I Think Therefore I am Not

Contrary to popular delusion, being in our mind can bring a disruptive state of consciousness.  Put simply, ‘I am’ when I stop thinking and start being, hence ‘I am’ not because of my thought.

The ego-state of consciousness, if left unchecked, brings a dis-harmony to our lives and brings insanity to our collective human consciousness.  The ego is our thought-based entity – the continual chatter of the mind, ever-searching to analyse and critique.  There is of course nothing wrong with the ego and it serves a useful purpose in life.  Yet, in our prevalent paradigm (in business and society) the ego state is encouraged, favoured and feed to the detriment and dis-harmony of our non-ego state of being (the awareness that is beyond, between and below the thought-chatter).

We realise our own conscious awareness upon first recognising this ego-state and then by becoming aware of the space between the thoughts, the silence between the chatter.

Hence, the profound expression ‘the movement of music happens not in the notes themselves, but between the notes, in the silences’.

The beauty of nature (a flower, snowflake or leaf, for instance) invites your presence, a connection, a raised awareness, alignment to the one consciousness.  Sense the sacred sky at night, the grass in the wind, the mist in the morning, the forest at twilight. Hence nature can act as a powerful medium for raising awareness beyond the ego into alignment with ‘presence’; an unveiling of awareness as part of a re-connection bringing about inner harmony, that then leads to right feeling, thinking and doing, and so bringing about outer harmony of doing through being.

As soon as we try and rationalise and conceptualise nature, the inherent aliveness of nature becomes covered up, as if the a veil comes between us and nature and our true human nature. The veil lifts only when we become aware, embracing the space rather than the form, sensing the inner stillness between thoughts.  Then, what thinking that germinates from this state of awareness becomes empowered by consciousness rather than a heavy, burdensome, endless chatter of ego-thought (which is usually fear-based).

As we re-connect we see through the veil, life becomes revealed and re-enchanted through our awareness where upon we can manifest (not through struggle, competition and strife) but through the joyfilled, connection with life, re-enchanted and re-connected in order to reveal our true nature and destiny.

A short poem to ponder on:  Know Thy Self

Know Thyself

To know others

See thy reflection

To see others

Internalise the externalities

To clarify the view

Picture the whole

To synergise the parts

Co-operate and collaborate

To educate and innovate

Dance with diversity

To create and communicate

Each day offers freely the chance

To place new steps of change

Actions speak louder than words

I’ll see you all at the dance said He

Know Thy Self – as Eckhart Tolle says, ‘thy self as the timeless subject of all experiences, the eternal ‘I am’ that underlies all manifestations’. The journey within is the only journey worth taking….

As the Tao Te Ching puts it: “True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way” as explained in a section of his poem here:

In harmony with the Tao, the sky is clear and spacious, the earth is solid and full, all creature flourish together, content with the way they are, endlessly repeating themselves, endlessly renewed.
When man interferes with the Tao, the sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, creatures become extinct.
The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn’t glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as stone.

If we are to be truly sustainable, we need to be in harmony with human nature and all of nature.  For that, we need to start with ourselves – free ourselves from the ego even if for mere glimpses of reality during our stressful daily routines.  From these glimpses of reality spawn right action, right thinking, right relations.  Then sustainability becomes second nature (rather than another ego-created seperation).