peace is not a product

real peace (the experiential aspect of self-aware awareness) is not the product of anything. it need not be sought through achievements. it has no prerequisites attached to it. true peace is a natural state accessible to one and all regardless of circumstances. it is the unconditional, ever-present quality of consciousness resting within itself.

the perceived lack of peace, on the other hand, does come as a result of conditions. although peace is always present and accessible, it becomes obscured by mind-noise. when the mind and its stories loudly take over, the undercurrent of peace is overlooked and forgotten. all attention becomes diverted away from the infinitely fulfilling and nurturing experience of pure consciousness. distracting and often meaningless thought structures take center stage, are invested with overdue importance, and with the reference point of self-aware awareness receding from experiential memory, the experience of existential confusion and suffering sets in.

the human experience can become extremely complex and fraught with stress, yet even at its most challenging and chaotic moments the simplicity of peace has not gone anywhere. it is where it always is and always will be: here, now. the experienced absence of peace is only an illusion created by the inability - or often the unwillingness - to perceive it as the basic underlying quality of existence.

although the undercurrent of peace is profoundly simple and subtle (and therefore easy to miss), it is nevertheless extremely powerful. it is much more powerful than any product of mind since it endures absolutely everything and remains unchanged and perfectly unblemished throughout it all. it cannot be touched or altered in any way; it always, perfectly, indestructibly, is.

it is precisely this quality of permanent presence and accessibility that simultaneously allows us to take the experience of peace for granted and makes it the most powerful force in our lives. it is sadly ironic that our greatest asset is the one we most readily devalue, forget, and lose touch with.

complicated?

what's more complicated? maintaining a secret or allowing the truth to reveal itself?

and when the secret is about something really obvious? it's really hard, isn't it? you have to take huge measures to hide it from awareness.

finding out the truth about life, about who you are, isn't complicated. because it's the truth. truth is self-revealing.

what's complicated is maintaining a constant resistance to the true nature of reality, which speaks to you through every sight, sound, touch, thought, feeling...

true spirituality isn't inherently tied to any religion or culture. it's a movement towards simplicity (truth) and away from complexity (resistance to truth, or the upholding of a lie).

only the truth can be the truth. it always was, is and will be. when you thought it was something else, it was what it was. when you discover it, it will have been there all along.

propped up

all of the things that make us suffer prolongedly are propped up on one foundational belief: that we are a personality that needs to be defined, maintained and defended in every moment.

the situation is like a shaky jenga tower resting on one single piece. remove that piece and all of the structures above have no choice but to come crashing down, no matter how extensive or complex they've gotten.

the looooooooooong spiritual journey

this great long spiritual journey, this epic pilgrimage of the soul which gives us such a great sense of specialness, the whole process of transformation, gradual liberation through insights, climbing upwards, residing in the higher centers of the brain, expanding our consciousness, opening ourselves to the energy of the universe... and on and on and on and on... is a pretty complicated thing.

what is called “self-realization” is actually pretty simple. it consists of seeing what’s always been there, what’s been so all-pervadingly present in every moment that the complexities of the mind have been able to rob attention from it.