Being present

There is no distance to This
and what we are.

This does not fit any framework 
and does not care which words are used
as words cannot catch It.

It is simply the direct perception,
the immediacy,
the knowing, seeing, touching, perceiving
of all that appears.

And that means all,
that means also all of the hangups,
contractions,
irritations.

It means simply This.
Already the case.
Already existence in all its glory 
and ordinariness.

The amazing sunset,
the beautiful smile,
and the dirty toilet,
or being squeezed in the bus 
during rush-hour on the way home.

The amazing insights and revelations
and the surging up of emotional turmoil
as it resurfaces in the relaxation of this
new found freedom.

Can we be present to it all?

Can we be relaxed enough to take these 
sometimes agonizing feelings and let them play out?
Simply feel them and let them tell their story?

Or do we need to nullify them ( again ).
Distance ourselves and hide them 
behind a curtain of lofty concepts?

Create a duality where none exists?

Do we dare to simply be present
without creating another story?

The seeing, feeling, perceiving, experiencing
of all that appears.

 
 


 

Comfort zone

From the position of feeling oneself a person,
separate, independent and autonomous,
the message of Nonduality is synonymous with suicide.

And if one is content with life as it is, 
if life is going well for you, 
if you are comfortable and at ease,
i would not go near this message.


But it can happen that through
bereavement, accidents or loss,
the promises of our culture and upbringing 
are seen as empty and false, 
and we start to question the existing status quo.
Who am I?  
What is it i call me?
What is it in my experience which limits me?
What are my beliefs, assumptions? 
And is this what i am?

Cracks in the armour of our personal self through
upheavals can be a first step
towards a discovery of greater freedom.

An invitation to reality.
And a stripping away of all that is standing in the way


A message of freedom may be uncovered 
going through life most difficult challenges.
As we are challenged and are forced
to look further than our comfort zone.

A bargain

Letting go of pretense, 
the masks
and all the roles we play.

Letting go of ideals, 
ideas and beliefs.

Letting go of
everything we hold dear,
everything we think is true.

As these are filters which
shield us from the raw reality of Life

And in the space which gets created,
by not filling in the emptiness with our noise,
we as it were allow our senses to clear 
as we do not rush in to label
whatever information comes in through the senses.


Then there is the immediacy of knowing.
Being the knowing. 

And simultaneously
we enter a space of not knowing.
As everything appears as if for the first time.

And it does. 


There can be a honeymoon at first with this 
new uncluttered way of experiencing Life.

Elation, insights, bliss, clarity.
The thrill of being alive 
open and unbound.


But then as well there can be confusion and depression
as this blast of freedom can shatter the very foundations
of what we always felt was safe and secure.
We walk on shaky ground.
Not yet used being comfortable 
to live without limitations.

Life can as well appear as empty, sterile, meaningless
as the old structures are dissolving. 

In this open Space,
unprotected because the filters have gone 
also things in our personal make up 
of limitations and old pains,
often after years of being in a contraction, 
can be tickled and teased to open up by this new freedom.

A whole range of emotions might visit us.
As a blast from the past.
Despair, anger, sadness, anguish.


Or pains or shaking of the body
as energy gets released.

Shedding an old skin can be a painful.

Be sure to know what you want.
Enlightenment can be 
more than you bargained for.