The problem with the secret of life is not that it is too
difficult for us to understand but that it is too simple for us to believe in.
We humans are great complexifiers who easily overwhelm ourselves
with layers of hedges, doubts and what-ifs.
This is especially true when the ultimates of existence are laid on the
table. We try so hard to be brilliant,
profound and comprehensive that we bury ourselves in caveats, quibbles and
subtleties.
But, contrary to our ego-driven need to be profound, the
rules of the game are simple and they can be simply, if coarsely, expressed.
The world of appearances seems to be overwhelmingly
multilayered and complex. The deeper we
dig, the more layers of complexity that we find. There is no limit to this unfolding of
richness on the path of discovery. This
is a case of infinite regression, mirrors mirroring mirrors. It is a mental game based upon the principle
of “seek and ye shall find”. The process
of seeking itself creates the complexity that is “found”.
If, instead of being entranced by appearances, we begin to
notice the patterns behind them, appearances become comprehensible without
losing any of their richness. The
discovery of Fractals in Chaos Theory is a prime example of this kind of comprehension.
The foundational inspiration for peeling back the layers
of reality is the intuition that I am not in the Universe but that the Universe
is in me. I sense that, by modulating
awareness, I am able to create the entire Universe that I inhabit.
Each sentient being, each point of awareness, creates an
entire universe according to its species or flavor of awareness. A human universe is not a dolphin universe or
a bee universe or a worm universe. Each
species of universe is created by a particular manner of modulating the raw,
unfeatured awareness that is the essence of all being. Each species of awareness is a particular kind
of music, a unique flute song, made from the same wind.
The only constant in the experience of living is awareness
itself. If I close my eyes, beneath
thoughts and bodily sensations, I find that silent “is-ness” that I know as
“me” if I give it any name at all. I
could make the nonsensical statement that, “is is” or, to be more personal, “I
am”. In short, I am aware of being
aware. This has always been so and will
always be so. My constantly changing ego
self is inhabited by this unchanging, aware presence, which is constantly awake
inside me.
I sense that we all share the same “self”, the same core
awareness.
Zoom in from the focus on ultimate reality to the
nitty-gritty texture of everyday life.
What we choose to pay attention to determines the nature of our
experience of the world. What we pay
attention to determines what happens to us, how our life unfolds, how happy we
are, what we “get”. This is baldly
stated but essentially true. We spend
our entire lifetimes figuring out how it works and tinkering with the
details.
The punch line is that we have some ability to choose how
we modify awareness in our quirky and personal ways. Each one of us is unique in the history of
the universe. We are here to compose our
personal flute song and voice it with the wind of being. That is the contribution that each of us makes
to eternity. Once created, nothing is
ever lost.
Now it is time to focus on practicalities.
Meditation is spending time in the presence of raw
awareness. That is why it is so
nourishing to us. Meditation is just spending
time with our real self. Meditation is
our default state, our silent center.
Controlling what we pay attention to is the way we steer
our lives. What we allow in to our
awareness becomes our inner environment, the mental world that we live in. We can choose heaven. We can choose hell. Or, we can visit any of the neighborhoods in
between. The point is that we, each one
of us, gets to choose. We are here on
Earth with the ability to do just that.
Setting our intention for how we choose to live will allow
us to attract congenial companions and happy outcomes. “Setting our intention” sounds formal but we,
all of us, do it whether we ever think about it or not. Our temperament, mixed with early
conditioning, sets the stage for our likes and dislikes in the world. These unexamined preferences act as our “intention”.
Once we have reached the age of reason,
we can consciously choose our preferred path and thoughtfully set an intention
for our lives, or we can choose not to. Not choosing is also a choice. Since we are
creators of our personal universe rather than passive consumers of reality, it
makes sense to put our order in for what we really prefer. One outcome is not better than another even
though each one of us thinks that our way is the best way or the “right” way. It is just the way that we personally like
best.
The intention that rules our choices will largely control
what seems interesting or valuable to us and, therefore, what we want to pay
attention to.
These three things, meditation, attention and intention, taken
together, become the basis for creating a loving and joy-filled life if that is
what you want. The plan is simple. To be centered and present is practiced in
meditation. To be careful about where
attention is pointed tunes the contents and emotional flavor of daily
experience. To be clear about desires
(intention) determines the power and quality of the energy that the individual
gives out. Taken together, these three, presence,
input and output create the vibration that attracts matching counterparts to
itself.
It is the adventure of a lifetime to compose our own
special music. It may take a lifetime to
practice our instrument to learn how to do that well enough but, at all stages,
music is being played.
