Kite without a string

To be born as a human being is a unique opportunity to experience separation and limitation. Each person weaves his/her particular story and as such every individual is precious and a beautiful piece of the giant puzzle that is the universe. Eventually all of us will manifest our true potential. But at any given moment, there are hordes of people who are boxed in by false stories and leading a life of captivity and suffering. Ordinary people caged in by the dream of life, unaware of their true essence. This is the common man. I always felt a psychologist or a TA trainer or any therapist for that matter would lead people out of these nightmares and into the light of their consciousness. But apparently the focus is on supplementing one nightmare with a less daunting one. The mirage of “getting better.” So if one enters therapy or any “psychological program” under the illusion of being ‘x,’ you will be told how mistaken you are to be labeling yourself this way. ‘No, no, no, you are really only y. This is your new identity. Forget x, swallow y. You will come out all shining from the dark abyss you are wandering in.” This is the reality of many a training program or so-called therapy. Such a jolly circus of trading a walking stick for a crutch. Just a cursory mention of the fact that you have feet. Nothing on guiding people back to their true nature. Instead you are urged to focus on your shiny new crutch and count its holes and discard that walking stick because it stinks. Ya, it will feel good for a while. You are getting distracted. You have new hope. You feel like you are ‘making progress.’ La di la! You have gained ‘new insight.’ Meanwhile you are as far away from your essence as you ever were.

How far? Not even a second apart. You are your essence. You have just managed to put your attention on the moving patterns of your personality instead of easing into the background of your consciousness. It is so much more colorful than the ever-present substratum of existence. I am sorry, I digressed further than I intended. Let me guide you back. You, pure consciousness, have a ‘self experience’ all the time. By this I mean the experience of ‘I.’ A close analogy to self experience is the movie experience. The movie experience consists of the still background that we call screen plus the moving patterns that fall on the screen from the projector. Similarly, the self experience consists of consciousness plus the moving patterns of thinking, feeling and behavior that we call personality. At any moment, a majority of human beings are hung up on the moving pattern. Very few are aware of the still background. But moving patterns dazzle and hold our attention. We are captivated by the fascinating medley of thoughts and feelings that inhabit our mental landscape. In turn this shapes our response to the environment. The thoughts take the shape of an ‘I’ story. This is a bunch of thoughts that keep repeating in our heads – ‘I am Thehseen. I love biriyani. I hate papaya.’ and so on and on it goes. Mostly we are unaware of this process. Our attention has been so consumed by this mirage of an inner person that we become that inner person and act in programmed ways. These repetitive patterns of behavior shaped by earlier experiences are not appropriate to the challenges of the present moment. Hence our behavior falls short of our potential to act effectively on our environment. This virtual reality avatar then possesses the body and acts out its limitations. This very attachment and total immersion in the ‘I’ story is the cause of our suffering. The movement of attention back to the background of existence is essential to put an end to this. It is self evident that body, thoughts and feelings are constantly changing. Hence these belong to the realm of the moving patterns. The only unchanging part of us is consciousness itself. So take a journey into yourself. Know all that you are not. And what remains however improbable is your true essence. True in that it never changes. All the moving patterns can be observed. But the unchanging background of consciousness cannot be observed like an object. It is the subject itself. You can only ease back into your being (verb). Just be and observe your patterns of thoughts, feelings and behavior with compassion. This is the beginning of the end of suffering. Without knowing this dimension in you, you have nothing to anchor on. You were like a kite without a string. But now, remaining grounded in consciousness, you can explore your inner and outer world safely, discard ineffective patterns and procure new ones as you please. Secure in the knowing that you can never lose you.