Absence is never present
Absence can never be present. This statement might seem very obvious, yet in daily life the feeling of absence pervades. There is the lack of love, the absence of satisfaction. One might feel that one is not good enough, kind enough, courageous enough, successful enough. These are all the manifestations of absence. Yet, absence is an impossibility. When this is understood, no sense of lack can ever take hold. Therefore, life becomes effortlessly self-fulfilling.
The feeling of absence arises. Such feeling itself is not absent. Only when the feeling is present can such feeling be named, thought about, repressed, and so on. So, in actuality, the feeling is not absence. The feeling is interpreted as absence. Absence can only be an abstract concept, because reality as it is always fulfill its fullest potential. A flower blooms, and then it withers. The blooming and withering are both total, complete, and final, i.e. fulfilling. However, thought then comes in, and say the flower has withered, and thought proclaims that there is the absence of a blooming flower. Thought then feels disappointment and sadness. In actuality, there is the presence of that entire thought process, and absence is only an interpretation of reality.
Absence is at the root of fear. One fears death because one thinks that life can ever be absent. In reality, life is never absent. It is always present. When one goes to deep sleep, there is no consciousness whatsoever of life, yet life abides. Life is not aware of itself, because it is. Being, which is the same as presence, can never be distinguished. One might kill a flower, but that very being of action and matter persists. No one can ever kill anything, so killing as an action has absolutely no meaning. With this understanding, no killing is necessary.
One who thinks that one can kill is ignorant. Power is ignorance. There is only the absolute power of presence, and no amount of action or will can disturb that power, because such action and will are inherently the manifestation of the absolute power of presence. In other words, the action and will are present; the action and will cannot be without presence.
Presence is effortless and inexhaustible. Its energy is the total energy of being. Being is total energy. All is energy. All is being. Being accepts all, because being is all. There is only presence, no absence. The presence of absence is still presence. There is no opposite, therefore no duality. The non-dual is total, complete. It cannot be attacked, defeated, desecrated, manipulated. It is all. The struggle between the opposites, like good and evil, is illusory. There is only the is-ness of life.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
