In my last post, I wrote about holding on to the realization that “reality is consciousness” while living in a society, a civilization, that is reinforcing just the opposite. Since then, I have come to recognize that the true and only way to hold on, is to let go.

A process of letting go

Letting go of what? Good question! Letting go of all the other ideas in your head that are getting in the way of that one, big idea. You may still be inside civilization. Like—you may still physically be inside the bounds of it…in terms of where you’re hanging out and who you’re hanging out with. But this realization takes you outside the boundaries of it—the true boundaries which exist in the mind and are played out in the social realities present within the ‘civilized’ groupthink.

I could list a few of these conventions, false gods. Among them are Time, Success, and Image.

Time

Time is a measurement of the fourth dimension of space. The ever changing nature of All That Is can be usefully measured in increments just like all the other dimensions. What we have trouble with is the idea that eternity, as we experience it, instead of being ‘total’ — a changeless constant — has confined itself to an infinitely thin slice which then changes, morphs, shifts…forever.

Philosophical physics aside, if I say “I will meet you in ten miles”, that may not be very useful because we don’t know what will be in ten miles. We might be meeting at a tree stump, rather than a tea shop. What we don’t understand is that it is similarly ridiculous to say “I’ll meet you at ten o-clock.” Who knows what will be going on at ten o-clock! Perhaps a deep and very important transformational conversation with a loved one that is healing years of childhood wounding for both of you.

Time, like distance and temperature, is a measurement, not a natural formation. The true ‘flow of time’ looks more like a tree branch, with curves, knots and lichens… it, in fact, looks just like the change in the physical world you see around you. Sometimes it goes by so fast. Sometimes slow. Concrete is weathering at a vastly different rate than the ice cream melting in the hand. Both are melting. The whale is traversing the Pacific ocean to see a mate at a vastly different pace than the woman stopping by on the way to work to see if her crush is home. Many streams and flows and scales of time all interwoven and creating the experience.

Success

Oh success. Success is a tricky one. It is elusive and mysterious. Initially simple, its definition is always one step ahead of the defining mind…just out of reach. One might choose to define success as an intention which has been met with a matching outcome. But what about the times when the outcome differs, perhaps categorically, from the intention, yet success is undeniable?

‘Spiritual success’ is the driving motivation behind all seekers, yet the masters inform us that it is impossible, precisely because it is inherent in the nature of the seeker. I would agree with them. Existing is a success, especially existing as a human, a feat of so many factors, forces, balances, agreements, and experimentation. The delicate, yet robust, nature of your existence is the very pinnacle a mountain of success the size of which is beyond the comprehension of maybe everyone alive on the planet right now.

Success and failure are undeniable sensations. They are feelings which arise within the body, conditioned by the mind. Our issues, troubles, arise from that conditioning, in my opinion. We believe that a specific list of accomplishments constitute personal success. We limit this list according to cultural standards. We define our entire self-worth upon our score on the list.

Your worthiness is inherent, and infinite. Act from that place. Any sandcastle you attempt to build is microscopic in comparison to the totality of your being, of what you truly are: the entire cosmos articulated, hinged, upon your unique droplet of conscious awareness.

Image

Choose the look. Choose your look. If everything is one, infinite being, pretending to be many—wearing an infinitude of different costumes—then the only substantive game on the block is the costume game. How dope is your costume? It’s literally ALL a bunch of costumes, from the chest of drawers to Lady Gaga’s nipple sparklers.

Alternatively, it may be advisable to notice that there is an inherent game, and inherent costume going on, an inner topology to be explored rather than prescribed or designed. If the bullshit is already happening at the highest level, why must it happen at any level down (or out) from there? If “there is no lifestyle statement like success”, then perhaps the best costume is an honest one.

The big question is: are you curating your look because you are hoping that you appear a certain way to those around you? Or, are you wearing the clothes, and acting from a genuine sense of self? The big reveal is that our most authentic selves, are our coolest, most dynamic selves. The trouble comes when we are twenty years and countless trauma-response patterns away from our most authentic selves. The journey to authentic self-expression is advisable to embark upon, complex, and ever-shifting, an adventure of discovery and fear-conquering embodiment.

Really.. The truth is somwhere in there. Vibe lock. Allow order to emerge. Act your age. Act your level of maturity. Purvey you truth with your actions. Make choices in accordance with your truth. As an orange tree, choose to grow oranges… Grow the oranges. Don’t grow pears when you are not a pear tree. Feel good as a citrus variety, and if you don’t really know what that is, just do the tree thing for as long as you are comfortable, maybe a couple seasons, and wallah, at some point, you’ll just know!

Maybe I’ll tackle Purpose in the next post. I think that’s a good idea…