a reminder for those who forget themselves as silence
When you are self-reflecting, you may find that you see different things at different times. For example, there are things you can see only when it’s dark. Night-time is a time of reflection after all, as proven by the moon, so make good use of it. However, don’t become too accustomed to this darkness because you may become nocturnal. Similarly, what you see during the day is not the whole picture, so don’t become diurnal too.
Initially, it seems that desire and the notion of survival make this world go around, and if you think of yourself as form, that is certainly true. That is because you don’t see the world as it is, but as you are. If you are pessimistic, the world is perceived as miserable;If you are optimistic, it is perceived as enjoyable. But since the world of forms is always in motion, states are interchangeable, and so if you identify as one, you cannot rest.
However, the function of change ultimately manifests itself as duality; a constant motion of expansion and contraction, night and day, emptiness and fullness. Duality keeps everything harmonious and when everything is harmonious, it is one and thus, there is no duality. And so what seems contradictory is, in fact, complementary.
In the human condition, this duality manifests as the desire to rest. Desire is compelling your attention to go outwards, while rest compels it to go inwards. In every desire, there is the promise that it will grant you rest if you fulfill it, so once you get tired of this pattern, rest itself may become your desire. Once you are tired of leaving your state of being to external factors, the external will lose its value and you may seek your answers from the inside.
So when you are self-reflecting, always be transparent with yourself. Be honest, otherwise you won’t be able to see clearly and you will become tired of this too. Conversely, if you feel tired it is because you are not honest. But don’t despair! There will be many days and many nights to come, so you may try again. But keep in mind that if you are not honest, you deprive yourself of the joy to see itself clearly.
The more transparent you become, the more you realize about yourself. Ultimately, you may realize yourself itself. This process is like the reflection of the moon on the surface of the water, which appears blurry due to the wind. Nothing happens to the moon, but the relationship of wind and water makes the image appear disturbed. This relationship is identity.
Identity is your diary, your internal archive of experiences that shaped you, it is a bundle of all the things you couldn’t discard. And it is quite heavy so you cannot rest, but you cannot leave it because you don’t know yourself without it. You are afraid of being lonely, but the reflection of your loneliness is that you are actually alone and you are reluctant to accept it. You have been running away from it all your life, seeking refuge in forms, and so you are the one who shaped identity and not the other way around. But in the same way that your body doesn’t know you, your identity doesn’t know you too. And so once this aloneness is accepted, yourself is accepted. And when we are all alone together, we are all alone as one.
But to be aware of this aloneness, you have to detach from everything else. When you are detached, what remains is silence. And in this silence, what remains is the knowledge that you exist and hence, “I” arises again. But this time don’t overlook it, don’t take it for granted. Give it some attention and you will see that “I” means both “here” and “now”.It indicates time and place simultaneously. This “I” is always here and now and therefore, it transcends even time. It reflects an undeniable presence, existence itself. All that is perceived by it is subject to change. Body, time, space, the idea of other, etc., are all forms and names, always in motion. This has no name and no form and therefore, it is immutable. It is like an open secret.
And because it has no name and no form, it cannot be taught. It is not a skill, because it is being and not becoming. It cannot be a collective activity or a conceptual trend. It is a spiritual revolution — the only real revolution possible, as all other revolutions attempt to replace a form with another, hopefully of a higher quality, yet still a form. And for humans to think of themselves as just forms, is nothing more than a sophisticated prison.
But what is special about the form is that you get the opportunity to experience the mystery that is life. And in the human form you can also know the secret, that this mystery is actually yourself itself. And not only that. You can know the secret, but you can also whisper it back!
So to conclude, we may lose ourselves in form, but we meet in silence.
Initially, it seems that desire and the notion of survival make this world go around, and if you think of yourself as form, that is certainly true. That is because you don’t see the world as it is, but as you are. If you are pessimistic, the world is perceived as miserable;If you are optimistic, it is perceived as enjoyable. But since the world of forms is always in motion, states are interchangeable, and so if you identify as one, you cannot rest.
However, the function of change ultimately manifests itself as duality; a constant motion of expansion and contraction, night and day, emptiness and fullness. Duality keeps everything harmonious and when everything is harmonious, it is one and thus, there is no duality. And so what seems contradictory is, in fact, complementary.
In the human condition, this duality manifests as the desire to rest. Desire is compelling your attention to go outwards, while rest compels it to go inwards. In every desire, there is the promise that it will grant you rest if you fulfill it, so once you get tired of this pattern, rest itself may become your desire. Once you are tired of leaving your state of being to external factors, the external will lose its value and you may seek your answers from the inside.
So when you are self-reflecting, always be transparent with yourself. Be honest, otherwise you won’t be able to see clearly and you will become tired of this too. Conversely, if you feel tired it is because you are not honest. But don’t despair! There will be many days and many nights to come, so you may try again. But keep in mind that if you are not honest, you deprive yourself of the joy to see itself clearly.
The more transparent you become, the more you realize about yourself. Ultimately, you may realize yourself itself. This process is like the reflection of the moon on the surface of the water, which appears blurry due to the wind. Nothing happens to the moon, but the relationship of wind and water makes the image appear disturbed. This relationship is identity.
Identity is your diary, your internal archive of experiences that shaped you, it is a bundle of all the things you couldn’t discard. And it is quite heavy so you cannot rest, but you cannot leave it because you don’t know yourself without it. You are afraid of being lonely, but the reflection of your loneliness is that you are actually alone and you are reluctant to accept it. You have been running away from it all your life, seeking refuge in forms, and so you are the one who shaped identity and not the other way around. But in the same way that your body doesn’t know you, your identity doesn’t know you too. And so once this aloneness is accepted, yourself is accepted. And when we are all alone together, we are all alone as one.
But to be aware of this aloneness, you have to detach from everything else. When you are detached, what remains is silence. And in this silence, what remains is the knowledge that you exist and hence, “I” arises again. But this time don’t overlook it, don’t take it for granted. Give it some attention and you will see that “I” means both “here” and “now”.It indicates time and place simultaneously. This “I” is always here and now and therefore, it transcends even time. It reflects an undeniable presence, existence itself. All that is perceived by it is subject to change. Body, time, space, the idea of other, etc., are all forms and names, always in motion. This has no name and no form and therefore, it is immutable. It is like an open secret.
And because it has no name and no form, it cannot be taught. It is not a skill, because it is being and not becoming. It cannot be a collective activity or a conceptual trend. It is a spiritual revolution — the only real revolution possible, as all other revolutions attempt to replace a form with another, hopefully of a higher quality, yet still a form. And for humans to think of themselves as just forms, is nothing more than a sophisticated prison.
But what is special about the form is that you get the opportunity to experience the mystery that is life. And in the human form you can also know the secret, that this mystery is actually yourself itself. And not only that. You can know the secret, but you can also whisper it back!
So to conclude, we may lose ourselves in form, but we meet in silence.