Sunday, June 6, 2010

It's All About Experience


How do you experience this thing called Life? How do you experience yourself? How do you experience others? How do you experience this world we live in? You see, it's all about Experience.

Some say Life is Good, others say Life is Bad. Buddha said Life was full of suffering. Sai Baba says Life is Love. Everybody will spit out a different point of view, a different perspective, a different flavor...a different Experience.

And experiences and perceptions change. Sometimes quickly and other times over a long period of time. One may feel that there life is Blessed for several years, but then, one Experience will happen, and soon it seems that all has gone to Hell.

Some people had very joy filled, loving experiences growing up. Others couldn't wait to graduate, get out of the house, leave the State. Some people started off like wall-flowers, very shy and insecure, but as the years progressed, so did they, and eventually they blossomed into Beautiful and Radiant Beings of Light and Love.

Some spent their years alone in the forest, others in the hustle-bustle of a big city. Some were very poor and had no money, others were spoiled rotten and had every desire fulfilled. Life is rich and full of variety. Life is a movie, a story, with an incredible tapestry of flavor and experience. Every moment is merging into the next moment. Life is always changing, very transient, and it is impossible to hold onto anything. But, there is That which always remains and doesn't need to be held onto; Awareness.

Awareness is the "thing" which is Aware of all of these different Experiences of Life. Prior to everything, there is a witness who is witnessing Life; internally and externally. This witness is watching every thought, feeling, and action which arises in Consciousness. Well, that is if the Witness is paying attention. Often, the witness is so identified with the Mind, that it isn't even Aware that it is Independent of All Experience. But, as you begin to question Reality, your Self, and Life, you will see that there is this Shining Awareness which is the background of the foreground, the context for all content, the space in which everything happens, and It is always present, already here and now and always the case.

Are you happy right now? Are you sad? Are you feeling anxious about something? What is your experience right here and now? And are you being honest with your self? Or are you in denial? Do you feel that you are a mixture of competing thoughts and emotions, desires and fears? One voice says to eat the piece of cake, and after doing so, another voice arises to say, "I wouldn't have done that if I were you." Which voice do we trust? And the funny thing is that Ultimately, All Voices come from the One Source. Isn't that a hoot? All Duality comes from a place which is beyond Duality and is therefore Non-Dual. But that is the Cosmic Leela we are dealing with, that I AM dealing with. I don't actually know that you even exist. Jackie O'Keeffe actually says that Existence Itself is only a concept floating in the Mind. Which brings me to...

Experience again. How do you experience Life? Do you see a world? Do you perceive others in this world? Or are you like Sri Nisargadatta and see that All is One? What is your honest and truthful experience? And from what place are you answering this question? If you answer it from your mind, you might be tempted to say, "I can understand that All is One and that there are no Others." But, again, what is your experience? Is that Actually how you perceive things? As Oneness? Or do you perceive separation where there is none? Are you speaking from the Intellect; a place of concepts, notions, and ideas? Or are you awake? And what does that even mean, to be Awake? Who or what is Awake?

What is your experience here and now, honestly? How do you experience Life? How do you experience your Self? How do you experience the World? What are you thinking? What are you feeling? What are you doing? Who are You?

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