In life there can be.
Many different experiences.
There could be good days,
There could be bad days.
There could be hot days,
There could be cold days.
There could be social days,
There could be lonely days.
There can be all manner of things going on in the world.
There's just so many different potential experiences.
And no matter what experience comes and goes.
There's this undercurrent of truth.
Rested below it all.
And in some way,
I could say a spiritual truth.
But really it just seems like a deeply human truth or just the reality of reality.
I guess maybe in one way.
The foundation of that is the discovery that there's what I think about life and then there's life as it really is.
There's what I think about the experiences I experience.
And then there's the reality.
Of what it is.
And it's fascinating to me because You know,
One experience could be 10,
000 different experiences depending on how you see it.
Depending on the lens in which we are looking through.
You could drop an egg while cooking and it could be a huge blow to your worth and value.
Or it could be the funniest thing that happened all day long.
Yet the experience itself.
An egg falling and cracking on the ground.
It's somewhat neutral.
If not totally neutral.
And so it fascinates me how much we add to experience that isn't really there.
But yet as we add it to experience,
It really seems like what we're adding is actually there.
And of course,
I wonder how much of my experience is me just adding additional commentary.
That in many ways is irrelevant.
That in many ways isn't actually happening.
It is lived as if it's happening.
And you know what's also funny about this?
As it relates to the human dilemma,
Which we might just call suffering or emotional disturbance.
Again,
Looking at my own direct experience,
All of the suffering is related to the content that I'm adding.
And it's not related to the reality of what's there.
That's just super interesting.
No matter how tormented I am on the inside.
Whether it's minor or major,
A small irritation.
To some sort of dark spiral.
It's all responding to the content that I'm adding.
Via my imagination.
And the more lost I am in the drama,
The more I think what I'm adding is actually out there.
And comically,
The more I see that I'm just adding it,
Then it introduces a sense of humor about it,
To some degree.
It's like,
Oh,
I'm just making all this up.
And you know,
This is a very sort of practical and honest inquiry,
But it's very spiritual in nature.
It's kind of asking the question,
What's really going on?
What's actually true?
And to get honest about our human experience,
That little inquiry itself between what I imagine to be happening and what's really happening is quite profound.
Especially as it touches every single aspect of our lives.
Because every aspect of our lives is effectively some sort of experience.
And mostly if not all what we are experiencing.
Is what we are turning things into.
Like,
What is it to go outside and experience the rain?
Independent.
Of any mental commentary.
Independent.
Of any pushing or pulling.
Of any resistance.
It's very different from experiencing the rain and feeling like it's interrupting your day.
Which is the additional commentary.
Or dropping an egg and then thinking you're an idiot.
And seeing how it ruins your day because now you have to spend time cleaning it up.
And you do so with a bunch of resistance and irritation.
Or we listen to what other people say and we give it all sorts of interpretations projecting meaning.
And then our inner world responds to those projections.
Not just realizing.
We are experiencing what we put there.
There's so many examples of this.
Furthermore,
I mean,
You have the whole construct of yourself,
Which is to take your entire past,
Filter it through a particular lens.
Tell a story about it.
And then believe the story is true.
And we can do the same thing with the future.
We can project all sorts of.
.
.
Fears or insecurities.
Paint a picture of tomorrow.
And live as if that picture is real.
It's wild because in all of that.
No matter what stage of life we're in,
No matter what's going on in the world.
There's the very sacred and intimate reality of your present moment.
Which in a magical way is almost like the same moment.
Just experiencing a different story.
It's kind of like every time I show up here to.
.
.
Do what I'm doing now.
I just step into the same moment it always is.
I take a breath.
I release all the mind's content.
And oh,
Here we are again.
Right back to this sacred now.
Nothing's different.
It doesn't matter if a year has gone by or a decade.
It's the same moment.
And I just have all these different stories.
I guess it's a little comical,
But I can ask the question,
What value does that have?
And in one way that is funny.
Is that it doesn't really have a value for the story of myself.
We could just say the ego.
Because,
Of course,
The ego is trying to make progress in its story about itself.
But to expose reality,
To expose that this moment is the same moment,
The only moment,
There's nowhere really for that ego to go,
For the story to go.
If anything,
It just invites the release of that story.
Which maybe invites the heart to relax and take a breath.
But in a practical way,
These inquiries They don't offer very many answers.
For the story of myself that thinks it's going somewhere.
Yet at the same time.
The more I acknowledge the truth of the matter.
It allows me to come back to the present moment.
And be here without anxiety.
To be here without a fear of missing out.
And to recognize that,
Oh yeah,
What I really am is whole and complete.
And to see,
Oh yeah,
I'm just making all this up.
And in the presence of that.
My goodness,
Life kind of transforms,
Doesn't it?
It's like,
Oh,
I can just be here.
Like if I'm all stressed out about some imaginary noise.
I'm not very present,
I'm not particularly loving in my vibe.
Because I'm lost in the mind's noise.
Believing in my stories,
Believing in my projections,
Thinking I'm going somewhere.
And then when all of that is surrendered,
I'm just a much more pleasant person to be around.
You know what it's like,
It's realizing there's nothing to be afraid of.
Because what are we afraid of other than losing some story?
And of course,
As those stories are surrendered,
We surrender the fear that's associated with them.
And in the absence of that fear,
We can just be here.
The whole body relaxes.
The heart relaxes,
The mind relaxes.
In a way.
You step into your more authentic nature.
Do you guys notice this?
Like the authentic nature of what you are?
And maybe,
You know,
Everyone here has touched it to a different degree,
But.
There's who we think we are.
That has its own particular nature,
Right?
Like,
I don't know,
Maybe it's the difference between an extrovert and an introvert.
Something like that,
Where we have our personalities.
But yet then you have the nature of.
Your raw human.
That is deeply integrated with life itself.
No stories.
No identity.
Just the presence of you,
There's a nature there to your presence.
And I'm convinced.
That beyond the mind's noise,
The nature is so loving.
And of course,
We might have to clarify loving as a concept.
But more so,
Let's say there's an absence of resistance,
Of judgment.
Of fear.
It's almost like looking at the nature of nature.
Right,
If you go into a forest or a garden.
There's a nature there that's just open and allowing.
Things are allowed to be what they are.
Everything's held.
And I see that nature in myself,
Beyond all the noise.
Now if I'm wrapped up into the noise.
I'm identified with this character of myself.
Believing all of its stories.
Than that.
Open nature feels lost.
It's just interesting.
And for me,
This is real spirituality.
To discern the difference.
Between what's actually happening.
And what I imagine to be happening.
Isn't that simple?
It's simple in contrast to the complexity we could imagine.
Which is perfectly fine.
You know,
It's just more stories.
That can be fun.
But there is a real simplicity there.
And that simplicity is there moment to moment.
There's what I'm turning this into.
And then there's what it really is.
Can I get in touch with what it really is?
Which means I have to surrender what I'm turning it into.
And then sometimes we want to fight for what we are turning it into,
Which is also fighting for how we think things should be.
Or fighting for what we think we want.
But to relax into what's actually there.
Even all my wants start to disappear.
Because comically I see so many of my human wants They don't have anything to do with life itself.
They all have to do with this fear of inadequacy.
Fear of not being enough.
So my wants are trying to collect things in the world so that I can be enough.
And it goes nowhere.
It's an epic failure all the time.
And to relax back into that presence,
It's quite clear that life knows what it's doing.
Almost like the nature of nature itself is whole and complete.
It doesn't need anything to be different.
It's the same with the nature of what I am.
And of course to see these things.
I think we can all see them to some degree,
Right?
Like just to ask the question and to look.
What's the difference between what is and what I'm turning it into?
You might not be able to see it totally,
But you can see it a little bit.
It's almost like the awareness of seeing how much your suffering is associated with mental content.
In the beginning,
You might say,
Oh yeah,
I can see how 10%.
Of my suffering is associated with the stories I'm believing in.
Then you look a little bit more and it's like,
Oh,
Okay,
Maybe it's 20%.
And the more you look.
Maybe you start to see,
Oh my goodness,
My suffering is 100% related to what's going on inside my mind.
And then hopefully you can see that without any sort of judgment.
And you can see the sweetness in it,
The innocence of it.
The forgiveness that holds it.
And then the compassion that emerges for everyone who's suffering.
Because we see that the problem isn't life itself.
But the problem is ours.
Innocent forgetfulness.
And that's okay.
