A Fascinating Question

In my early thirties, a beloved teacher asked me a question that was foundational to a new direction in my work.
He asked me if I was interested in "becoming the truth".
In the fascinating conversation that followed, he made a distinction between three levels of interest, all excellent in their own right.

The first level , he said, is interested in the question “What should I believe?” This is the domain of religion.
The second is interested in the question “What is the truth?” This is the domain of philosophy.
The third asks the question “How shall I become the truth?”
What is sought here is sought through direct experience and the deep investigation of reality, known in all mystical traditions as Inquiry. This, he said, is a process of maturing through a gradual change of perception and a growing awareness about WHO is experiencing any particular moment.

It is a skill of connecting ourselves with life without resistance, and it has nothing to do with belief. It is actually empty of belief. From his experience with this method, the only limitation to a direct encounter with one's deep, essential wisdom is awareness.
He was a great story teller and began to talk about the life of a seed. He asked me to consider that a seed has no energy of its own, but it can come alive in the right environment. Can you find the environment that allows the seed to grow? he asked.
Can you penetrate beyond religion and philosophy and become the truth?

Invitation to the Dance

The subject of ATTENTION and how it operates has always fascinated me. Have you ever noticed how ego, or that Identity we call "ME" really has no attention of its own? It seems to simply get caught by what it likes or dislikes. These two poles seem to be the primary forces that propel it along throughout the day.
Can we observe how much of our attention is absorbed in this struggle between like and dislike? Here is the on-going life dance between Yes and No. In any moment I notice that I am either Receptive or Unreceptive. If I get very still, attention flows freely until it strikes upon something that either attracts it or repulses it - then it is caught again.
Becoming still seems to be the refuge. It allows me to notice how and when attention is caught. That observation alone points me back in the direction of freedom again.
I have been watching this inner movement closely over the years. We all appear to share the pain and the pleasure that are its effects. As we begin to see what compels our attention, the tyranny of this ego and its agenda to preserve itself becomes clear. And that clarity cannot become an opportunity to judge ourselves for its struggle. The moment we have an opinion about what we observe, we are again caught, and the painful cycle continues.
What an amazing dance! Can we empty out enough of our agenda to stop stumbling across the dance-floor?

The Heart Longs to Know

There are questions about reality that can open a window into freedom. A few of them I have encountered over the years are these: Precisely what are we keeping alive by the perceptions we hold on to? Can we hold on to painful memories and still be awake? What kind of landscape do we live in and does it offer freedom?
It appears that the perceptions we channel our energy into create a specific "energetic fingerprint". And this "fingerprint" seems to attract a mirror image of itself in the form of another person or situation into our life.
In other words, the present experience we find oursleves in, is an invitation from Life to notice and then to look back in our own direction for a clue.
The moment we can look in our own direction for the clue about "what is", we are already walking in the direction of freedom. It is the beginning of the end of being a victim.
That's a moment worth celebrating.