Friday, March 4, 2011

The Implacable Idea

We are all seekers.  I think this is fairly obvious to most of us, even if we don’t want to admit it.  We are all looking for something, and the strange thing is- we are all looking for the same thing, just in different, and of course, all the wrong, places. 

We could call it happiness, or peace, or satisfaction, or fulfillment, doesn’t really matter. 

What matters is that we must realize that it can never, ever be found.

Yes, that’s right.  Give it up- the search is over.  It ain’t happening.  We can go on and on about all the wrong places where we have conducted our search- in relationships, or in money, in our jobs, in material possessions.  And we could mention all the “hidden” places that we never think about, but are even more convinced that elusive “something” is hiding- like our opinions, our beliefs, our viewpoints, our lifestyles. 

Even our most cherished spiritual beliefs, no matter how comforting, or how much we believe they make us good people, do not seem to hold the slippery truth that we so desperately seek. 

We may even come to the conclusion that it is possible to find what we are looking for, in just letting go of all the rest of it, and resting in “stillness”. 

And then we give “Stillness” it’s myriad of names:  Space, Presence, Source, Awareness, Consciousness.  God.

Sounds logical.  We just need to realize that we can never find true happiness, peace, fulfillment in any ‘thing”, any object, and instead, if we can just “be” with what is happening now, and find stillness, we will discover the true happiness that is available to us all. 

But this, this is the biggest trap of them all.  We effectively turn “stillness” into just another object to attain.  If we practice hard enough, understand enough, somehow “let it all go”. 

How well has that worked for us?

We think we can find happiness in relationships, so we seek the perfect person.  We discover that to not be true.  We think we can find it in our jobs, money, material possessions, and we discover the sad truth of this. And, we think we can find it in spirituality, in religion, in belief.  

Yet, somehow true, lasting fulfillment continues to elude us. 

So maybe we hear about “stillness” and “connection”.  Maybe we hear about letting go, allowing, “being in the moment”. 

Still, where is that true, encompassing, wonderful sense of peace, ease, fulfillment in our lives?  We may find moments of peace, but it never lasts.

See, seeking is seeking, no matter how you are seeking, or what you are looking for, even if it is God or Stillness.  The person you think you are does not seek; the person you think you are is intimately constructed of seeking.  Seeking is inherent in the most fundamental mistake you are making, and have been making all your life.

You are seeking happiness, fulfillment, peace, God, in whatever name or form you give it, because you are convinced that you do not already have it.  

You can never have it. 

You cannot have it, because you ARE it.

See that there is only one thing, one simple thing that limits us, that keeps us from being free, and that is the unshakable, learned and constantly reinforced IDEA that we are not.

An idea.

An idea that is intricately woven into the fabric of your existence, and which is so fundamental that it has never even been questioned.

So, what is this idea made of?


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