*not linked to the first article*
Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:00
Written by Bentinho Massaro
When introducing people to
awareness for the first time, I often say: Just stop thinking for a
moment and see what remains...
In fact, why don't you all do that
right now: for 5 seconds stop thinking and just see...
It's then that you notice that
there is something that remains when you are not thinking. Like a
background that's just present.
The goal with this is not to
motivate you to stop all thinking or to try and retain a
non-thought state of mind. Instead, that initial moment is just to
help you recognize awareness. It's just an introduction.
Sure, feel free to stop thinking
for short moments repeatedly to become more familiar with
awareness; that alertness that remains. But don't ever believe that
awareness, or your recognition of awareness, is depending on your
being thoughtless.
If you notice that you are in
fact believing you need to get rid of thoughts and emotions in
order to be free, then let this moment and this very article, be
the perfect moment to bring that belief to a complete stop
:).
In fact, it is crucial in this
world of pace and chaos, to be able to recognize awareness even
while thinking and feeling many things at once. It is crucial that
we all come to know ourselves as that which is present in each
perception: Awareness.
Why do I tell you initially to
stop thinking then? It's because we have grown so accustomed to
being interested only in our thought-forms, that we miss the very
basis of every perception.
So when we stop thinking for a moment, we have nothing in our sight
to distract us, and so we naturally notice that subtle presence
that underlies all thoughts. We naturally notice that we are in
fact that awareness that remains!
It's like this:
Have you ever watched television,
and suddenly the image turns black? Or the black/white pixels
jitter takes over? There is no content on the screen and suddenly
you are reminded that you were actually staring at a television
set...
When the screen was filled with
stories that interested you, kept you distracted, you never even
realized you were watching at a television screen. All you
recognized were the changing forms that were displayed and the
stories they were telling you. You were missing the obvious fact,
that the television set is the basis of every single image
shown.
And just like when something that
pulls your interest is reflected in a mirror you are looking at,
for example your face, all you see is your face and the story it
seems to evoke, you notice all your facial imperfections maybe, or
your beautiful characteristics. Because that is what you are
interested in.
But when a mirror reflects nothing
that pulls your interest, like for example an empty space of your
room, you naturally notice that there's a mirror in your room
instead of being distracted by its reflection. For the first time
you see the mirror itself, for what it really is.
Similarly, Awareness is the basis
of all your changing perceptions and is most easily noticed to be
present, when you have no thoughts.
But as I said, it's important not
to dwell on this initial instruction.
Now that you have realized that
all images were actually just pure television screen, when the
images and the stories they tell you start to fill up your screen
again, you can start to remind yourself of the fact that every
image is nothing more than pure screen. You can now actually see
the television screen as a screen!
No matter how elaborate,
individual or authoritative the story of these images might seem,
they have no individual basis or power and have never been anything
more than pure screen. All images are now realized to be equal,
even if their labels and descriptions tell you
otherwise!
So where you might have needed
that initial moment of blankness to recognize what was really
present, now that you know this in your direct experience you can
start recognizing awareness in every perception, in
every thought.
For that alertness that is
naturally witnessing the moment of no-thought, is still that exact
same alertness that is witnessing the maelstrom of thoughts and
emotions. It's the natural perceiving that never leaves. You can't
say that you had a moment in your life where you weren't naturally,
without effort, aware of your life... How else would you know
that?
So instead of recognizing only the
images of life, commit yourself from this moment on, to recognize
the fact that you are aware of all these images.
YOU are always that same peaceful,
spacious, open awareness and YOU can never not be present. Thoughts
come and go like the wind, but YOU are the space for them to either
be in, or not be in. Completely unaffected, completely free
already!
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