Humanity has a tendency to worship itself. It might think it is worshiping an outside entity, like science or a god, but secretly it is worshiping the images and ideologies it has created through thought. Thought is its powerful tool, capable of many tremendous feats, like delivering information at the speed of light. Because thought is quite capable, and thought also realizes this, humanity begins to worship itself and its own creations. It is its own creations.
But, because of this vanity, this self-centered, or rather human-centered, movement, thought isn't capable of seeing reality. It begins to think that it can actually manipulate the world and its matter. It begins to take responsibility for creation, which means thought thinks it can create and change things. Thought believes that it can be the cause of some effect, either the cause of a reform or revolution in politics, or the cause of progress in civilization.
Awareness is like space. It judges not what is right or wrong, but simply contains all that exists. It is an intimacy that has no boundary. It knows no hurt, harbors no enemy, and words seem to fail at describing its utter simplicity. It is the very substance of peace.
Fighting is the nature of the mind. It resists reality. It builds walls and defense mechanisms to protect itself. Its judgments are the walls. It is surrounded by the good and bad, right and wrong, and therefore the simplicity of truth, which is non-dual, cannot be perceived. Awareness is the doorway through which the mind could glimpse at non-duality.
Sitting alone amidst the valley of trees, a certain emptiness permeates. The valley is hollow, and so when a gigantic wind begins to move through, echoes of its powerful current vibrate in every branch. That vast movement travels slowly, and just listening to its sound helps one perceive the immensity one is sitting in. Its sound is like that of an ancient mystical spirit, immense yet unattached. One’s body is so small in that vast movement, that the body seems to submerge in that wind, moving with it, in bliss and freedom.
It is a warm winter morning. That might sound paradoxical, but to the ducks resting on the frozen lake, the morning sun is quite calming and rejuvenating. Sitting by the lake, empty of worldly concern, the sun warms the body, a whisper of spring. Where the ducks rest peacefully, a small area of the lake is also unfrozen. Some of the ducks walk carefully around the edges, planting each step with hesitation, watching the rippling water with such curiosity, before they gently settle in the water, swimming ever slowly, wetting their feathers and beaks.
Have you listened to the silence within the sound? That silence which hums merrily along with all that is audible. It feels like an immense presence bearing down on everything. And with such silence the mind is astounded, quite rightly, since that silence is like a block that does not move under any pressure. It is all-pervasive, as if it is the very constituent of reality.
The bugs that speak during a hot summer day do not care for the many tomorrows. It is the very first and the very last song of existence. With such abandonment nature goes into the unknown, carefree and unbridled, and with such force and power, how could one not face nature with utter humility?
Silence is nature. What isn’t silently rejoicing the mere fact of existence? The song of joy isn’t sung from a particular point of view. It is rather a quiet acknowledgement of what already is. It is like a serene lake. The lake doesn’t need any accomplishments. It is content in merely being. And in this total absence of ambition, beauty is astounding, yet profoundly peaceful. Such peace seems undesirable to the mind, since the mind might be too conditioned to be free. What’s strange, however, is that there is no guarantee to the mind that such peace is desirable. It is rather outside of what it can imagine. But when the mind has had a taste of this peace, of its depth and ineffable beauty, then it might see how little and insignificant its struggle has been.
We like metaphors because it conceals the bloodiness of truth. It is also called a euphemism, to protect ourselves from seeing the actual gore. We treat our children the way we treat ourselves. Hide them from the realities of life, so when they finally have to face life, they are ill-prepared. Why do we not like exposure? What are we afraid of? Have we gotten so used to hide and seek that we do not know how to face life as it is?
There is much talk of courage, but when it comes to letting go, there is little. A mother might presume to love the teenage daughter, and becomes what one might call a “helicopter parent”. A husband might presume to love the wife, and becomes possessive and controlling, with ensuing violence. Much has been done in the name of love, such as domestic abuse, rape, and even genocide. It is quite important to understand what love actually is. One faces many teachers, either religious or secular, that talk about love and define love. One must bear in mind that any definition of love only excludes, as definition is exclusive by nature. Love is, to the naked heart, not exclusive at all. Love is like water, which serves all, but is not attached to anything. Such are the peculiar qualities of love, that it is not control at all. Possessiveness, either from parent to child, or lover to lover, is only the expression of fear, namely the fear of loss. It is the fear of losing the other, of losing what one thinks the other should be like, that nurtures possessiveness in human relationships.
Words are like a screen. They shade the already innocent reality. Shadows are created by words, in the forms of speeches and ideologies. There is no ideology that isn't violent. The ultimate aim of ideology is to change the world into its image. Ideology is very violent in its incessant demand to occupy every being. The anti-ideology is the same, just ideology deceiving itself to be its opposite. There is no opposite.
In a distant land, there existed a population without any experience of the mirror. One day, a mirror suddenly appeared. Why it appeared was not known. A person, walking along the field, saw it and picked it up. He was mesmerized by it, because he saw a perfect reflection of himself in it. He had never had such detailed, precise perception of himself. So he took it with him and looked at it often, each time mesmerized by it, and yet each time the effect worn down. Eventually, he was not satisfied by this image, and wanted more. What he wanted, he did not know, so he thought, at least he could introduce this thing to others.