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(cont’d from above…) With words, humanity tries to define every little corner of consciousness, when consciousness itself is constantly expanding beyond understanding. Living restfully in an environment that doesn’t rest might asks us for a new way to relate to things, for a different awareness of our immediate world. I look around me. Tables, chairs, people. Cars outside, music playing. Healthy landscaping…palm trees, overcast sky. Paper coffee cup nearly empty…croissant crumbs everywhere. What about this environment is not “home”? What definitions would I hold onto, what words, what relationship do I have with this environment that would make me seek something else? From relating with the animals and our shared higher consciousness, I found a sense of myself that is unchanging, regardless of what’s happening outside of me. That steadiness is always in motion, and in its movement, there is always a grace that remains unchanged. It’s easy to feel grace in the presence of non-speaking creatures, but that doesn’t mean that the sense disappears simply because words and definitions enter the ambiance. Before the words, between the words, beyond the words, there is the feeling of home, the place where there is nothing to seek, because it’s always there. The impulse to look-for, to seek, to try to “make something happen” is woven deeply into the collective thought patterns of humanity. We tend to call that “survival.” Life is actually not designed for survival. It is designed to perpetuate, to relate to itself, to expand. Survival is one of those human creations, a word with a definition, that may or may not have anything to do with being “at home.” The guiding perspective throughout every aspect of my life is founded in what’s unfolding right in front of me. There are physical things here to relate to, there are also non-physical things, like thoughts, feelings, awarenesses and presence. The coffee, the croissant, the people, the plants. The light is pleasant, the man over there seems to be unhappy, I wish I felt like eating three more croissants, I wonder if this bit of writing is making any sense. There is a profoundly different feeling when my awareness is directed at recognizing what’s already here rather than seeking what else there could be. If we’re not judging that one experience is “better” than another, then recognition also clues us into frustrations, resentments, disapprovals… Watch what happens when awareness simply recognizes these patterns rather than trying to change them, or get somehow away from them. Seeing these things without the need to change them lets them move and change all on their own. Beginning with recognition relieves a ton of effort. It’s restful. There is no seeking, only seeing. Amazing what a little “k” can do to change a perspective! The deep rest of “home” reveals itself when I’m no longer looking away from it. A feeling that is absent of conflict infuses the cells of my body. It requires no definition. Let’s play this summer with moving restfully, simply seeing things as they are and exploring how things move, all on their own, when the effort we do make is toward awareness without judgment. I wonder what will reveal itself! I wonder what decisions will be made, and for what reasons. I wonder how this might create space for the heart to direct the movement, and really, I wonder how rested I might feel, right in the middle of it all, when I’m no longer trying to survive, or escape, what’s right in front of me.
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