by Tenzin Palmo
"Normally we are so identified with our thoughts and emotions, that we
are them. We have to learn to step back and know our thoughts and
emotions are just mental states. They
are not solid, they are transparent. Then arises the question: ”who am
I?” And the great understanding is that the further back we go the more
open and empty the quality of our consciousness becomes. Instead of
finding some solid little eternal entity, which is “I”, we get back to
this vast spacious mind which is interconnected with all living beings.
In this space you have to ask, where is the “I” and where is the
“other”. As long as we are in the realm of duality, there is “I” and
“other”. This is our basic delusion. It’s what causes all our problems.
Because of this we have a sense of being very separated. That is our
basic ignorance!
This duality, this sense of being separated is the
cause of our fundamental pain, the deep loneliness that human beings
feel at the core of their being. We create this sense of an “I” and
everything else is “ Non I”. And from that comes this attraction to
other “Non I” which “I” want, and this aversion to everything “I” don’t
want. This is the source of greed, our aversion and all other negative
qualities that we have. It all comes from this basic dual
misapprehension.
Once we realize that the nature of our existence is
beyond thought and emotions, that it is incredibly vast and
interconnected with all other beings, then the sense of isolation,
separation, fear and hopes fall away. It’s a tremendous relief! This is
the joy of unity that comes when the ego has been shed.
We are not
enlightened because we do not bother to bring ourselves back to the
present because we are too fascinated by the games the mind is playing.
Genuine renunciation is giving up our fond thoughts, all our delight in
memories, hopes and daydreams, our mental chatter. To renounce that and
stay naked in the present is renunciation!
We say we want to be
enlightened but we don’t. Only bits of us want to be enlightened. We are
stopped by fear and lethargy; the great inertia of the mind. We should
wake ourselves up but instead we find excuses…we like dreaming!"
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