Good morning! Welcome to the DKos Sangha weekly open thread.
This is an open thread for members of the DKos Sangha and others who are interested in discussions concerning how we integrate our progressive political activism into our spiritual practice. If you have observations about the political discourse of the week, or about practice, or about anything else related to walking a spiritual path through the political world, if you wish to share, or if you seek support, or if you simply want to say hello, please do; this space is for you.
If you would like to write a diary for the DKos Sangha, please let me know.
If you care nothing for spiritual practice and only wish to denigrate and disparage, please do so elsewhere, and respect that this is a community diary for the DKos Sangha.
Being your true self. Teachers and traditions use different words to describe the ineffable. It is like a description of a sunset; the words you use to describe a sunset that you've experienced can give someone else an idea of your experience, but it's not really the same thing as the actual experience.
The story that ego tells about you creates separation, creates the illusion of a separate self, an entity fearful of failure, that ceaselessly desires things in a search for happiness, and ceaselessly works, to no avail, at avoiding hurt, disappointment, despair. The ego will in turns tell you that you are better than others and that you are a failure; it is very good at placing blame, on yourself and on others.
It is understandable that this story comes about; it is a product of karma on a large scale. Our culture tells stories that we hear, that we are indoctrinated by, from an early age. It is part of our evolution. This story about "me", the separate self, protects us when we are young, giving us a safe place to retreat to amidst the often confusing and sometimes traumatic world created by the adults and other children around us. The story is constantly being edited by ourselves, by our parents, relatives, teachers, classmates, the tv shows and commercials, coworkers, lovers, politicians, events, etc.
But none of it is "true". It's just a rather convoluted collection of thoughts that we "think" is who we are. The idea that these thoughts are who we are is something that we buy into because it is engrained in our culture. We can't help but to buy into the story.
But these thoughts, this egoic self, this separate self, is not "who you are". When thought ceases, you do not disappear. There is a "beingness" that persists, that is always there, unchanging, indescribable, but always there.
Your true nature is a deep and abiding peace. It is that awareness through which everything moves, within which everything arises. When you close your eyes and hear your heartbeat and hear the bird outside your window, those two sounds are arising within the same space; they both arise within your awareness, they are your experience in this moment.
Your true nature is a deep and abiding peace.
Again, just words; just a description about experience. A description about experience when the stories running through our minds told by egoic self fall away; when there is no longer identification with the stories as who we are, when we are free from their grip, their apparent control, free from the suffering that separation brings.
Breathe. Let thoughts fall away, and just breathe. Just be present. Be the experience of just being fully here now.
Your true nature is a deep and abiding peace.
~~~
May you find joy and peace in this day!