What's the main difference beween us and the cotton balls? Essentially, we go through the same cycle of life, but they do it without resistance. They don't care if nobody notices them. They don't see themselves as separate from everything else. They have no expectations. They just go with the flow. They have a primal, innate wisdom -a knowing, that they don't "have a life" but they ARE life itself, just naturally doing what it does. We may be smarter than them, with our complex thinking processes, but they certainly don't suffer like we do, do they? So who's really more intelligent I wonder?
More and more, I am experiencing that it IS possible to live like that -free from the prison of our ego. But at first, I went through the process kicking and screaming. To the ego, it seems absurd, ridiculous even to consider that everything we have carefully constructed -our so-called "life", our persona, our biography- are fundamentally complete illusions. When we are brave enough to let go of our thoughts, our beliefs and expectations, we discover the deep peace that the natural world has known all along. Isn't nature a wonderful teacher?
As long as we cling to this idea of who we think we are, we suffer. I find it helpful to keep asking the question "what am I?" I don't look for an answer that comes from the mind, but instead from the body. I connect with that feeling of beingness, not just in a meditative setting, but in everyday life situations. What I discover is that I am dreaming! From that place of awareness, I go ahead and play my part in the drama of life. I plant the seeds I wish to harvest and I remove the weeds without having to get angry with them. Most of the time, I eat them, actually.
Wishing you a wonderful summer,
Lise
www.lisevilleneuve.com
