Awake: Chapter 3 Notes
So, consciousness is that mutable, flowing space that is always there when you are awake, that feels like you.
I marked the page here. I believe it was because this page starts the analogy of the reflection in the pond, which I liked.
This doesn’t mean there will be no thoughts. What it means is that your identity isn’t threatened and fractured by fluctuating and inconsistent beliefs about yourself and the world on an ongoing basis.
Highlighted without note. I assume because it's so very true and accurate.
If you do this in the right way and with some persistence, something might happen—something surprising, something life-altering, something radical. What can happen is that all of a sudden that corridor, with all of its facts and experiences, can suddenly be seen to be what it is: merely a collection of thoughts. When this happens, there is far less interest in these thoughts. When that occurs, the entire timeline and identity tied into it is suddenly seen to be quite illusory. It’s as if a hole has been blown in the side of that timeline, and you are able to stick your head out the side and see what’s really going on. What’s “out there” is wholly indescribable, but let me just say that it’s unimaginably vast and radically intimate.
Highlighted without note.
It’s quite clear that there’s been a fundamental shift into a way of being that is not subject to time in the way we think about and experience it. That being the case, coming and going doesn’t even apply.
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Not subject to time… because we know there's only now so we're not concerned with time?
Peace is not the absence of anger, sadness, or discord. It is full acceptance of these and all other experiences with no resistance whatsoever.
Highlighted without note. I assume because it's an excellent definition.
resistance to these emotions and experiences
Highlighted without note. I assume to emphasize the truth in the statement.
birthright
Suspect. Sounds like the universe owes us something. It does not. We are privileged to exist as part of it, that's enough.
Life is simply what it is, and it makes no excuses for that. It is not embarrassed about any part of itself. Life never holds back. Life doesn’t second-guess itself or think that part of itself should not be there. Only the divided human mind can do that.
Highlighted without note. Truth. Life tells no stories, it just is. Humans make up stories and then decide to be unhappy because the story doesn't match reality. That's on us.
be fully authentic
Drop all your stories.
I don't like the word authentic because it implies there's a correct way to be when there really isn't. Just be. Don't let yourself make up stories and then act from the stories. That's false, fake, inauthentic. Just be. Look at the situation with no stories and do the thing you /have/ to do.
the deepest peace that is what we all really want
…hmmm. We want security. We want to feel safe. Does peace cover that? Maybe it does.
Our little monkey brains are in a near constant state of terror and anxiety. Peace is acceptance. Peace accepts that the universe doesn't know or care that we exist. Peace accepts that our life as the exact same value as the life of that fly we killed because it was annoying. That we are no more important than fly and can be snuffed just as easily something larger finds us annoying. Peace accepts that we will die soon. Peace accepts that everyone and everything we love will change and be lost. Peace gives a serene little smile and says that's all fine because we had a chance to appreciate all the miracles around us.
not allowing
not allowing …yourself to feel something “negative”. Just be.
Awakening is not a new way of looking at life.
I kind of disagree. It's looking at life without the stories. Just life.