Awareness, enlightenment, and awakening are elusive because human conditioning has us convinced that learning and searching are the way to them; thus, any of the above is a procedural effort. That is, the “process” of “learning to become” becomes the object (awareness, enlightenment, awakening, etc.) initially sought. Meanwhile, “the sought” requires no learning, searching, or process at all; it simply waits patiently for you to come home to silence. Come home; it is the only place of peace, joy, and love, and it is the long-needed rest from a journey to nowhere. Well, nowhere but here, now.
Bozebits
You are not your body, and death is not an ending, preluding some imaginary “new beginning.” YOU are more expansive than the infinite universe you try to wrap your mind around, but can’t. Awareness is an expansion, but not as your mind would have you believe, which is knowing something more significant than you already do. It is the reverse of that, e.g., the release of what you know. “Nothing” should be the platform for all of your life experience, and the more “nothing” you carry around in your head, the more expansive you are. Awareness is looking past your senses and is unfettered by any “known” thing. Again, what you think, know, believe, etc., is of the body, and YOU are not your body!
Bozebits
Awareness is indefensible. That is, you have no argument for it that stands up to your or anyone else’s sense of reason. It just cannot be reconciled with other forms of collective organization, institutions, or philosophy. It’s just you aware of YOU and utterly free of attachment to anything. If you think you know, you don’t. If you know, you know you don’t. Still, you are “in the world” and can fully participate in it, but you will do so without attachment, especially without argument. Awareness is liberation!
Bozebits
“If your lips are movin’, your ego is groovin’.” Everything you say, regardless of eloquence, beauty, or intent, is ego. What you write, think, or dream is ego. What you do that is kind, unkind, charitable, uncharitable, etc., is ego. Do you see? Human exchange of any kind is ego, and when you get that, once and for all, you will see the miracle of life as opposed to the narrow interpretation of it, e.g., egoic interpretation. There simply is no path to awareness through your mind; it just talks too much (mine too). Still, this is the human experience, so it can never be turned off, but it can be turned down. Focus more of your “seeing” the world on what you hear rather than what comes through your eyes. While it will not rid you of ego, it will undoubtedly have it talking less. That is always a superior, less egoic, “groove.”
Bozebits
“I have a right to; fill in the blank.” Your statement of rights is a statement of your imprisonment. A declaration of beliefs, desires, and expectations of something “out there” that you have determined needs to be given to you and respected by the giver is not freedom. Bound and gagged, you are free if you are without attachment to anything that is given out of respect for your so-called rights. Your freedom lies in the release of anything you believe you have a right to.
One of the many aspects of present-moment awareness is that it challenges all the norms you are conditioned to accept. Most will argue and resist those challenges, but the more aware you are, the more apt you will see your possession by the unreal. Nothing holds you except those things you hold. Let them go, and what you think you have “rights” to give way to what is, and that will set you free.
Bozebits
“I choose to surround myself with like-minded people who, like me, generally believe as I do, love and accept me as I am, and positively lift me. Comfortable and safe in my world that avoids contrariness, I have few, if any, challenges to my ego or self-esteem. After all, it’s what new age spirituality suggests I do. However, in so choosing, I fully accept that I am missing out on the more significant part of human life and living: a rich and diverse world, full of myriad philosophies, tastes, beliefs, lifestyles, cultures, art, and colors, etc., etc., etc.” Do you see?
Choosing is exclusion, denial, and blindness, while life and living are a package deal. They cannot be what you want them to be because what you want is your own prison cell. “Tear down these walls!” You will be stunned, enriched, and enlivened by what and who is on the other side!
Bozebits
The answer to “knowing’s” great quest is “not knowing.” That is, “nothing” is the response of the universe to everything. Without YOU, there is no “everything.” Let “nothing” be on your mind today, and “knowing” quietly and spectacularly unfolds.
Bozebits
The universe isn’t this great big thing labeled consciousness trying to know itself. That is something humans make up because they think they have greater awareness than all other forms, and that makes consciousness little more than human arrogance, which is a quality you should not aspire to possess. The answer to everything lies not in the cumulative intelligence gathered by human endeavor, and so-called raised consciousness, but in the humble acceptance that everything works gracefully, unbeknownst to you or anyone else, and while “not knowing” YOU are the center of it. Stillness is awareness, and Gods (YOU) know this.
Bozebits
Nothing exposes ego like another ego. “I am right, and you are wrong” is the battleground for ego, and it is always a battle. Even if placation is used to lower tension, e.g., “we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” If you find yourself in that field, you’ve been exposed. Not to worry, however, we’ve all been exposed! There is no right, and there is no wrong except the side that you happen to be on, in which case you are wrong. Ego’s checkpoints are: Are you speaking or gesturing? Are you thinking, imagining, or dreaming? Are you engaged in all other forms of communication, including writing? All of these are fraught with ego.
I know, I know, I’m in trouble, but you don’t have to be. Checking your ego regularly avoids many unnecessary and silly battles.
Bozebits
The “beyond” is full of dreams and hope, faith, beliefs, fantasy, imagination, and myriad wonders your mind fabricates to supersede the real which YOU have already, wholly, created. Come back to beauty; that is the unimagined, the unsought, and unreal, and let unspeakable mystery fill you.
Nothing is more real than you standing amidst your creation, IT oozing your essence, your peace, and your love. And best of all, it’s real, and it costs you not a single thought. YOU gave us this day; enjoy the giving, and we, the created, are endlessly grateful.