Things Are Exactly as They Are
Las cosas son exactamente como son
A student recalls a teaching about how seeing and hearing are not separate from what is seen and heard, and asks how one can live without identification with a perceiver. The conversation unfolds into the nature of resistance, the belief that things should be different, and what it means to create from abundance rather than lack.
Things Are Exactly as They Are
A student recalls a teaching about how seeing and hearing are not separate from what is seen and heard, and asks how one can live without identification with a perceiver. The conversation unfolds into the nature of resistance, the belief that things should be different, and what it means to create from abundance rather than lack.
I was thinking about something very powerful you were discussing a few weeks ago: how everything that appears, every sight, every sound, every perception, the seeing is in the image that appears, the hearing is in the sound that appears. It's not that there's something separate that knows it. I'm not sure what the question is, but I can sense how much more relaxing and flowing it is to see everything that way, as if a barrier falls and everything becomes lighter. But how do you function? The concept of "me" can still appear, and there's something around how you live the day-to-day without the identification of something that perceives, something that thinks.
Hearing and the heard
The answer to "how do you live?" is: that's how you are already living. You're just imagining there is a perceiver. It's not real.
If there were no sounds, could there be hearing? No. If there were no hearing, could there be sounds? Let's say the sense of hearing never existed as part of creation. Could there be sounds? There would be something, but you wouldn't call it sound. There would be vibration, perhaps. Everything is vibration, and we have six senses. If you contemplate that, then there cannot be two things: hearing and heard. The same applies to seeing, thinking, sensing.
There is something I call knowing, though there is no better word. There can be knowing without anything known. It is the same as beingness. There can be knowing without experience, without anything known.
I don't think I have that experience or that certainty of what you're saying.
Be curious about that. The part you're describing as relaxing is because looking at this dissolves an illusion: the illusion of you being the thinker, perceiver, hearer, doer, decider. That is an image.
Why illusion is uncomfortable
Why is illusion uncomfortable? I notice it takes effort. But why?
The discomfort is because you're believing something that's not real. In a deeper sense, it's not actually uncomfortable. But at the level of believing it's real, if you believe the discomfort is a problem, then it becomes a problem. The belief makes it so. If you believe you shouldn't have certain kinds of thoughts, then when you have them, there will be a problem. If you believe you shouldn't have certain sensations or feelings, when you have them, there will be a problem.
I'm not sure I understand. First you said what's uncomfortable is believing something that's not real. Then you said it's when you believe it's wrong to have certain thoughts or sensations.
That's the illusion. The belief that something shouldn't be happening.
And in this case, what would it be that shouldn't be happening?
Whatever it is that constitutes the problem.
I think what I meant was: why is it uncomfortable to be thinking that I'm this entity that perceives, that I'm inside my body and the world is out there?
The belief that something shouldn't be happening
That is the consequence of believing something shouldn't be happening. Who would know that something shouldn't be happening? Who would hold that belief? An imagined entity.
But I'm not clear which feelings I think I shouldn't be having.
Whenever you're not feeling okay at a deep level, whenever there's a sense that something's not right, there's going to be a belief that something shouldn't be happening. It will be complex. Something that's here shouldn't be here, or something that's not here should be here, or a mix. Something happened in life and now I'm in pain. If this hadn't happened, I wouldn't have this pain and things would be better. Or we imagine through memory some more positive experience: if only I had this now, if only I felt this now, I would be okay. So something is either missing or something is happening that shouldn't be here. That's a resistance to what is, a form of knowing how things should be. It's a belief system.
One teacher put it this way: the only way to be okay is to not want to be okay. To want to be okay is to be attached to a belief of how things have to be. "I will only be okay if I feel the specific way I want to feel," or "I will only be okay if my life situation matches what I think it should be."
How belief creates the subject
It begins with a belief about how things should be. And then that belief creates the subject who has the belief. It creates the image of "me," the person who has this position with life, this attitude, this experience, this specific way of living. It won't feel like you chose it. It will feel like it's happening to you. But at the core of it, it's not happening to you. It's coming from the belief.
If I believe that things should not be as they are, that belief will create something. It will create a specific way of being, of relating. But it also creates the character I then identify with.
The solution, the antidote, isn't to switch to another belief that says "things are how they should be." That's not needed. What can happen is the belief can get dropped, and you can see that things are exactly as they are and could not be any different.
It seems like one thing reinforces the other. The subject knows (or believes) this shouldn't be happening, and that also creates a limit for that subject, inside and outside. It's all part of the same structure.
It's a complex, but it's you putting on that suit, that belief system. If you know what you are, you will not know how things should be. If you don't know what you are, you will know how things should be. And from that not-knowing, we live from a different place. Something else is guiding. The creativity comes from a different place, instead of "I know what I am and I know how things should be, and I will try to make it all my way." It comes from a level of depth that is not mind-based. It is the difference between flowing with life, flowing with the creativity of life, and swimming against the current.
The hand and the palette
It's like: there is a hand. This is happening. Now what? What can be lived? Versus: there is a hand. This shouldn't be happening. And how will I live from "this shouldn't be happening"? Now replace "hand" with any thought, sensation, emotion, experience, or context in life.
This is what really changed from one day to the next for me. Before, there was always something, pretty much all the time, that should not be. A thought, a sensation, an emotion, a life situation (though most of it is thought; the problem we have with a life situation is a thought, an interpretation). Versus: the things that are now are exactly as they are. The thoughts that are happening are exactly the thoughts that are happening. The sensations, the emotions, are exactly what they are, without any fundamental belief about them having to be there or not having to be there.
No reaction to it, no resistance, because there is a seeing that if there is a hand, there is a hand. If there is a thought, there is a thought. Nothing of my struggle with it will make it not be what is. And once I can see that fully and come to terms, accepting that things are exactly as they are at every moment: if you're having a thought that says "red," you're having a thought that says "red." If your finger hurts, your finger hurts. It sounds simple, maybe even silly, but it's really that clear.
When that is seen, all of the fighting with what is happening stops. It's like looking at a hand and trying to not see a hand. That's an impossibility. It's absolute torture.
Creation from abundance
When that stops, then we can change things. We are then in flow, moving with what is in complete transparency and alignment. With all of the ingredients that are happening, what can be created? At every moment there is a life situation, thoughts, sensations, emotions. That's the palette of colors life has right now. What do you make? Which is different from "I'm missing green so I can't make what I need," or "I have a color I really don't want to use, so I fight with that color," or "I dream of having the color I don't have."
What is also important is that when all that struggle stops and what is is seen for what it is, there is an underlying peace and satisfaction. So the creation, the changing of what is, isn't in service of a need, isn't in service of a lack. I'm not trying to create something because something's missing. I'm creating something because it's beautiful. I'm living because there is abundant joy and creativity, without the obstruction and obstacle of the belief in that which I think I am, which knows how things have to be.
That belief hinders the flow, doesn't it?
And you will know this as a jazz musician. If somebody in the band plays a note that isn't, to you, the right note, and you start fighting with that sound, you're not going to create something very good. But if you realize that's the sound that is happening, that's what the music is, and you completely align with it and embrace it, then you will create around it and with it. That is flow.
That experience you have in music is exactly the experience that is possible with everything in life. And it's not like a practice where you get better and better. What I'm talking about is a total seeing and understanding that things are exactly as they are and they cannot be any different. Then the attempt to have it not be what it is simply stops. It just becomes so obvious that things are what they are. God is playing this thought, God is playing this sensation, God is playing this situation, and I am part of that creation, like the musician in the band. I'm completely aligned. There is no resistance. I'm in, because I am also that which is creating everything.
This is great. You covered a lot. I think I have to listen to it again.
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In relationship to what you said about accepting things as they are, what about when you really want something to happen? In a way it can feel like fighting with reality to try to make it happen. For example, making a living from painting, which is a long process. I don't know how to formulate the question, but what about this? There are many states of doubt and frustration with how things are. A lot of people say it's not possible, so there's a kind of fighting, and it can feel like swimming against the current.
Satisfaction projected onto the future
I know what you're talking about. The key is: you feel into what's happening now. If there is dissatisfaction now, and satisfaction becomes attached to and projected onto getting there (meaning being able to live from painting), and "I will only be truly satisfied when I get there," then if that is at the core of what is happening, it's coming from illusion.
It's like walking to a rainbow to find gold while you're already sitting on gold. Which is different from: I'm sitting on gold. No matter where I go, there is gold. But wouldn't it be nice to live as a painter? Let's go on that adventure and fight all the battles and push against all the forces, for the beauty, the love, and the fun of the adventure. But not because something is missing now that I will obtain when I get there. If something is missing now that you believe you will obtain when you arrive, that is illusion.
You might need to get there in order to really see that it's an illusion. But you don't have to. By that I mean: you become an artist living from painting, doing really well, and still dissatisfied. Something's missing. There is no gold.
But there is a goal. There's no gold, but maybe the goal helps to search in a direction.
You might need to search in experience, in the future, to find that what you're looking for isn't there. Sometimes we need to get what we think we want in order to realize it's not what we thought it was. We don't get the satisfaction, the peace, the love. And then, once that happens enough times (could be one time, could be a million times), we get it and we realize: this isn't it. This isn't the way. And then you will remember, "Oh, I heard that what I'm looking for is already here." Where is it? And then you're going to seek it, but no longer looking in time.
Looking in time is looking in thought. Becoming an artist who lives from painting is a thought. But it could be a beautiful journey to follow the dream. If you're trying to get deep satisfaction, it's not going to be found in thought or in the future, because there's always going to be more thought, more future. Which is different from: look for the well-being, the peace, and the satisfaction here. I tell you, that is where it is. Don't take my words as a belief. Take it as something for you to explore and find for yourself. And then you can still pursue your creativity, your art, becoming an independent painter. These are not one or the other.
I feel like both are familiar, yes. It's more the sensation of fighting with society.
A different kind of fight
But that's my point. If you find that you are well and satisfied and have well-being now, you can still fight. But it's a different fight. It's a very different fight if your well-being depends on winning. Winning isn't going to give you anything deeply satisfying at a deep level. It isn't going to give you anything that's not already possible now.
You can create, and it's really important to create. It's really important to listen to your deepest desires. I often say: ask yourself, imagine you are the universe, the entire universe creating, and you've chosen to create as yourself. What do you want to create? What can you create that is the most beautiful, loving, amazing life journey? Follow that. Not because something's missing now and you will get it when you manage to create something specific; that's coming from illusion and fear. The fear that the abundance you're looking for isn't here, that what this is, is not enough.
Which is different from a recognition, a realization: the abundance is here. Love is here. Beauty is here. And I create from that.
From willpower to service
I have a habit of creating from an act of willpower, an act of energy, a kind of force or strength. But listening to you, I feel like there is another way.
Using will and willpower is important to initiate, to start. But then, as you mature, you will create from service, from obedience. You will be in service of life, in service of your calling, in service of your deepest desires, the desires that come not from the mind and fear but from the heart and love. The more you come from there, the more you are responding to an energy that is already there. You just have to obey and listen and be in service, and then the creating creates itself.
I'm sure you know this in your artwork. You start with willpower and then something starts happening and it's no longer willpower. It's just flowing.
Yes, it's like a way to get there.
But more and more, willpower won't be needed.
Does it have to do with devotion?
Yes, it's the heart. It's love, devotion. Willpower helps to pierce through resistance, pierce through fear, pierce through illusion. But once that is no longer there as much, the energy of love and creativity will be there more easily, more present.
The instrument of planning
What about the practical side: organization, planning, making certain things concrete?
That is life. Using your mind to organize and create is part of the instrument. Clarification, thinking, imagining the future, ideating, organizing, planning: all of that is the instrument, just as the body is the instrument. When we encounter resistance, we use willpower. As we come more into service, we flow with life force. And the more you become a master of your craft and your art, the more easily you will be in service, with life force abundant. But this applies to life beyond your craft as well, which is what we talk about more here. It's the same. Where there's fear in relationship, fear, and then willpower. But as that frees up, the life force becomes more present, more abundant.
But for example, to make a certain context possible, to make things happen practically...
You use your mind. But really consider this. You take a perspective that you are coming from inside this body and it's all up to you. But don't forget: you came out of the earth. Everything of what you are came out of a planet. You grew out of the universe. At a deep level, you are coming from the universe. The more you see that, the more you can come from those deeper energies, deeper desires, deeper vision. And then the mind and the body (the planning, the organizing) will be used from a deeper place, as the instrument.
So the mind will be used in service of something deeper.
Exactly. It will be used by you in service of you, the universe. Because you can live from listening to something deeper, something not limited by body or body-mind, something coming from what you truly are, which you can realize more and more. Because of that, the body and the mind become more aligned with reality, in harmony with life, in harmony with everything around. And so the instrument of planning will be more aligned with success in a deep sense, because you're not trying to make something happen that's not really possible, coming from delusion.
I feel like it's the same thing I was saying at the beginning, that there is a fight, but a fight for the fantasy of being accepted, for example in the art world. And so I don't open the door to... it has to do with trust. I don't let that deeper part speak. I think I'm missing something, but I can't quite find the words for what I want to say. Because what you're describing is beautiful...