However because this is the cause that leads you to the conclusion of who’s actually running the ship? When the fog of impression is clear, you find there is nothing there that is living life except life itself. Up until this point life was living unconsciously of its true nature. The realization that there is no you (it too is just an impression or idea on the body that is reacting) is what is known as stepping beyond the gateless gate in zen.

Is this the end though?

Well looking at reality, I would have to say no it most certainly is not the end, it’s actually the beginning of whats to come. It most certainly isn’t enlightenment, but an awakening. An opening of the eyes to know that there truly is just reality there being lived through millions and billions of manifestations on this earth and these bodies are loans from the universe that this perception has taken a hold of.

Heres the part that gurus don’t tell you, and that once you’ve seen this awakening there is a small shift in the way its seen and things may be nice for a short while but in my experience things get messy. Depending on what has dropped off (they call these impressions kharma or whatever bullshit they call it) that still are to be addressed. They also refer to this time as the purifying process, in which can’t be controlled in any way, it just begins happening. Its extremely exhausting and can be very mentally painful depending how ingrained the “ego” is really clinging to its ideas of identification.

I won’t give you a time frame as to how long it takes (because I’m not even clear of it) but the time that it takes to dissolve all those past conditioning can take little time or more time, and I’m sure there are things that can speed up the process (like meeting a REAL enlightened guru) or certain yogas. Some may have the lucky had of just being graced and having it all dissolving at once which is a wonderful gift!

What is the one tip I suggest?

Awareness of thought stuff and emotions attached to the thought. Thoughts will come and go throughout the day for us whether we want them to or not (and if you think you have control of these thoughts, you are sadly mistaken, observe closely). When thoughts come into perception, note them and the feeling that comes with it, and then sit with the feeling (whether its good or bad) in as many situations as you can. Being present like this is important, because it means you’re dealing consciously with them instead of suppressing them. Also see that these thoughts aren’t actually real, they aren’t actually happening in reality other than as thoughts (or fantasy). They don’t hold any realistic weight to them. One last note is when you sit with them, you’ll notice that negative feelings aren’t actually negative they are just different and rare because they haven’t been paid much attention to, so let them take refuge within and then allow them to move along when their time is up.

What were we before birth when no thought pervaded the body? Nothing, There was nothing there in existence.

What are we after death with thoughts no longer have their self preserving container to feed them. Nothing, there is still nothing there.

Death and Birth are the same, two sides of the same coin, if there is no pain to be felt at birth, there is no reason to fear death as death is the same feeling, which is nothing. You were not born and you will not die.

You are what comes before the I thought, pure and vast, a void of emptiness full of everything. You will persist after the bodies death, pure and vast, a void of emptiness full of everything.

If I were to have it one way over the other though, I would have the latter, because at least you’re making some sort of progress toward recognizing that something is going on. You may still be in the dark but at least you know that something is amiss in this thing we call life. Being content doesn’t mean you just force yourself to be happy all the time, in fact not even most of the time, its knowing that you are here right now dealing with what is being given and you are okay with it, whether its a loss of a loved one, a broken heart, a new relationship, or any of the other plethora of things in which can parade around in life.

It is that act of knowing that even without this or that in your life that you are okay with yourself, content to be in aloneness and knowing that all of your possessions that keep you happy are within, no one can take that from you. That isn’t to say that you cannot or will not seek the love of someone else; I would say that you are free to do so more then the one that is never happy in a relationship because they are never happy with themselves. Its not that they don’t want to be happy, its that they have never learned because they don’t want to do the work to find out who they are. It seems to be too much of a task of them, so they go about their life sucking the life out of others because it benefits them to do so because they themselves are empty of self-contentment inside. This cuts into a parasite like phenomena, because they will stick around as long as it benefits them to do so and when there is nothing left, they will get bored and move on to the next victim. The thing is, is that they don’t know what they are doing, the thoughts are only doing what they need to feed themselves.

To be content is this, Know what you have is all that you need, and what you have is inside you. You don’t need anything other than what is already given to you. You don’t need a boyfriend/girlfriend every minute of your life to be happy. Being your own best friend is somewhat of a blessing, if you can just stay away from companionship long enough to go inward and find out for yourself. Its not easy work, but its something you can’t forget, and re-discovering it is very beneficial to you.

Then again, there is nothing saying that you can’t seek companionship, and by all means it is a great source of happiness, but I pose the question, wouldn’t it be better if you were joined with anothers best of who they are with your best of who you are and sharing that beauty instead of sucking their best of who they are because you haven’t found your best or even went through the trouble of getting rid of all the dust on your mirror?

Inspiration for this article comes from Seneca which I’m currently reading over right now. Here is Senecas Letter XXVIII where he talks about self contentment. the bold is what I saw catch my eye.

There always has to be a step one, and this one is cake to master. Firstly, a baby has to be born and out of “love” the parents must present it with the beauty of the world. Upon showing the this wonderful structure of life the parents out of love must tell it that it exists and give it a name. Every chance that they get they must liken things to this life and tell it what is good and bad in this world so that it can make these distinctions for itself. There now the core programming is in, and you are all set and ready to rock. You know “know” who you are and you know what is good and bad based on what your parents have told you (btw it isn’t their fault, because even they were taught the same thing and thus going down the line, etc. etc.) and their suggested ways of living.

Step 2:

Becoming a BETTER version of yourself is the next thing that should be on your bucket list. Because if you don’t you will be miserable! But lets try this, the more you try and be the better you, you will still be miserable. It seems as if its an un-ending cycle no matter what you get into (whether its religion, a set belief system of life, you name it.) You will begin to get frustrated and will wonder how this is happening to you and how come you can’t get out of this vicious cycle (or samsara, or karma) or whatever.

Step 3:

Now there always is a step three and this is where it gets good. You get fed up with all the bullshit, what everyone tells you about the way you should be acting feeling, taking the abuse from yourself and others. So you will start to inquire about it inside. Usually the questions range from, “what is this life?” to “Who or what am I really?” You will come to find out well….. that you aren’t you at all. In fact the you is just another idea that was fabricate back when that sentient being of life was brought into this world. Before then, there was nothing and it was beautiful. There was never any worry of right and wrong because there was no such thing, and things flowed as they should have this whole time. That you that so much energy went into making is really just a dream structure that was fabricated. It is real… but only as real as a thought or a dream is, there is no actual solid real-ness there.

The Thought Parasite

This is what I’m getting at, is the thought parasite. I call it a parasite because that’s exactly what it is. Have you ever noticed that when you go out with friends and are having such a good time and are so immersed in what you guys are doing that no thought persists while that is happening (most of the time) until after the event occurred when you start to look back on it putting “good and bad” parts of your night together to label it one way or the other? That’s because when no-thought persists, there is no problem. Not until the un-relenting thoughts comes in do things like good or bad ever happen. With the thought of I being the main driving factor, and then as other thoughts and data throughout the world coming in to be snatched up as food by this dominating I thought does it become a force to be reckoned with. It is a force indeed because the bigger it gets the more that it can bully the host (the human being). It will literally suck the life from the host and hurt the host in whatever way possible to get what it wants in order to sustain its living. It isn’t doing something bad though, there is no bad, and it knows not to do bad, its a thought. However it won’t be compassionate or partial to the host if it has to take measures to sustain its life which is why all thoughts are potential poison. Even thoughts one can deam as good. Lets make an example of a good thought turning poison… and something that everyone can relate with (or almost everyone) and that is a relationship and break up.

People invest so much time into relationships, building up a structure of thoughts based around love and how their relationship is, cute little quarks that one does for the other that it becomes this grand dream experience. Its almost perfect right, everything is going so well. Why would anyone want to wake up from something that is maintaining such a beautiful experience. Well that’s where the thought goes rogue, slowly the realization that everything is not up to these dream standards begins to happen, so because its not happening in that way the thought begins to suffer (or wither because its dominance over the other thoughts is being tested). So because of this one or both parties begin to suffer in the relationship and go through hardships. Soon they aren’t getting along at all and they are showing some “side” or them that they both didn’t know that they had. This isn’t their fault because they don’t have this side…they don’t have any side actually. Its the thoughts reacting and clashing with each other which is causing the problems, not the people sharing in love. The people don’t understand it though and they think that its each others fault and so the dream turns into a nightmare and one breaks up with the other. All those nice thoughts begin to swirl around and create a maelstrom instead of a clear sky and continue to grow. Meanwhile the couple go through the ride of their life as the thoughts and emotions over take them; they say things they don’t mean, because they don’t know what they’re doing and don’t understand what happened. As Jesus said before he died on the cross, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”

This happens in everyday life, not just in the stories but people don’t see this, that when thought is there, you are not. Even when thoughts not there, you are not. You are not there at all, that I of yours is not your I at all, there is no you. That IS the obstacle, is the you (or the me). Those two things are the parasite, and that is the thought of it, that is all that they are. Just because the thought of something exists doesn’t mean that it exists actually in reality.

We can now understand how the Lion feels in the story below:

The Story of the Lion

For so many years a baby lion was raised by a group of sheep and learned even to bah like the rest of them and to graze like the rest of them without a care in the world. One day a ferocious line had just had a heavy day of travel and was looking for some dinner for the night when he spotted the herd of sheep and as he rushed in to take one for his nightly meal he spotted the lion out of the corner of his eye running with the herd as scared as could be. The Lion thought this peculiar and trapped the lion off near a small lake where the lion that had been raised as a sheep was shaking something fierce for he thought he was about to be eaten. The hungry Lion asked the other

“What are you doing with this herd of sheep, you don’t belong within them.”

The scared lion replyed,”I am but a sheep and I am scared because you’re going to eat me.”

The hungry lion was suprised by this response and put the scared lions head over the lake as he did his own to show him their identical reflections.

In a moment of pure realization the scared lion remembered who he was and gave out a loud rawr.