Michael Singer
...in the recesses of my being, there is utter calm, a place of unruffled and placid waters, where the truth is apparent and the clamor of the world does not exist.
-Fourth Meditation; Three Magic Words
How beautiful is that? Is your mind beautiful?
The Space Within
Within everyone of us is that space; that serene place of "unruffled and placid waters" and this place is our reality, not the world we look out upon with these very limited organs of vision on our heads. When will we get that?
Listening to both Michael Singer and Eckhart Tolle today in a couple of videos ( see links below) I was reminded of how this beautiful place is within us all...and it is the only place where true lasting joy exists.
How The Mind Hides This Place
We too often feel that this mind-space within us is anything but unruffled. In fact, we often perceive it to be raging like a tsunami. We also have it in our heads that we need to manipulate, fix, control, take from or distract with the world outside of us in order to make this internal chaos calm down when that is not the case at all.
The conceptual and egoic parts of our mind will make us uneasy , will lead us 'out there' for answers and solutions to the chaos it, itself, creates and it will also place a veil of 'conceptual knowing' over the forever unchanging " unruffled and placid waters " of our inner being. It will make our minds anything but beautiful if we give it the reins.
There is a place of calm, however, that exists beneath the conceptual mind, beneath the ego, beneath all our mixed up thinking, outward seeking and complaining. We do not need to go 'out there' to end suffering...we just need to sink deeper into what is and always has been within us...our very being in this very moment. We do that by removing the veil from that which is. We cut through the negative thinking, the complaining, the struggling and resisting the habitual mind is programmed to do...so we can float in those unruffled placid waters.
The Process of Discovering
It is a process and as we give up say, for example, our habit of complaining, as I am attempting to do...we will see that it is challenging to break through such conditioned habits of perceiving and behaving. It is a process. I had to switch wrists four times in 24 hours lol.
It is also very important to be self compassionate as we progress to a heightened state of positivity and openness. We do not beat ourselves up for our slip ups which are bound to come...we do not punish ourselves for it...we learn from each complaint and love ourselves into those placid waters. Self compassion is called for.
I started my daughter on this challenge today and she assumed as I was placing the elastic ceremoniously and humorously on her wrist, that she was suppose to snap the elastic against herself every time she complained. she thought each complaint deserves a punishment. I told her that each complaint deserve a big "thank you."
Proceed with Self Compassion
This is what the mind conditions us to do...to punish ourselves for our errors in judgement, for our lack of perfection etc. It expects and demands a struggle to succeed, a fight against something which is often others or ourselves. This challenge is not a battle ...it is a letting go and an opening to a better way of living. It took time to build up this mental behavioural habits and it will take time to dismantle them so we can see and experience, once and for all, what lay beneath them.
Keep your eyes on the prize, I tell myself and her as we switch from wrist to wrist. The prize is peace, joy, happiness and real Love. It is also connection to something much grander than "little me" could ever offer us. The prize is a connection to our Source, a connection to all we are. Hmmm!
You are a Ripple
I read another line from Bowen's book as I was coming to the end of it that reminded me , as the expression of the Poem "Just a Little Ripple?" did as it came through me... You are a ripple in the great ocean of humanity that resounds around the world. You are a blessing.
All is well.
Andersen, Uell S.. Three Magic Words . BN Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Andersen,
Bowen, Will. A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted (p. 272). Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. Kindle Edition.
Michael Singer ( May 2020) Why We suffer-Mindfulness Training with Michael A. Singer. SoundsTrue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtr21LqHKcs
Eckhart Tolle (October, 2019) The Power of Inner Stillness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoW_cPx_638
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