Reflections

These sources of bondage must end so that personal freedom and deep inner peace are allowed to be: the compulsive search for pleasure and a need for outside authority. The inner authority is a byproduct of all previous outer authorities, parents, teachers, bosses, etc. With this in mind though I possess the faculties of ego and intellect, which serve me well in the purely functional practical sense, these have no authority outside of this context (otherwise becoming the "superego").

Although I relish the pleasurable contented feelings of the present moment, I do not pursue it by giving certain objects and fleeting emotions special importance. Neither thought nor emotion, nor the ego personality formed from these (and previous experience) embody the essence of who I really truly am. Divine Grace descends upon the heart and soul of the human consciousness alone, only when the mind is quiet and still.

What you seek you shall not find, what you want you cannot have, what you have you cannot forever hold, and what you believe is just another escape from being. Life promises nothing and only delivers its rewards when one has stopped asking for them, bit by bit. The moment a desire or need ceases to be so important as to override the living beautiful presence of what is, here I believe divine benevolence has a place to flow in, because there is no more blocking it with thoughts of lack or want.

Images... as we see life it is only imagination and mental projection, fleeting and insubstantial. It is real people, things and values that last, when having the discriminating intelligence to know attractive appearances are often there just to distract and lead one astray from what really matters.

If however one is not fooled by the illusionary images, then the immediate sense of delight, and its effect upon us, can be a most positive and pleasant return back to what matters most... real people, things, values, etc. The visual image one has of the tree is not the actual tree in itself.... what it is IS infinitely more than how it is outwardly perceived, labeled and interpreted.

Detachment is learning to live comfortably with and enjoy the illusion of this world made of images, and desires formed around these, while clinging to none of it.

JDZ