Arrive

Arrive: 

to let each word arrive, that's the approach I take with writing, and honestly it's the only way anything is ever accomplished even if not realized. As an author I am more of a participant of a process than actual entity, a component of infinite sources gathered for a moment at my desk. I have no real say in how this all arrives, any of it, or even why the urge to write strikes me so early in the morning. Everything finds me in it's own way and time, and I am no longer bound to the illusion of an author in sole control of what will be written. It's all a mystery, each word, thought, and urge. 

this too is how the world arrives.

it's the realization of how little say there is to any condition, although there's great belief in personal control of certain situations, believing that we wield influence on events vastly beyond our point of understanding. Yet mostly, on a deeper level, we know this isn't really so. There's no true choice on the most fundamental matters of life, only our response, and even this is based again on infinite sources beyond our capabilities to know. 

we simply live as mystery.

and this isn't as fearful as I once believed, it's now a matter of faith that everything arrives completely on it's own and that my only role is one of preparation and patience. I know that words will appear and I find myself at my desk each morning, coffee at hand, waiting, eager for their surprise. I am prepared for their arrival and it happens without fail. I have no idea how any of this happens, but I'm certain that I'm not the sole cause of their appearance, inspiration being so much more than any power I control. 

really, it's a great relief, to now simply play my part of author and allow ideas to find me, having faith in the entire mystery and process that oversees every aspect of the world. I prepare for words, trusting in their appearance, listening to the urge that guides me to desk and keyboards. I'm simply part of this great mystery, inspired by reason of my existence, with nothing more needed than to know I am alive. Writing happens.

words arrive.

it's a pretty easy process. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Distinctions

Distinctions: 

at some point there no longer seems to be the need to make distinctions, certain ones at least, what was once labeled as spiritual issues are laid aside for the sake of simply being alive, engaged with life on every level, and matters called on to debate no longer hold an interest. Yes, I meditate, and I have what might be called a spiritual practice, one of inquiry and art, creative and full of curiosity and wonder. My bookshelves are full of classic titles of spirituality and I still enjoy them all along with new discoveries. 

but there's nothing to gain from this, no destination of enlightenment.

I have arrived.

sort of. 

what I've really discovered is that beginning and endpoint are in truth the same exact location, and that only a distinction of apparent measurement implies a destination. I will never be enlightened, not in the sense that I will gain a greater consciousness than what's existing now, or find myself gifted with a keener state of awareness that wasn't mine before. To make distinctions between presence and absence is to miss the motion of the world. 

nothing is ever truly missing.

just distinctions made.

this is why debate is futile, again at least on these matters, arguing on the existence of a self is only the appearance of a self debating to an empty hall. There's no issue here to prove, no absolute truth to reach, and no point to really make. Whatever appears is real, but only in a sense, and doesn't need defending, nor proof of its existence. And of course every appearance too comes as an illusion, that its reality hinges on infinite points of conditions being in a certain and specific way, and any shift of view will shine light on the insubstantial reality of any matter. 

it's all just distinctions made.

everything.  

with no point to ever argue. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Just Being

Just being: 

my very life as faith and surrender, natural, and with a certain ease that all is cared for - not a willful act at all, my body functions with a grace beyond my present notice, heart in rhythm, blood easy in its reach and flow, and every breath released without concern of letting go. Everything happens completely on it's own and their is no demand for my attention. This is the art of just being alive, no effort given to the function of either mind or body, simply being, and having faith in my surrender. 

and into this I add a mantra, not so much a word as it is a vibration, a faint idea and frequency that's released as easily as breath and I am equally unconcerned with its return. This isn't an act of concentration, no forceful recall, nor mindful of any action. It's listening, allowing my world to settle on it's own, and again having faith in my surrender. 

it's the easiness of meditation. 

with this there's no concern of thought, no chase to find an empty mind, every thought allowed to appear and wander by, gently, a return to mantra, and then another letting go, easy, natural, and yet profound in the simplicity of its action. The mind settles down without my interference, heart rate slows, and the breath becomes barely noticed in soft and subtle motion of its passing. 

just being.

easy.

natural.

there's faith in this surrender, not in any sense of a personal achievement, nor even of my continuation, but faith in essence, that even when I'm completely surrendered there's something of me that exist within the very fabric of the world. It's similar to breath, existing first and always as air, available to be drawn, near, and certain of location. The breath is air, life, and there's no search to find it, once let go there's no frantic grasp for its return. It's the same with meditation, mantra given the same ease as breath and heartbeat, having faith in its surrender. 

everything let go.

thoughts,

mantra,

breath,

and now...with only faith in my surrender. 

just being.

~

Peace, Eric 

Heart Sutra of A Writing Life

any pressure is always self directed, that if I ever have a demand for words and only find their absence, than it's my own issue of complaint, and not one of inspiration. There are infinite things to write of and an endless flow of words. There's also silence - and it's essential to the writing process. Really, it's essential to all of life, silence is the holy underlie of order, the foundation for words to flourish. Here, I'll use silence and emptiness in synonymous fashion, offering both in the same manner as an allowing space for words and form to come to notice, the Heart Sutra of a writing life...

silence is no less than words.

words are silence in disguise.

emptiness,

form.

it's all the same. 

the issue is my interpretation of silence, my failure to truly listen to what it offers in reply to my demand for words. Silence urges me to pause, to give consideration to something other than the voice of ego, and write with a greater sense of purity, to write more from inspiration than demand. To write like this means to honor silence as often as it comes to my attention, a sacred pause to honor and not move forward with words until they appear without apparent cause. 

inspired.

words appear from silence.

form,

emptiness. 

it's the Heart Sutra of a writing life. 

and it's all the same.

there's absolutely no pressure here, words find themselves to the page through me, I am not their cause and inspiration doesn't happen by demand. It just happens. With this, writing is always a joyful process, every word comes to me as a mystery, a complete story of it's own and I only have to find its order on the page, an arrangement of what's been given. My role is to listen to the pause between words, to not block silence from allowing words to appear in their own particular order, and only once given do I arrange them on the page. Through the Heart Sutra I see that words are not separate from silence, it's not their absence, but more truly so the place of their appearance, a seamless event of inspiration come to form. One thing really...

silence being no less than words.

emptiness,

form. 

it's the Heart Sutra of a writing life.

~

Peace, Eric 

My Surrender

My surrender: 

and I call it my surrender, and yet really I play so little as an active role, everything simply already in the motion of letting go and only now I seem to be aware that this is so. It's not my surrender anymore than I can lay claim to ownership of any aspect of life, believing myself to be solely in control of how it flows, as if I have any say in what stays or goes. Life is far too mysterious for me to have any real sense of being in control, it's a belief that's been surrendered long ago, and again without any choice of my own. It's just a turn of life, how things have happened, and with my response so seamlessly entwined through it all that it's easy for me to believe that I'm in charge. 

but really, 

I've been surrendered long ago.

or at least so it seems - life is motion, continuous, and my surrender occurs through the very same instant I'm reborn as something entirely unique and new, and again it's all so seamless as to be barely noted. This is creation, death and resurrection through instantaneous surrender and becoming, a process of its own accord with absolutely no point of my control. 

I am fully of the process. 

and yet I bear responsibility, as an appearance in this flow there's compassion for how it all unfolds, sorrow for what seems lost even as it's becoming something other than before. My surrender is reality, and so too is each moment of  my becoming, creation being equal in loss and the gain of  brand new worlds. I am Shiva now, destroyer of worlds and the cause for their return.

it's not my surrender at all,

life is simply happening...and I belong fully in it's flow. 

~

Peace, Eric  

Maharishi Effect

Maharishi Effect: 

without answers, but still a wish to heal the world - and with this I resolve to bring just a little more light to all, my own sense of peace overfilled to calm and heal others who are near, really, to simply meditate and have this be my point of action. I know that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi claimed that if a small percentage of people meditated that it would influence society as the whole, lowering crime rate and raising consciousness throughout the entire population. This was dubbed the Maharishi Effect and has been studied and researched for its validity. My own sense is that it's true, or at least so in essence, and my own meditation practice seems to bear this out. Of course I could be wrong, the Maharishi might have been wishful in belief and I could be overly optimistic of my practice. 

and yet...

it's what I have to offer, my own peace of mind is given to the world daily, my light impartial in its shine, and every action of consequence is from this point of love. I am the Maharishi Effect, an influence through the immediacy of my contacts. This isn't through any mystical means, it isn't a web of yogic powers that reaches deep within the thoughts of those around me. I'm just happier now, more apt to give a smile, forgive, and be attentive, compassionate, and empathetic towards others. I am also guided through my politics and beliefs, wishing a greater good for the world, taking conscious action with such things as dietary choices, where and how I do my shopping, little things with no apparent effect measured, but add value to how I experience life. 

will meditation end violence? 

heal the rift of our political discord? 

yes.

because it only needs to influence one person, being a personal Maharishi Effect, bringing just a bit of light to our own small choices made daily and how they ripple through the world. Meditation isn't the only answer, far from it, but it's my answer to an almost overwhelming sense of sorrow to where we are right now. I meditate and take spontaneous action to heal my own rift between myself and others until there seems to be no real distance found between us, no discord of beliefs and views, and we arrive to a simple truth of one existence with infinite points of our expression. 

this isn't being idealistic, it's far more practical than theory - it's my personal Maharishi Effect, offering peace through my own small practice, a little thing, true, but it's immediate, effecting my world right now, healing, and it's what I have to offer. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Headless

Headless: 

this doesn't need an origin story, no description at all really, although it's an allowing place for anything to be told - I am aware, conscious of being so, and this is all I know for certain. My origin is always right now, this present moment only, and it's impossible to truly describe by using words alone, and this why we point to our headless reality, a gesture that shows us who we really are. 

I'll try and be brief here, concise in explanation, with the most critical thing being to point and be witness to this in an instant, not relying on my secondhand account of a reality that's occurring always now. The claim is that we're headless and we take this with obvious disbelief, knowing full well exactly where our head is and ready to dismiss this silly assertion. Yet this meditation begins by simply asking for proof, immediate information to make certain this is so, and it requires a little humor, curiosity to explore why this would even be questioned. The truth is that we've never seen our head, our eyes have never been witness to themselves, and that we've always relied on the secondhand information of mirrors, photos, and what we've been told by others. 

look for yourself. 

here's the simple practice, pointing first to any object and note it briefly in description, that it has shape and color, appearing separate from whatever its neighbor. Now point to the obvious object of your head, that it should have similar attributes as any object and just as easily noted. There's a tendency to fill this space with information we've been told by others, a description given by mirrors and photos, and yet none of this is the truth appearing right before us - we are absent to our very own eyes, emptiness in the one place that's always held assurance.

headless.

but more, really, so much more - this is the headless reality that holds the world's promise, emptiness proving to be capacity for the universe appearing. This is our discovery of what we most truly are, the Heart Sutra of form and emptiness being just the same. It's an instant meditation, available at any moment's notice. 

yes, we are headless, yet our head appears to others, a seamless trade of grace and wonder as we hold their appearance sacred as our own. We have given our capacity as a gift for all the world, nothing to be excluded, unconditional in truest sense of love. In my absence, I see you, through emptiness I am your embrace, and it all happens without effort of my own, being simply how the world appears. There's no origin story here, everything simply is, and somehow we're all included, instantly, and always in this very moment. It defies description, and so we rely upon a gesture...

~

Peace, Eric