The Mirror and the Intimacy
El Espejo y la Intimidad
This meditation invites you to set aside the mind's interpretations and sink into direct, intimate contact with your experience as it is.
The Mirror and the Intimacy
Sinking in
Personal awareness has some gravity.
You can let it sink.
Just like a pebble in a lake, sinking, leaving the surface of the personal story.
You can follow the breath sensations in the body.
Something in us is curious, restless, longing, searching.
It is a very valuable search.
Follow the pebble as it sinks.
The image of going down, down, slowly.
We long for depth.
We long for mystery, what is always new and fresh.
Freedom and love.
What if this is enough
What if you could have what you want right now?
What if this is everything you ever wanted, nothing less, nothing more?
Look for something in your current experience, something simple.
Could be a sound, sensation of the hand.
Explore the intimacy with it.
Notice the difference between the direct experience of it and the interpretation and understanding of it.
Consider the interpretation to be just a reflection, the imperfect mirror of the mind.
Sink into the raw experience of it, very simple, very intimate.
Reflection and direct experience
There's a sense of a distance between you and what you're looking at when you look at the reflection.
Sensation of breath.
Breath is a pointer.
You have a sense of, I am breathing and this is my breath.
That is the reflection.
Direct experience cannot be talked about or described.
No effort is needed.
Effort only operates with reflections.
Direct experience comes first, effortlessly.
Letting your attention sink into sensation, perception, direct experience.
Ignoring the mirror
Keep noticing the world of interpretation, the mind reflecting on reality.
See it as one big mirror, reflecting.
Ignore the mirror.
Keep noticing the fascination with reflection, interpretation.
What we're looking for is intimacy.
A radical intimacy with our direct, raw experience.
Freedom from living in the world of reflection and interpretation.
Trust this.
What if what I'm looking for is intimacy with this moment?
All sages have said it in some way.
Sound and distance
You hear a sound, like my voice or something in your surroundings,
and you experience it as a sound coming from out there.
That is the reflection, the mind's interpretation.
Direct experience is intimacy.
There is no distance to the sound.
It's not even in here, inside.
And sensations of the skin are at the same distance as sounds.
Keep exploring this.
The mind as mirror
Noticing that which we call mind.
See it as nothing more than a mirror, just reflecting on reality, distorting it, making it known, understandable.
It's useful, but it's not reality.
Just keep noticing that.
It's right here, right now, reflecting.
Sense of being a person in this body that came from somewhere and is going somewhere.
It's just a reflection in the mirror of the mind.
Who are you without the mirror
If you don't look to the mirror of the mind, what are you?
If you don't look for the answer in the mirror of the mind, where are you?
What if you are nowhere?
What if you are not a thing anywhere?
Keep noticing the fascination with the reflection.
It provides a sense of the known, the sense of me, I am here.
Even if it feels tight, uncomfortable, noisy, restless, it still has a strong pull.
What we're looking for is not in the mirror.
We will never find it there.
It's useful, but it distorts reality.
Beauty and love and freedom are not in the mirror of the mind.
Choosing intimacy
It's right here, the intimacy with everything, direct, not reflected.
Might be scary.
Might feel strange.
Getting restless.
Stay with your breath.
Keep sinking deeper, even further away from the reflection, the mind that makes maps.
Keep choosing intimacy with your direct experience.
Be open with everything, focused on a sound or a sensation.