outward, looking outward, searching outward, forever wandering, analyzing, figuring, manipulating, rationalizing, consuming…..this is the activity of desire not having true direction.
So, not knowing who I am, or what my function is, I tell lost desire (now me) that maybe what I’m looking for will be in exercise, moving the body, getting busy, looking for adventure, working, playing, looking to buy something, sell something, improving myself, looking for conversation, surrounding myself with people, going to parties, functions, looking put together, looking for yet another truth in a teaching or a book, attending my spiritual meetings, travelling, going on retreats, dates, looking for the attraction of a man that I can once-and-for-all connect with on a soul level, and finally stop the suffering that desire has caused. Something I want, but do not have. I detach from desire for a moment, and notice thoughts forcing me to go and get something. But I know that to find something out there is not going to end desire at all, and if it does, it won’t last for long; I will eventually feel disappointment, my heart will break again, the desire will return with a vengeance, and the same ol’ seeking will come back. Nothing I do, (in agreeing to follow desire) will bring the ego to its final end. Listening to and blindly following to the ego’s promises of desire (lies) will not end the suffering. There are no objects of desire that will bring desire to its final end. And I render myself to yet another surrendering of this.
Desire itself does not know what it wants. It wants me to join with it, be its host, to go out and fulfill its never-ending ache of yearning and craving. And so I do that, over and over again, believing that I am going to bring desire to an end. But now, after so many years, I know that outward seeking in order to end desire is only another strategy of desire to perpetuate itself. It’s not the answer I truly want. I want the peace of God. So, I decided to use desire for the spiritual path. I sought the truth in books, in workshops, retreats, YouTube videos, and got lost in that path, believing the truth is in a teaching or a book. I joined with spiritual communities to be happy like them. I forced desire to stop. I pretended I was ‘desireless’. I fought desire, tried to repress it, suppress it, but, in the end, it only increased my self-dishonesty. I concluded, desire can not be eliminated and it constantly calls to me. I realized, desire can not be relinquished by acting as a spiritual person. Desire came back. It’s feverish, and relentless, and it will not give its host any lasting relief. Looking outward to love, sex, marriage, kids, money, food, drink, conversation, adventures, travel, spiritual endeavors, thrill-seeking activities, is not fulfilling desire anymore. So, after some searching as to what I could do with this desire, I came across the Direct Path to Awakening. I’ve come to see there is another way to ending the desire and suffering of the ego. Desire can’t be eliminated by seeking objects; that is a recipe for more desire and suffering. It’s the wrong direction. I must do something to help turn desire around, and lead it back to where it came from.
To clearly lead desire to the ‘inward’ search, is the path to end pain & suffering.
This is the Truth.
I am Awareness. I must be who I am as Awareness in order to allow desire to be who it is. The answer is to stay Aware of MySelf, as Awareness. In doing so, I will be taking charge of guiding desire to follow me. I will allow it to grow in strength, and then use its strength and intensity to stay focused on ME, Awareness. I must invite the very thing I was trying to get rid of, and use it for another purpose; an inward-looking purpose.
Now that I have a clear understanding on what is really going on within my awareness, I can take the driver’s seat. I can have desire serve me in being who I am, instead of me serving it. Desire will follow me. It only wants the freedom to be and do it’s function. It’s a win-win situation.
In the past, I catered to ‘desire’, trying to please it in others, so I could have it pleased within me. My one and only purpose for this desire thing, was to have it stop pestering me. I thought others would ‘get’ happy it I served desire that lived in them, which in turn, would make me happy. But this desire does not really live in others, it lives in me, and until it’s come to a final end, there can be no real happiness. I am unhappy, because I forgot who I truly am, and I didn’t know what the heck to do with desire.
It’s like a small child having a temper tantrum, and me, an irresponsible and naive parent. If it becomes vociferous and noisy, somebody will come to fill its bottomless-pit needs. No. This must stop. Desire will never ever ever, ever, ever, stop by looking ‘outward’. There must be a direct, firm, but loving hand, to take Its rightful place as Parent, and steer ‘desire’ from looking ‘outward’ (to people, places, things, events, concepts, etc) to looking ‘inward’ instead, and bring it to its final end. This is what I want. This will take some Awareness Practice, but I’m ready.
“I have a new purpose for you, my dear desire”.
You will no longer act as my boss. I detach from assuming that you know. Your suggestions, promptings, persuasions, directions, orders, criticisms, suspicions, sarcasms, threats, ultimatums, dictates, viciousness are a cry for help. I will help. I quit cateringnd being tempted to answer your every whim, trying to give you what you think you want. You are a spoiled child who hasn’t a clue what you want. But, I love you, so I will not abandon you; neither will I continue to join in those insane destructive strategies of getting your needs met. I am in charge now. You can settle down. You need not figure anything out. But, I need you to do something for me. It is a job where I want you to do what you do best. I need you now, to play the biggest part you’ve ever played. Its the perfect job for you. To go where we are going, I need you to get super strong, and super intense. I want you to grow and grow and grow. This is your only function. This is who and what you are. Desire. Do your job and do it well my dear. As for my job, I will be Awareness observing MYSELF. I am in charge of the direction. I will direct you. I want you to shine your brightest. It’s going to be alright. You are going to finally bring all pain and suffering to its final end. Out of all the things I needed most desperately in this world, but failed to get right, was knowing who I was, and what my function was. I am Awareness, and you are desire. Lets do what we do best, and let’s do it together. You can be yourself, getting stronger with intensity, increasing in the right direction, and I will be Awareness, aware of MySelf. It will take us inward in the right direction. You are the one & only energy that will bring the ego to its final end; to infinite eternal love & peace.
To thinking, feeling and desire,
“Are we all willing and ready to take our rightful positions now?
Your Loving Infinite-Eternal Awareness
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
The Lost Ones
The oppressed one models no real power or self-mastery. It is fear that controls him. He appears to have no control over his life. He believes his pain comes from others’ use of control; not from within himself. He uses his emotion of fear to deceive himself of his own hidden pain. His focus is on the fear of being controlled. He is terrified of non-compliance, therefore, he forces himself to comply. He is afraid of the ‘angry’ mind. He believes in control and what it demands of him. He deceives himself by what is blamed on him. He takes up little or no space, feels undeserving, is isolated, quiet & shy, and sees to it that he does not get in the way or upset the one who has anger. If he does, he will perceive himself as disorderly & out-of-control. The oppressed one may get threatened, or have something of ‘value’ taken away. The oppressed one is teaching & broadcasting: “Maintain fear: perpetuate the illusion of control & order”.
The oppressor models no real power or self-mastery. It is anger & hatred that controls him. He appears to have control over his life & the lives of others. He believes his pain comes from failing to control others; not from within himself. He uses his emotions of anger & pride to deceive himself of his own hidden pain. His focus is on anger to control others. He despises lack of control, therefore, he demands the other to comply. He is angry of the ‘fearful’ mind. He believes in control and what it demands of him. The oppressor deceives himself by what he blames on others. He demands space, is entitled, and sees to it that he gets in the way & controls the one who will comply. If he doesn’t, he will perceive himself as weak & not-in-control. The oppressor may threaten or take something of ‘value’ away from another. The oppressor is teaching & broadcasting: “Maintain anger: perpetuate the illusion of control & order.”