“Every moment, when you’re present, is an opportunity to mitigate this boundary between the inner and the outer world that causes pain and suffering.”
Jagjot Singh
Talks About The Compassionate Heart
Isn’t it a paradox that we are conceptualizing something that can’t be explained using concepts and models? I have no way of conveying THIS other than expressing through stories, experiences, words, and feelings; however, all of the above themselves obscure what I’m trying to explain.
Sometimes a simple and a sudden realization that something can’t be explained with concepts brings about a glimpse into THAT that lies beyond this paradox created by words. You can’t see the Sun when the dark clouds obscure it. When you realize that it is by virtue of the Sun that hides behind those clouds that you can even see the clouds, it is called Awakening.
The light that illumines the clouds becomes your gateway to the Self-luminous Sun. Consciousness is the self-luminating Sun that illuminates every object in the space, include the one identified as “me.” The objects (thoughts, feelings, sensations, and emotions) have no independent existence apart from the Sun; this is referred to as Emptiness in Buddhism.
So if we can’t access the Sun directly, we can work with the dark clouds of obsessive thinking and inner chatter. Which means giving total attention to thoughts and emotions, till their source is revealed. We don’t have to be concerned with the process or it’s progress. All we have to do is watch with a non-judgmental awareness or what I also call as the spacious presence. As more time is spent in this presence, the time itself dissolves in it, revealing the source.
This presence or awareness is so ordinary and yet so profound; again a paradox. This presence is the only space where you can truly get to know yourself. Where you can go beyond the self-image that is created by external agencies. Every moment, when you’re present, is an opportunity to mitigate this boundary between the inner and the outer world that causes pain and suffering.
This ordinary experience of being aware (being fully alive) is the deepest peace or healing that we long for. Peace can’t be attained through efforts. Peace is the Self-luminous Sun that is always here and now.
With love always,
Jagjot
