Who among us read The Four Agreements? (Don't take anything personally is one of the agreements.)
A Teacher
Some of you know that I am sitting in satsang with Mooji for another couple weeks. This is a first for me. I didn't even know what satsang meant until a few weeks ago - gathering together to be with the truth. The truth about what?
The truth about who we are.
Mooji's satsangs are simple and profound. He is not affiliated with any religion or organization, although he is the direct disciple of Sri Harilal Poonja, aka Papaji. He does not ask anyone to buy or join anything; his teachings are available for free on the internet. In each satsang meeting, people ask Mooji a variety of questions. Whatever the question, Mooji responds by asking them to inquire Who are you?
Who are you?
The Self
It seems like most people assume that who they are is what they do (including thinking) and what they have (including the body). I'll refer to this as ego-identity. Left unexamined, identifying with the ego puts people in a perpetual state of insecurity, taking everything personally and suffering as a result.
I'll use myself as an example.
One area where I regularly feel resistance is work. If I don't pay attention, I unconsciously identify with what my mind thinks:
- by now I should only be doing what I truly love
- I could be doing something more useful with my time
When I identify with these thoughts, I believe that I am failing. And I don't mean failing like I burnt dinner, whoops. I mean failing as a person, failing as a being, failing as an expression of energy on the planet. Do you feel much freedom there?
Nope, me neither.
Self Inquiry points people back to our true Self. When people ask Mooji what to do about some perceived shortcoming, Mooji always, and I mean always, redirects people's attention away from the perceived shortcoming and back to the perceiver, the Self. Who is aware of the experiences that arise in any given moment - craving for a particular something, obsessively thinking about how somebody else should behave, emotions, choices, physical sensations? Who notices, "here I go judging how I'm spending my time again"?
Look, he says. Really look. When you experience whatever is occurring as a problem - when you feel obligated, constrained, desperate - take a look at who is experiencing the problem. Who are you? Are you the 'unpleasant' experience? Are you the awareness of the unpleasant experience? Look. Pay attention. Go as far as you can go. You see, "aha, I am not the unpleasant experience, there is something more... there is the awareness of the experience."
Does this awareness have a problem?
Practice Now
If this is new to you, try it out right now. If you are confused, look around to discover who is confused. Where is the confusion? Who notices the mood of confusion? Is the one who notices confusion confused?
If there is area in your life where you feel a sense of obligation, strain, tension or resistance, ask yourself, Who am I? Who feels strain? Look. Sense around for the "I" that feels strain. Where is it? Feel the awareness of strain. Is the awareness of strain strained?
Dedication
My intention for Free Like That is to co-create communication that reveals our true nature - Free. May our willingness to direct our attention to being Free be contagious. May the people around us, near and far, be infected by the awareness of freedom.
Today's satsang (called Please Give Me Enlightenment Now!!!) begins with a clear demonstration of the process of Self-Inquiry for those of you who would like to see it in action. I recommend taking a look: http://www.mooji.org/livesatsang/
ReplyDeleteTalk about confused!!! I recently had the chance to take a voluntary retirement package that would have given me a few years of "no worries" to go and do something else in life. I can picture myself moving to Key West and opening a boat touring company. (My dream job I guess)..
ReplyDeleteHowever, due to family, college expenses and actually just being happy where I am; I declined. And I felt somewhat of a failure because I didn't take advantage of the opportunity!!!
I believe when I took a step back and thought about it, the change would have created a lot of resistance and conflict. But it's weird how staying with where I am happy and calm made me feel like I was short changing myself...
All that analysis, the pros and the cons, the expectation that one decision is better than another... it's all just the brain thinking. We can ALL relate. Not good. Not bad. But, not you. Not me.
DeleteYou are not your brain thinking about your choices. You are not the ideas in your head about the kind of person you are whether you do A or B. If you were, then you wouldn't be free. You'd be chained by thinking and doing.
It's impossible to short change yourself. Who would you be short changing exactly? Maybe your mind thinks, "one of these decisions should feel so absolutely right such that I wouldn't doubt making that decision for a second." That's just your mind playing tricks on you, trying to get you to believe that the thinking that goes through your awareness is more real than you. Does that make sense?
Sometimes, for me, some thoughts I notice and I'm all, "oh, yeah... I'm letting that one go." and it's gone. Other thoughts, they seem more sticky. They keep coming back around. No problem. There they are again. They can't eclipse who I am. In fact, they don't exist without me. Without me as awareness.
You are awareness, you are free, no matter what decision you make. You are awareness, first. Without you as awareness, there's no body to be aware of, no kids, no decisions, no thinking, no boats. Awareness is who you are. Who we are.
We are Free and Full. When we notice that we are thinking in ways that say otherwise, it is simply our mind talking. Let it talk. And, leave it alone. Good? :-)