Day 6. Who's This In The Shower With Me

LOOKING FOR THE KEY
Beginning with a delightful story about Billy looking for his keys under a street light, but he doesn't find them because he is looking in the wrong place. .Suryacitta then goes on to show that if we are looking for happiness in the wrong place likewise we will never find it. Where is the right place to look?

Transcript

So hello,

Welcome to another Daily Dose of Story.

So this one is called Looking for the Key and as usual I'll say a few words after and then we'll have a little bit of quiet time.

Looking for the Key.

Billy is staggering home late one night.

He's had one or two drinks too many but he's in a good mood after a great night with his friends.

When he gets to his door he cannot find his keys.

He does however vaguely remember dropping them earlier.

He begins looking for them underneath the lamppost.

He gets on his hands and knees and searches in the grass under the shrubs in the hedge.

At that point his mate Fred comes along,

Also staggering from a few too many.

Billy,

My good friend,

What are you doing down there?

Asks Fred.

Billy replies,

I lost my keys and I'm looking for them.

Oh well,

Let me help you,

Responds Fred.

So Fred gets down on his hands and knees and looks for the keys.

30 minutes pass and Fred asks,

Billy,

My dear old mate,

I cannot find your keys here.

Where did you actually lose them?

Oh,

Replies Billy,

I lost them in the back garden.

You lost them in the back garden?

Shouts Fred.

So why on earth are we looking here in the front garden?

Because the light is better here underneath the lamppost.

This is a commentary from the book itself.

I'm going to carry on reading this and then I'll say a few words.

I love this story because it is so ridiculous in one sense.

But we can ask ourselves,

Are we much different from Billy?

Billy was looking where the light was best.

But of course it was all in vain.

The keys were just not there.

We too are looking for something and that's something I'm going to call happiness,

Peace,

Contentment or joy.

Call it whatever you want as these words point to the same thing.

However,

This is where we are similar to Billy.

We too are looking in the wrong place.

Where do we look for happiness?

Relationships,

Possessions,

Or joy?

Jobs,

Children,

Promotion?

These are the more obvious places where we look.

However,

There are other places we look to.

A good or a bad reputation,

Depending on what we think will make us special.

We want approval and to be noticed or not noticed depending on our conditioning.

I'm not saying of course we should not have any of these.

But I'm saying they will not bring the happiness we seek.

They can bring much pleasure and satisfaction,

But they are limited in what they can bring.

They are limited in what they can bring because they are subject to change and uncertainty.

Two universal laws of life.

So to be truly happy,

We need to be at ease with these facts of life.

So that's the end of the reading.

So,

For many years I looked in these places,

You know,

Finding a good reputation,

Finding a decent job.

Of course,

You know,

Everybody needs a good job.

Better a good job than a job you don't like.

But none of them really worked,

Ultimately.

None of them brought me the happiness that I was seeking.

The reputation,

The partners,

The cars.

Now I realized this at some point.

So then,

What did I do?

Well,

It must be the spiritual life.

That's where it is.

But it wasn't.

That didn't work either.

I went on a spiritual search,

Searching for that something.

It must be in an experience.

It must be in a meditation experience.

It must be enlightenment.

It can't be this,

This ordinariness of life.

It can't be this here right now with an aching knee or a toothache.

Or just walking down the street.

Walking up the stairs at work or whatever.

It's got to be,

You know,

Rose-tinted.

Or it's got to be covered with gold in some way,

Shape or form.

This can't be it,

Never.

This can't be it.

But at some point I started to see that even this seeking for an experience,

That special experience,

It was just another form of materialism.

This is what spiritual materialism is.

Instead of looking for the possessions and things of life,

We look for spiritual experiences.

Thinking that they will do it and they don't.

So then what did I do?

Or what can we do?

Well,

We can stop believing what the mind keeps telling us.

And the mind keeps telling you,

Keep following my ideas and you'll be okay.

At some point you will reach the destination.

But this destination that the mind is saying,

The mind is offering you,

Doesn't actually exist.

You're already at the destination.

That's where I realised.

I found some good teachers and they turned me around.

In Sufism they say that you are already resting in the arms of the beloved.

You just don't recognise it.

Your own presence,

Our own being is what we are looking for.

It's our true nature.

It's not in some other place in some other time.

That's what mind keeps telling you.

That's what most of the books tell you.

But now,

Your very own nature is what you're looking for.

Saint Francis of Assisi.

What you're looking for is doing the looking.

So we start to turn our attention around as we do on these courses.

Here on Insight Timer.

Everything I do is about this same thing.

This turning around and discovering your own nature.

There's two things happen when we do this.

We start to get a taste of our own presence.

But initially it doesn't feel like much.

Because it's not dramatic.

It's not intense.

It's not sensational.

And the other thing is that we start to see the cause of our own psychological suffering.

And that is the belief in thought.

That thought is telling us the truth.

And I'm only talking about self-centered or ego-oriented thinking here.

I'm not talking about practical thinking and functional thinking,

Creative.

That's fine.

Okay.

So the mind keeps offering us what I call mind carrots.

Empty promises.

Follow me.

That's where it says follow me.

Because the mind doesn't want us to rest in presence.

Because it's when we rest in presence it's redundant.

And nobody wants to be redundant.

So the mind thinks let's pull them out of presence.

Let's send them some invitations that they always fall for.

They always fall for these invitations.

So they send you an anxious thought.

Takes you on an anxious ride.

It sends you a thought of hope that will bring them out.

Or to do with health.

They always fall for this one.

They always go on this ride.

This fearful ride or anxious ride.

And what do we get from being on the ride?

The roller coaster,

The ghost train all churned open.

So we turn away from believing these thoughts.

Gradually we stand at the edge of the ocean of being.

The ocean of presence.

And we start to take a step in.

Get our toes wet with presence.

Gradually.

But we have to be willing to unhook from thought.

Which is what we're going to do now.

Just going to get a taste of this.

Okay.

So.

You can close your eyes if you wish or rest your gaze on a blank wall.

That's right.

Take a deep breath.

And drop down into the lower belly.

It's called the Hara-in.

Japanese Buddhism.

Zen.

Rest there.

Not that it's special.

But it just tends to ground us.

Come out of the head.

Now we're not looking for anything special.

Just feel around there.

You can feel the breath if you wish.

That's presence too.

There'll be a few periods of silence here too.

Allow you to do this.

It's intentional.

And watch for the mind carrots.

When we find that we're lost.

Following this mind carrot.

Lost in the content.

Just say to yourself.

I'm thinking.

It's just a statement.

Not a judgment.

Release those thoughts.

Relax back into presence.

Just another little tiny step.

Into the ocean.

That's it.

Simple.

Don't go searching for presence.

You are presence.

You are present right now.

Yes?

Do you have to go looking for it?

Just be it.

Just feel into it.

There's nothing else you need to do.

Just release from the thoughts.

Just say to yourself.

Thinking.

If that helps.

And fall back into the body.

Feel the breath.

Feel that hara.

Feel the breath.

Around the seat area.

The lower belly.

Just resting there.

Just getting a taste of that.

At some point it becomes familiar.

Ah.

This is what I've been looking for.

That place of rest.

Home.

All that seeking.

And it's here all the time.

Just watch your mind.

We want to pull you away.

And that's okay.

Happens to everybody.

Okay.

So you can bring this session to an end.

Open your eyes if you wish.

A little stretch.

So that's the simplicity of resting in presence.

That's your nature.

We don't need to search for it.

That presence is also.

Another term for it is aware presence.

That presence.

You're aware right now.

Yes.

Yes.

Did that take effort?

Did you need to think about it?

No.

Even if you said no.

I'm not aware.

You need to be aware to say that.

Aware and present.

This is so simple and so subtle.

Ah.

It seems too simple at first.

It isn't.

Just hang around.

Follow the guidance.

And you start to get a taste of this.

Okay.

Thank you.

See you tomorrow.

Bye.

Reviews

The simplicity of presence. Funny how the mind carrots can be deceptively delightful. Creative projects dangle before me!!! But there is a time and a place for both contemplation and action. 🙏🏼❤️🦋