This Is It
Esto Es Todo
A reflection on the teaching that what we are looking for is already here, and why that is so easy to overlook.
This Is It
A reflection on the teaching that what we are looking for is already here, and why that is so easy to overlook.
It is almost impossible to overlook, because it often doesn't feel like this is it, doesn't look like this is it. And that is the whole problem: it looks like something else must be it, because this isn't good enough, or something's missing, or this isn't okay. We can't be convinced of this by hearing somebody else say it. We can become encouraged to check more deeply. We can become inspired to ask, "Why doesn't it seem like this is it? What's going on?" And then things can get clarified.
The difficulty of self-diagnosis
You could also see that a more analytical process works for some people, while for others it doesn't. It also happens that people who think a certain approach isn't for them might actually benefit from it the most. It is hard to self-diagnose your own path or style. If you are working in this area and you find teachers who are very rational, you might not like that approach and think it's not the right thing for you. That might be a misjudgment. So it is always good to explore different things, even if they don't feel right at first. The resistance itself might be the sign.
Prior to what's happening
That said, if you look at "this is it" from a more analytical perspective, you could see that many different things could be happening, and some of them are good and some are bad. So how could it be that this is it? Sometimes things are good, sometimes things are bad. It is very easy to think, "Well, there are a lot of bad things, so it can't be it." But what that points to is that it has nothing to do with what's happening. It is prior to what's happening. It includes what's happening, because this is it, so of course it includes what's happening. But it is prior to what's happening.
And "prior" is just a word. It's not really prior. It's impossible to capture. I remember hearing my teacher use a term for this, and I never understood what he was talking about. But it is just a word that points to something that is not the actual experience, not the content of the experience. The content meaning: there is a laptop in front of me, I am speaking, and so on. Whatever is happening is included in "this is it," but at the same time it has nothing to do with it.
Nothing to hold on to
I also love how this phrase bypasses the whole thing we can get hung up on with self-inquiry: "Who am I? Where am I?" That is a really great process, a really great exploration, but "this is it" just skips the whole thing. It leaves nothing to hold on to. I could sit here for a hundred years and answer every question that comes at me with "this is it," and it would be the most perfect thing I could do.