The River of What Is
El río de lo que es
An invitation to notice how everything — sounds, thoughts, feelings — is already appearing effortlessly and cannot be otherwise than it is.
The River of What Is
Looking in the right place
In a recent meeting I said,
if you're looking for it,
keep looking for it,
but look in the right place and in the right time.
And you could say that the other way around:
if you're looking for it in a place and in a time,
it's not there.
It's here, it's now.
So that's another place and time,
but the here and now ultimately is not a place and it's not a time.
It's before time and before a place.
So if you're looking for it in an experience or in the next moment,
that's not where it is.
The belief in something missing
They often say the whole problem is just a belief.
And the belief isn't a concept.
It's a belief in a whole reality, in a whole structure of reality.
One of the foundations of that structure is a sense that something of what is here now is missing,
that what you need and want is not here,
it's not now.
And it's possible that ultimately what happens is that we,
suddenly or slowly,
just start to choose what is,
instead of focusing on what isn't and what could be.
And then that longing for what could be,
it will die,
and it can be reborn as a creativity.
But it's no longer a longing with something absent,
something missing.
So we align with reality rather than fight with it.
We align so much that we recognize we are that reality.
We can no longer choose it or get close to it or align to it.
Everything appearing as it is
That reality is this, now, all of it,
including thoughts, including everything.
Everything seen and not seen, felt, sensed.
Sounds appear.
Sensations appear.
Everything that's appearing now,
can you change it?
The moment a sound appears,
can you stop it?
Can you change it?
Can you push it away?
What is, is exactly as it is.
It seems to flow, move constantly, all of it.
Whatever the mind is doing,
the thinking, the imaginations, the emotions,
it's all just part of that same flow of the river of experience.
Whatever form it's appearing, it's exactly as it is,
and you cannot change it.
It changes on its own.
Effortless knowing
That knowing of all that is.
It's all appearing effortlessly.
All sense of effort is an experience appearing effortlessly,
known effortlessly.
A bird sings and it's known effortlessly.
A sense of struggle and effort appears and it's known effortlessly.
Just recognize that.
It's simple.
Always present.
How effortless everything that appears, appears.
We can recognize how futile it would be to try to change what is.
A thought appears you don't like.
It's appeared.
That disliking has appeared as well.
It'll disappear.
You can't stop the flow.
Trying or wanting to stop it is also just part of the flow and what's appearing.
Just notice that.
Already the nature of reality
You can't practice an effortlessness.
It's already the nature of reality.
As you notice this, you might taste the spaciousness,
the silence,
the peace,
the emptiness.
It's just the dropping away of the belief that we are part of the experience,
the belief that we are body and mind.
Identity itself is just another appearance.