Let's close our eyes.
Let's become open to receiving.
Most of the times we think we are in control,
We want to filter what we get,
What we don't get,
Based on our preferences,
Our likes,
Our dislikes.
In spiritual terms it's called likes,
Dislikes,
Preferences.
In a modern language of science and psychology it's called confirmation bias.
But today's openness is something else.
We are not open to anything in particular.
We are open to everything.
Most of the times there is a fear that if I am open to things that I don't know,
That then it might change me and I don't want to be changed.
I like the way I am.
Or more importantly I like the way things are.
Any change is not good.
But this flavor of being open is with the trust that whatever is going to appear in this openness is also going to go away.
So all our thoughts,
We are open to all our thoughts,
No matter what kind of thoughts they are.
The right ones,
The good ones,
Or the wrong ones,
Or the bad ones,
Doesn't matter.
Thought appears and disappears.
In your openness,
These thoughts will appear and disappear like they always do.
Images will appear and disappear as they always do,
Without resisting,
Without fighting,
Without filtering anything in particular.
Instead of spending that energy on controlling,
We just want to relax that energy.
For some of us it might be overwhelming to just not interfere with any of the thoughts or images or feelings.
Any feeling that I showed up will eventually fade away and disappear.
I shouldn't,
I don't,
I don't want,
It's not right.
All these thoughts are also appearing and disappearing in our openness.
Even the fear and overwhelm is a feeling that appears,
Makes its presence felt,
And then starts fading away unless we go and grab it,
Name it,
Talk to it,
Debate with it,
Negotiate with it,
Justify it,
Confirm it,
Then it stays.
Not because it wants to stay,
It wants to stay,
But because we want it to stay in a roundabout way.
Being open takes a lot of humility and even more courage.
That courage is not borrowed courage.
That courage comes from a deep understanding that nothing can touch me.
The openness of an ocean,
Whether we put a boat on it,
A ship,
A submarine,
An airplane carrier,
Plastic,
Dirt,
Doesn't matter.
The ocean can take everything.
It still remains the ocean.
From its point of view,
It is still an ocean.
We might consider it something else.
But just like that,
Can we have the courage like an ocean that no matter what you put in it,
It'll be okay.
Any thought is such a weakling in front of us in which it appears.
It's like a wave in an ocean.
The ocean can't be threatened by a wave.
It appears in it,
Just like our thought appears in us,
Just like a feeling appears in us.
It might feel overwhelming,
Even dark,
But can a wave affect an ocean?
Once we come from this place of confidence,
Of understanding,
Then courage becomes inevitable and easy.
The courage to be open,
Not being passively open,
But actively open.
You know,
Receiving is not a science.
What you're going to get,
When you're going to get,
How you're going to get and how much you are going to get cannot be known.
Sometimes you can't even make out you've gotten something.
It happens under the radar,
Like the love for a particular topic that was instilled in us in high school by a teacher.
And we didn't even know that they are instilling this love in us by being kind,
By being prepared,
By teaching us in a way that we get it.
So we can't become a barrier in our own receiving,
Thinking we know.
There's a common saying,
Those who know,
Don't know,
And those who don't know,
Actually know.
Because once you start diving into anything,
You'll realize the more you know,
The more you don't know,
The more there is to know.
So why,
Why limit ourselves?
You know,
Most,
Most of the things that have happened in our life,
Most important things,
At least that's true about me and whoever I've spoken to.
That most things that have happened are,
Have been an effect of a serendipity of sorts.
Meeting your spouse,
You getting a job,
And so many other events in our life similar to these.
The commonality is,
It happens so beautifully and so drastically and so instantaneously that our minds don't have an opportunity to resist it,
To have an opinion about it,
To be closed.
Being closed is a decision.
Most of the times we are open.
But the moment our belief system is threatened,
We become closed.
More often than not,
This happens in the presence of someone else.
Someone else as in a real person or an idea or a virtual person.
What if we don't need to preserve ourselves from any ideas,
From any thoughts or images or feelings or opinions or words?
Like right now,
I've spoken so many words to you.
See if you can find any part of you missing because you heard my words.
Or see if you have some extra parts in you because you heard my words.
Did these sound waves just flow through you?
Similarly,
So many thoughts must have popped in your mind ever since we started this session.
Check if you feel a little less you or a little more you because of all these thoughts.
Or were these thoughts just energy formations that appeared and flowed through you?
Just like the air flows through the screen door,
Leaving the screen door unaffected.
Same is true with feelings,
Although they are a little more intimate and they have a longer lasting effect than thoughts and words.
But the principle is the same.
So check.
Check if you feel a little less you or more you because of all the feelings that have been felt.
Or is it more like a memory foam mattress where the feelings leave a little mark,
But then eventually you regain your shape,
Leaving no trace behind.
So if this is true about 15-20 minutes,
Why can't it be true about an entire day,
An entire week,
An entire year or decades?
Yet all the thoughts,
Feelings,
Words were neutral,
Transparent.
Any effect that they have had on us is not without our willingness to be affected by it.
And that's what I mean,
That becoming closed is a decision.
And we can find good solid reasons to be closed.
And most people won't argue with you for those reasons.
But can we find one reason to be open,
To feel the way you are feeling right now?
Relaxed,
Empowered,
Courageous.
Just like most things in life,
We can find innumerable reasons to be closed,
To be weak,
To feel insecure.
But we need to find one reason,
Just one,
To practice courage,
To practice openness,
Confidence.
And if we ever lose ourselves or if we ever get lost in the traffic,
We can always check in our own experience if any of the sounds that we are hearing,
If we don't interfere with them,
Are they passing through us or are they eating away at us or adding some parts to us?
Same is true with our thoughts and feelings.
I think there is a scientific research that says that on an average we think 10,
000 thoughts a day.
Are those 10,
000 thoughts,
Are they all thoughts of same kind?
Which means they are all thoughts.
Then why would some affect us and others,
Most others,
Pass through us?
Same is true about feelings.
How many times have we felt dark,
Lethargic,
Lost,
Stuck,
Desperate?
Are any of those feelings around,
The same ones?
Or is it inevitable for all these feelings to pass away,
Leaving us just the way we were?
Thank you.
