Good meeting you!
The above photo is part of our daughter's (13) science project, exploring capillary activity and other cool things.
With a little imagination and generosity we could say that we are all the same pristine flower; that we all share the same Being.
What makes me separate and you different, is only conditioning (the colored water, the me-feeling, the me-belief).
The sense of separation is deeply ingrained and called 'normal', 'me', 'person'...
it consists of 10% faulty thinking and 90% muscle-memory.
For 50+ years I was more or less unhappy and driven by a sense of lack!
Something 'more' was missing: more security, more love, more appreciation, more money, more entertainment, more, more, more...
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The 'me,' as a mental construct, has a very strong survival-mechanism, which is almost impossible to detect without loving human interchange.
I find the discernment between 'me' and 'I am' very helpful in debunking the sense of personal doership, which is the root of all unhappiness/suffering:
'Me' is conceptual, it is the mental image of what I believe and feel myself to be.
Not the thought 'I am", but the sense 'I am', is direct experience, is fresh and alive, is not filtered through mind, but immediate as Awareness; aware of everything appearing and disappearing.
A little twist in consciousness, that makes a huge difference:
I am me, but me is not who I am.
I know that I am, but I don't know what I am.
Our body-mind, could likened to a vehicle or action-figure, to experience and share the mystery of Life.
Uncounted books have already been written, about the mystery of life and how to heal or enrich our personal experiences.
Words can easily become chewing gum for the mind, like a carrot in front of the donkey; the donkey in this case is the identification with the me-voice on whose behalf struggle and suffering arises, driven by an insatiable sense of lack.
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I want to attempt to express my gratitude to Life, in the form of Magdi Badawy, as friend and truth-lover.
I consumed a lot of spiritual content, maybe since I was 14:
From Joel Goldsmith, to Allan Watts, Lao Tse, Mooji, Rupert Spira, Roger Castillo, and many, many more.
All pointing to the same Reality of Being, of I am.
I willfully consumed precious wisdom as pain-killers; keeping 'me' busy, trying all kinds of mental acrobatics, to change the movie. I was unawarely stuck in 'me-belief' and 'me-feeling'!
Nothing was ever missing, but the me-virus degraded truth into beliefs, and misused words as pain-killers, on behalf of a 'me' that was only imagined and assumed, but defended for dear life.
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Magdi's meditations and Satsangs are a perfect environment for 'me' to relax from the confusions and exhaustions as a 'seeker';
to be nurtured in the Presence of Love and gifted with the clear understanding of the nature of Reality.
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In hindsight (on an infinite way, here and now) it seems that shame, fear and spiritual misconceptions prevented me from seeing the elephant in the room – Awareness.
"Truth is simple, the seeker is complex."
"It is your Father's [Reality's] good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
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I really wanted to keep this text here short!
Words are only pointers for our attention to follow, back home, into Presence, into causeless Peace; to celebrate, to be practical, to share.
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yOur being is the same!
In and as Reality we are always whole and complete.
We are the same pristine flower:
Blue, red or yellow are different appearances/expressions of the one Source and Being.
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It is not about believing, hoping, waiting or struggling, but effortless understanding and bravery.
"Practical Peace of mind, in daily living, independent of circumstances"... thank you Roger!
"Excitement is a scam of the mind"... thank you Mooji!
"There is only one power"... thank you Joel!
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“The spiritual path is not a solo endeavor.
In fact, the very notion of a self
who is trying to free her/himself
is a delusion.
We are in it together
and the company of spiritual friends
helps us realize our interconnectedness.”
The Garden Of Friends is a safe space, to dis-cover simply being (myself); It can be rather subtle, boring or even embarrassing for the quasi-entity, the person.
On the surface we might speak about spiritual teachings, about practical daily living, gardening, books, movies, politics... while on a seemingly deeper level we effortlessly soak in Presence.
It is not about perfect words, but a refinement of language might happen over time.
It is not about becoming a better person, it is not about getting rid of the ego, or reaching higher states of consciousness. If it is about something, if we need to make-sense and define, then we might say that it is most naturally about risking friendship, unburdened by the 'me' of the thinking mind.
In our crazy 'modern' world we lost touch with simply being, and instead, are lured into an endless journey of becoming.
It is most precious to have friends – experts in suffering – that care, but ideally don't mind.
Ideally, we can agree to disagree.
We don't need to like each other, but we can risk to dis-cover Love in ourself and the seeming other.
We meet on Zoom, we see each other as rectangles on a screen; yet it can be most profound, nurturing and liberating to be open and present.
We come together for the highest human dis-covery, to understand the nature of Reality, to celebrate, to be practical, to share.
My own inner voices were harsh and narrow-minded, for uncounted years. What a precious gift to not give up and yet to give UP... what a paradox.
Our being together is not about being right or wrong, but to shamelessly show up and risk to simply be.
Words might come up.
Boredom is healthy.
Someone might trigger 'me', but that is no reason anymore to run away. It is not about therapy, or healing the person, or needing to feel good.
It is higher than that 🌸.
The experience of Presence, of being in touch with our true nature, is so simple and effortless that 'me' might protest, in fear to lose its familiarity.
It is liberating to come together as truth-lovers, to effortlessly, playfully, lovingly examine thoughts, feelings, beliefs, hopes, identity... not to accumulate more information, but to shamelessly dis-cover what is prior to mind, always available, as the gift of Life.