Available

and more now, it seems - I've been made 

available to all the world 

offers,

through no effort of my own

just a simple recognition that this too, whatever is appearing, happening, is not apart from me in any measurable way. And even if unwelcome, well, that feeling too is but an appearance in this one great, allowing - and in this, a nod yes to each occurrence, I find myself available to it all. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

In All But It's Belonging

with no lines drawn between - a wing is in 

contrast to sky in all but it's 

belonging,

so too - we are this

~

It's just one thing, but seen in contrast and comparisons made by thought and senses - and this is all added beauty to the world. We see that while a bird does indeed exist, it does stand apart from air, or the tree on which it sits. And now found within our view - bird, sky, and tree are all immediate in the acceptance of one existence. Unique, yes - but still one thing. 

Peace,

Eric 

Snow, And Tracks Left Against Me

it's happening here - my own

open nature,

snow falls 

and I wait for coming tracks left

against me.

~

The story is snow, and what will join the storm and leaves it's tracks behind in a story of it's own - aware, and thus my own participation as the whole. 

Peace,

Eric 

And Then...

and then - we see this as the ultimate clue of existence, everything proceeds from this no-thing and cannot be given to description, words being only labels applied to what comes after. First and always there is Being, presence that is found empty of solid understanding - and then the world becomes for no apparent reason other than a mystery of it's own fulfillment. At no point does it exclude itself from the emptiness of it's beginning - the world is form only to the senses, yet still formless capacity for the sake of things to be. 

so - and then brings us from nowhere to this moment, from a blank page to a narrative told, it's the Heart Sutra in only two words. 

and then...

but in truth it all 

happens 

now. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Our View Never Lies

that which belongs - and always 

found within our 

view, 

it's this simplicity that reveals itself again with every glance in both directions - from every object of the world and back to the empty source that allows it all be. We are found as both capacity and fulfillment, scene and seer, object and the emptiness of it's caress. 

our view never lies - even in the shifting 

truth of reality.

what's seen is always one thing - emptiness becoming form and 

then too is our awareness of it all.

and it happens now,

here

this very moment. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Even Here

words - as with 

wings to

air

there's no space found apart from page to the

flight of my imagination.

even here - it's just 

one thing

~

Peace,

Eric 

At Rest

at rest - right here and

always, 

the space of our allowing nature

with nowhere else 

to be

~

it's here, and so often overlooked, that all things are surrendered - mindfulness is only needed to bring us to this seeing. The space we are is the pure capacity of allowing. Nothing is excluded. Even our struggle in accepting what is - and in this we find true peace. 

Peace,

Eric 

Everything - Is My Belonging

and then there's just the seeing - as if 

vanished in the view,

only this

is my belonging

`~

So it's starts as an inquiry, tracing an object held within the view directly back to source - looking for a seer who lurks behind the eyes, casting meaning to scenery as it appears. It's worth trying. Look now and try to find anything that resembles what we've told ourselves about our solid understanding. An honest look reveals our own lack of substance, no eyes are found in our return glance, no head even, and thoughts seem free to wander in the emptiness provided. The inquiry leads to the (re)discovery of an emptiness that precedes form, remains constant in it's present allowing, and is the promise of what it all returns to. But stay with it, keep looking to what else is found within a seeming void - and here lies the world, both personal and at large. 

Everything is found here.

Everything belongs here. 

Everything is simply - here. 

It's emptiness in it's own fulfillment. 

And it's aware. 

What we see now is that it's impossible to be apart from this - scenery unfolds as an aspect of awareness, with the seer simply along for the ride, being part of this fulfillment. This is where we let it all go, no longer an inquiry but just the way things are and have always been - just this, empty, full, aware, life. 

Now it's only seeing. 

And there's nothing more to do - but be.

Peace,

Eric 

It's Always Emptiness Becoming

and so we look - it's that simple, to find our place amidst a world of thought and objects, wishing to know where we fit in. Our view is always of the infinite, and yet attention is trained on the momentary and the small - it seems we miss the obvious space that holds it all together, a void existing for objects to belong. It's in looking that we come to see that nothing of the world stands alone, seamless, there are no lines from air to bird, tree and earth, and scene from seer. It's always emptiness becoming and then again giving way to formless allowing. But always just one thing. Our own view is full in this disclosure - traced back to source we come to emptiness at it's origin, no seer found in resemblance to what we believed we've always known. There's no one there to watch the view, no central command to give order to the world - and yet, somehow, this spaciousness is aware, and knows it's function is to simply hold it all without compare, pure and no conditions. Perhaps better said - we find our place as love. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

And Then The Sky

and then the sky - but still, and always there

remains our own open 

nature, 

just extended as the view. 

~

It doesn't change in vital essence, still one thing in the guise of every form and the boundlessness of it's true nature. We meet ourselves in the view, each object belonging to and of awareness, as well as the very spaciousness that allows it all to be. So we come to the sky - and of ourselves we are no different than a star, light gathered in given form, and not apart from the infinite reach of our surroundings. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

It's Just That Simple

it's just as simple, to find ourselves in a place of allowing ease, everything belonging by virtue of their appearance - it's just as simple as our opposition. Even more so. There is no real practice that will teach us to receive, no method to petition grace on behalf of what we feel we lack and need. This all happens on it's own, as does grace and the advent of our awakening - the will of everything is to be, change, and give itself away to motion. That's the nature of allowing, and it's the empty core of what we are - simple, pure, allowing. 

So what's to practice? 

And where's the struggle? 

Yet even both belong - if they happen they're immediate in their acceptance. 

It's just that simple. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Without Participation

appearing here - and it's this seeing that 

allows all things to 

simply be, 

without participation

yet fully belonging to the

world.

~

Once seen, serving as open capacity for the fulfillment of the world - there can be no real claim of  our direct participation. Certainly we are not inactive, and yes there are consequences to our actions, but now seeing ourselves first in emptiness and then followed as form, there is no individual present calling order to world. It's not that things happen on their own - no, it's that everything is happening in accordance as a whole, one thing displaying itself as wind and dancing leaf, ocean and wave, a birds wing lifted by the sky, and you with the world being held within the view. We are not mere participants - we are the All and One Thing. 

Happening. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Constant In This Suggestion

it's only a suggestion - perhaps a hint given to the cause of mystery, a whisper from the unheard to our ears alone. We are urged to explore our hidden nature, to find what's more than the world in view and come directly to the source the holds the view. 

It's our wish to see in the absent of a seer. 

To simply be the listening. 

The truth is - our every desire is to 

know ourselves 

again, 

and the world is constant in this suggestion. 

Look

Listen 

Be 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Mystery In Full Extension of Itself

and my own becoming is the mystery - sudden form from emptiness, and even more surprising is the aware nature of it all. There seems to be no break between a spaciousness that I'm able to explore, to wander through with note from my attention - and then find myself included in a solid world. It's one thing as far as my own experience shows me. So this awake/emptiness is a mystery, I find no origin, no explanation of why it came to be - and too there is no place found that is apart from me, from every object of the world. 

It's just mystery in full extension of itself. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

An Update To My Own Heart Sutra

and no origin found - every inquiry leads me to

this, selfless, with no point to claim

singularly as my own. 

this beginning seems two ways - from emptiness there comes form, and I can trace myself in this emergence, an aware space with a sudden world appearing. But too there is seeing my own solidness come back to nothing, perhaps more, there is no defined line between the two - as if really there's no true distinction of emptiness and form aside from my perception. 

so I lay claim to nothing, and 

everything as well. 

it seems to be all one thing

after all.

~

Peace,

Eric 

Everything I know - Is Right Here

so what do we really know? How much of our lives are lived by speculation, or inherited beliefs that may not have even served those who've come before. My own answer has been surprising, and not that I am not appreciative of what's been given to me by others, I have been blessed by many wonderful teachers who have offered me the best of what they hold as wise and true. But are they mine? Again, what do I truly know? In matters aside from daily living - the answer is very little. And in this I have found myself liberated from having to hold an opinion on such matters as religion, spiritual beliefs, life before or after death, and thousand of things that are not possible for me to know. I could speculate, and aside from the amusement provided, I would still remain as clueless on these matters as before. It's just not possible for me to know a single thing outside this moment - and that's more than enough and in it's scope provides an infinite understanding. 

I know that I am aware. 

This alone opens the world to a greater depth of knowing, exploring, inquiring into the very nature of this awareness. 

Who is it that's aware? 

From this aware place that seems to be my central knowing - are there lines of division to distinguish between awareness and what's found here? 

So far my answers no. 

But I keep looking. 

Not for answers, but to further explore all that's been offered to me right here, in this present moment, and the only time I find in this awareness. 

Now. 

So what do I really know? 

Nothing. 

And my world unfolds from here. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Another Note About Forgiveness

it's forgiveness, yet only in it's 

most true sense. 

there's nothing extended to another, no offering of graciousness between us, nor understanding of the faults we share between us. It's not about us - forgiveness is the natural acceptance of the small and large, everything already shown it's place to belong and just as easily to be let go. There's no struggle, and no amount of effort - it's simply the ease of each moment and the grace that comes by our accordance. 

we forgive instantly, always, and only 

later recall the past with

grievance. 

forgiveness is a concept given to what simply happens on it's own. 

in it's most true sense, it's 

what we are. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

But Then It Always Was

this is the time of letting go - but in truth it happens always, and forever on it's own. There's no method, it's not a practice for the means of improving a sense of self. It's simply, only, the recognition of what's taking place within each moment - the allowance for things to be, a spacious hold for however long they stay, and the openness for all things to leave in the time they have reached their passing. There is no role for me in any of this, it's the ease of life without my added complications - and knowing so well my familiar grasp, my own denial, and wish for other circumstances, I now prefer the means of grace to play it's fortune through my life. 

It's complete surrender. 

But then it always was - yet now 

I am aware. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Eight Years and One More Lesson

Eight years ago on this day my mother passed away, one breath was all that stood between her and death, and once taken - she was gone. I think about that often, that one and final breath, wondering about my own last inhalation and release. My mother struggled with Alzheimer's for quite sometime before her death. I had the good fortune and sadness to be one of her caregivers - it was an apprenticeship of grace, with many lessons learned and relearned of patience, the tenderness of hurt, and the daily grief of witnessing a loved one lose themselves in a haze of past and present. It never stopped hurting, for any of us. 

But I wonder now if my mother suffered. She was cared for with great love, my father seldom ever left her side and my brother and sister were a constant presence. Her needs were met, none us ever stopped relating to her as person, there was always respect for who she was and remained. I certainly witnessed moments of fear, her clear forgetfulness of self and the rush to reclaim a memory, any memory that would anchor her to the present - but so often, once this was let go there was a true calm and peace to what she found right within the present moment. 

She let go. 

Eight years gone now and I think about that letting go - my own struggle to find a sense of peace in a chaotic world, my spiritual pursuit of a surrendering self and ego, searching for a profound understanding that would lead me to a place of freedom. My mother let go, each moment of confusion she found herself in she let go, it was utterly without hope, but done with a faith that only true surrender can bring. She wasn't giving up, there was no fight or grasp to hold onto a single thing, it was just a letting go into the present - and all that might contain. Here, into her surrender, it was okay for worlds to collide, for past to be alive within this very instant, and no need to be otherwise. It was enough for her to be right now. 

So eight years and I think I finally get it. 

It's always a time of letting go. 

There's always grace in our surrender. 

And there is no need for me to be other than exactly what I am right now. 

I get it.

Thank you mom - for one more lesson. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Through The Grace of Mystery

vast - yet this too fails in

our description. 

through our endlessness we give rise to oceans, mountains, and stretching further to infinite stars and planets. And too we hold a single blade of grass, particles and their hidden nature, all in the intimacy of singular devotion. This - with no effort or will of our own. It simply happens through the grace of mystery. 

to see ourselves in true capacity - we trace our line of vision from object, back to the source from which the view began. We look for the solid form of a seer, and in it's absence (if indeed one is not found - look) we note the emptiness, and more we see too how it holds our world - from the single blade of grass to again every star. It's this space that allows life to be expressed in such unique fashion, gives room for our expansion in such creative ways, and never reaches a point where one more thing is not accepted. 

Everything belongs here. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

This Includes The Asking

again - am I

aware?

and this includes the

asking

~

it's simple - am I aware? And again an answer is not what's needed, the question directed solely at the mystery of our existence. I have no idea of any cosmic origin, nor any belief on what's to come after - right now, in this one and only moment - I am aware, I exist, and see no point that breaks apart in view of what is found. 

It's all one thing. 

Peace,

Eric 

Am I?

it's an open ended inquiry - nothing is provided in the sense of a definitive, final, conclusion. We're not looking for answers. It's simply the asking, abiding in the calm of not knowing, and more so, the spaciousness of not needing to know anything beyond what held with the moment. We inquire only as a means to direct attention - and then it's all a letting go. 

It's one question:

Am I aware? 

Allow whatever follows, ask again if the question reappears. There's no need to be mindful, to force attention to a certain sense we wish to achieve. 

Just ask.

~

Peace,

Eric 

Seamless and Unbroken

seamless - as if space could be found between wing and

air, and the flight that takes place within my

own imagination. 

it's all unbroken

~

Peace,

Eric 

What We Are Is Just The Seeing

turning my attention back towards the origin of the view, from whatever object found to a direct line in search of seer - and it's there I always find my absence, as well as the fullness of all that I am. It's an honest look, perhaps the truest thing I'm capable of ever really seeing. Everything else has been layered by the stories given through a lifetime. To truly see a tree is to dismiss all I've ever told myself, or believed about a tree - in the emptiness of a viewer, there is awareness of sudden form contoured within it's own formless nature. No lines to know of any divide, from earth to tree and on to sky, and too my own aware belonging. 

But even this is just a story. 

As it happens, it's a raw, story-less transmission of - wonder, mystery. 

It's timeless. 

Beyond the concept of time, actually. 

And then I'm back, and it's all just another story - yet it's never quiet the same again, the belief in a self that owns a solid world is shaken to it's core. Shattered, really. This, then, is seeing, and it's always available, able to be repeated in any moment with no need to add a single thing. Anything added would only be another story. 

What we are is just the seeing. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

In The Grace of a Different Kind of Flight

it's not about faith - no bird believes itself as foreign to air and 

must earn it's flight through faith and deed.

there's simply flight. 

so too we find our own

unbound nature,

it's the same air - given in the

grace of a different 

kind of

flight 

and no faith needed for us to fly

~

A bird just flies, it's nothing special - and it's a miracle displayed of the grace of being. It's the same ordinary miracle of our own living, we need no faith to display the divinity of breath, our touch against earth, and awareness of this moment. 

We simply are. 

Again it's the grace of being.

Nothing special.

But equal to every miracle ever. 

Peace,

Eric 

The First and Last Realization

my first realization - was gratefulness. To find that my view, at it's original point of source, was simply absent of a viewer, became an instant appreciation that from this nothing - I appeared. But too, from this same emptiness there was suddenly the world as well. It's been an awe maintained even as it's grown more subtle in my continued act of seeing. 

There seems to be no apparent reason for anything to be, to emerge as form and live amidst a solid world. I'm not sure I really need a reason any longer - it's an instant, fully realized miracle to find myself here while at the same time maneuvering through the very same formless nature of my start. One has not let go to become another - the essence of emptiness is as true for me now as it was before I came to form, and even more profound since I am humbled by the mystery of it all. 

Perhaps the first realization will also be my very last - to be grateful to have found myself here, alive, and full of wonder. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

It's The Same Air

it's the same air of our 

allowance -

that which welcomes every branch and blade of grass, and gives itself open, empty, for a birds flight and song. It's life drawn, and then offered back in thankful exhalation. There is no line of division that keeps this from a shared existence, no distance from wind to wing, or the songs note and space provided for it's listening. 

it's all one thing. 

so too we find ourselves amidst and mingled, not apart from the very formlessness that's pressed against us - indeed we are only borrowed form for the sake of this experience, emptiness gathered for the briefness of this lifetime. 

what it is, what it all is - is simply one thing in full allowance to itself, constant in it's giving, never full even in all that it (we) have welcomed. 

nothing is, nor can be,

excluded. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

Small Currents and Infinite Waters

it's the grace of allowing just one

small thing -

and so my view expands to the

details of the world.

~

Here we find that life is beyond the realm of choice, that while we have our preferences and a certain role to play in interactions with the world - we remain a smaller current in a river run wild in it's reach through infinite waters. By virtue of appearance - everything is allowed, even our wish for life to be otherwise than presented now. 

It all belongs.

Our grace is found in this acceptance.

Of course we may still find ourselves striving for what seems a better world, or expanding effort to achieve a noble cause. Our natural surrender isn't defeat - it's the simple realization that life continues in it's onward stretch, always a mystery, everything fitting within some larger understanding. Really, it's just peeking past our finite current - and glimpsing the infinite waters that we truly are. 

Peace,

Eric 

There's Just Belonging

and then - there's just 

belonging,

no sense that there is anything other than what is present, full, and of 

equal measure in this moment. 

it's at that point when I truly claim to be seeing - for even the labeling of what's found within my view is held without the notion that anything could possibly exist without belonging to the whole. It's a seamless reality. 

in this light, seeing is the same as belonging to what's seen - we share the same place of emergence, an emptiness found before and then a suddenness of being, it's a continuous spread of presence, from formless to form and traded back again in endless fashion. 

to see this, my shared origin story with the 

world - is to understand, everything, 

always, 

simply belongs. 

~

Peace,

Eric 

And Our Breath Too

a birds wing is not 

foreign to 

air,

and our breath too is this very

same connection.

it's all one thing.

~

Peace,

Eric 

How Do We Fix a Broken Ghost?

and what if there were no self in need of improvement? Our assumption is one of identity based on thoughts that we have inherited from others, an accumulation of false layers that provide flesh for a false sense of being. We have made this self real. And we believe it's broken. Yet the truth is that our sense of self is a phantasm of thought, no inherent reality of it's own, it has to be gathered by memories and can't exist on it's own within the present moment. So how do we fix a broken ghost? Or perhaps better asked, why would we attempt to? Of course none of this matters if we first can't see through the facade of self, and then allow it it's place within the reality of presence. How do we do this? Investigate. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the self you believe you are is indeed a true and solid self that roams separate from others through the world. But maybe if we look, if we inquire deeply on the nature of looking itself, a search to find a seer separate from scenery, a thinker in the absent of thought, a person that exists apart from the same existence that holds the world - maybe the same drive that seeks improvement is simply the desire to remember ourselves as whole. And maybe not - yet it seems an endless task to fix various aspects of a self that may or may not be even real. Even a little energy towards the revelation of what we are may be enough to give us freedom from the compulsion of becoming something greater, more, and lasting. We may find that within this freedom, a freedom of self that needs improvement - that we still do all the things we did before in the effort to build a better self. 

The only difference now is that it's done for no one - and happens

entirely on it's own. 

For the sake of it's own mystery and 

fulfillment. 

~

Peace,

Eric