The Simple Truth

Photo Credit. Man in the Universe

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"I warn you, whoever you are.

Oh, you who wish to probe the arcana of nature,

if you do not find within yourself that which you seek,

neither shall you be able to find it outside.

If you ignore the excellences of your own house,

how do you intend to find other excellences?

In you is hidden the treasure of treasures.

Oh, man,

 know thyself 

and thou shall know the Universe and the Gods!”

Inscription at the Temple of Delphi.

Do we give our permission to be born into this life? More to the point, ‘who’ is there to give that permission in the first place? Who is this ‘I’ that is born, lives for a while and then dies? From whence came this ‘I’ that we journey through life with so intimately and yet barely ever notice, let alone truly know?

Isn’t it remarkable that the very essence of what and who we are, should be something that most of us are quite ignorant of? Yet even that simple question almost never arises in our minds!

It would seem that we are thrust out into this world without choice and most of the 'happenings’ of life that follow appear to be choice-less as well. The Tibetan wheel of life depicts this cycle of existence in a very graphic, unemotional way, showing the beginnings of human life, from helpless infancy, through to adulthood and all the stages leading on from there to old age and finally death. Unless we are to meet with an untimely end, we all must pass through these various unavoidable stages.

Yet it is our ‘arrival’ at the time of birth and our ‘departure’ at the time of death that are the most mysterious aspects of our existence, giving rise to the eternal question, from where did I come, to where will I go? Everything in between seems geared to pull us away from investigating the origins of our ‘Self’. Are we not almost continuously consumed with the drama of ‘life’and what appears to be happening to us? The only respite we have from the round of endless distractions comes during our sleep, at which time we reconnect so naturally and effortlessly with our true nature that here again, we barely even notice it. We know that we must sleep and yet we take the ‘blessedness’ of that condition almost completely for granted.

Although it is true that we all are born and must die, how we live out our lives in between those two crucial events is not in the least bit certain. Do we allow ourselves to be tossed into the cauldron of life, believing it to be real and true, or, do we take what is our inherent birthright, as conscious, sentient beings and go deeper, to discover the truth of who and what we REALLY are. All of us have the freedom to glimpse beyond the veil of day to day circumstances, we have the freedom to discover our true origin and yet few of us seem compelled to do so.

If we are conscious and aware, then, no matter what our outer life circumstances may be, we have the potential to see beyond them to what really is and if the intention of self-discovery is strong, then rather than being distracting, life itself can provide the very tools with which to make this most important discovery.

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Excerpt from the book; Awareness Comes Knocking

The Psychology of Fear.

'One is never afraid of the unknown; 
one is afraid of the known coming to an end.'

Jiddu Krishnamurti

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It is true; we are bound only by what we believe.

Only by what we ‘think’ we know.

This is not to say that we should undo everything we know; everything that we have ever learnt. Even if we could do such a thing, it would not be possible and in many ways, it would be counterproductive.

However, a certain ease can arise through the recognition of the possibility that we are not as ‘bound up’ by our conventions and our day to day routines as we might have previously supposed and been led to believe.

We have the power to turn our mind to whatever we choose, whenever we choose. This kind of freedom is something that we normally take completely for granted and yet so very much depends upon it and upon the knowing of it.

Imagine if we were to invest as much energy into the ‘search’ for truth, as we invest in distractions and all manner of unimportant things?

With focused and determined Self-Enquiry it would take very little time to unravel the mystery of our existence. Yet, how many feel motivated to do this? We quite naturally gravitate to the quicker, easier and more immediate gratifications.

There can be a deep inner resistance to stretching our boundaries. Often we may not even be aware of this resistance. It is bred into us from the earliest possible age and in a thousand different little ways.

Modern societies rule through the psychology of fear.

Think of how we are monitored in almost every way and we are constantly told that it is for our good; that it is for our protection.

When we begin to ‘question’ we also begin to unravel the knots that bind us to certain premises and beliefs that we might previously have taken as a given.

Fear can be an incredibly inhibiting and stultifying emotion, yet in all sorts of ways, it constantly sneaks into our lives and challenges us.

Remembering death and impermanence is a great way for us to cut through our shell of hesitation and fear. We have insulated ourselves in order to ‘protect’ ourselves and yet the result is that we end up with nothing. Without an understanding of our inmost nature we are at the mercy of our fear of death.

In this modern world the emphasis is on our material existence which insinuates constantly that our happiness depends upon accumulating more ‘things.’ Yet we all know in our heart of hearts that this is a load of bollix.

Bring ‘death’ into the picture and everything changes.

The ‘problem’ with ‘death’ is that there is no ‘solution’ for it. There is no ‘fix it’ and get on with a 'life' program. It has been tried of course, and many may claim that they have been helped. But most of these approaches offer temporary solutions; ‘feel good’ excursions which in the end are little more than delaying tactics. It is not easy to be really honest with ourselves but in the end it is far, far kinder.

When we do not know ‘who and what we really are’ we are unable to fully enter into the unedited story of our lives and of all lives.

We were born to recognize our innate freedom.

It is as simple as that.

Herein lies the whole purpose and meaning of our existence. We can phrase it in countless different ways, but in the end, all ways lead to the one true thing.

The only impediment to our finding this out within ourselves is our own ‘mind’ and the conditioning fears to which it has been subject since the moment of our birth.

It requires determination and focus to unravel such tightly bound habits as the ones which we have unwittingly formed.

Quoting the words of Jiddu Krishnamurti;

'What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance,
 is understanding fear; 
that means, watch it, learn about it, 
come directly into contact with it. 
We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it."

It is very easy to conform to what your society or your parents and teachers tell you. 
That is a safe and easy way of existing, but that is not living…

To live is to find out for yourself what is true.'

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Lyse Lauren