You remind yourself that these are internal words you are repeating. You could write them down. Okay, so now you recognize this is a thought. You notice a slight bit of relief. You start to come back a bit into the present.

“What is this like when I dissolve all expectations of what it should be like?”

“His great will and power are inexhaustible. He charges to the high plateau far above the cloud-mists, or in an impenetrable ravine he stands. He dwelt in the forest a long time . . . infatuation for scenery interferes with his direction. Longing for sweeter grass, he wanders away.” —Fourth Oxherding Picture

Our ability to run off into thoughts and stories that used to offer us false comfort in the form of distraction is now waning. At other times, there is peace, timelessness, and flow. It becomes obvious that we are not in control of when we feel peace and clarity, and when we feel resistance patterns and disorientation. With this recognition, a cert

“Astride the bull, I reach home. I am serene. The bull too can rest. The dawn has come. Within my thatched dwelling I have abandoned the whip and rope. All is one law, not two. We only make the bull a temporary subject. It is as the relation of rabbit and trap, of fish and net. It is as gold and dross, or the moon emerging from a cloud. One path of

At some point, you will have to be willing to let go of your life as you know it.

The beauty of this is that it doesn’t matter how far into that reflection stream you appear to be; the moment you recognize your identity as the capacity to reflect and the purely conscious “stuff” that makes up everything, the whole struggle instantly vanishes.

“What we are looking for is what is looking.” —St Francis of Assisi

“What is this experience like if I have nothing to compare it to, meaning I can’t reference any previous experience, be it spiritual or otherwise?”