“The mind and feelings are external, but you take them to be intimate. You believe the world to be objective, while it is entirely a projection of your psyche. That is the basic confusion and no new explosion will set it right! You have to think yourself out of it. There is no other way.”
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Spiritual Teacher
I have done stupid crazy things believing the mind’s voice to be real. I destroyed art, broke relationships, left friendships, quit jobs abruptly, kept running from one place to another, spent money impulsively, and more. I did it all! In the hope that “my” feelings were telling me something – a message from the universe. However, as I look back, I see that these feelings were fickle and rooted in separation (fear).
The origin of these feelings that seem so real in the moment was not the Universe or God, but my own me-fear-center. The fear center convinces us in the moment that the “other” (people, environment, things, and circumstances) is the problem. Only if the other changed their behavior or understood how I feel, the problem would be solved.
Caught-up in that fear thought, I could not be present to the reality of What-Is. I was waiting for a miracle to happen. Waiting for the moment when I’ll be seen and understood for who I am. The irony was that I didn’t even know who I am. I lived with the idea of self-image. I imagined myself to be an artist and a free thinker who doesn’t care about the world. But I cared! I was terrified of people’s opinions.
Therefore, to protect this self-image, I would look at the “right” environment to nurture my artistic capabilities. And the mind convinced me that once I moved away, I would discover this amazing utopian environment in the solitude of the mountains and raw nature that would facilitate and motivate me. However, those places come with fresh challenges: landslide, wild-life threat, erratic electricity, construction, traffic, loud music either while locals are celebrating traditional ceremonies or when tourists flock to the mountains to escape summer heat of the plains. And many more issues like occasional forest fire, disruption of food and essentials, etc.
Certainly, make your environment as comfortable as possible. Start your life wherever you are by embracing whatever your surroundings offer. It’s not the home, surrounding, or people, who are problem. It is your mind! When you make decisions after the separative mind’s storm of barraging feelings and emotions has subsided and presence has restored, you will not live with regret.
There’s no right environment. There’s no right moment other than NOW. In the NOW, there is spaciousness to examine how the mind is playing tricks. Witnessing the separative mind is the end of it! That’s why Maharaj says you have to think yourself outside of it and there’s no other way.
With love,
Jagjot
