Within the Dream ...

Persistent self-centered stories arise within the dream of thought, including stories about being a victim, being unloved or unworthy and a host of other stories. The list is endless. These stories are triggered in everyday experiences and relationships. There is a tendency to try to fix these storylines through thinking, mental analysis, strategies or self-help techniques. But thinking is precisely the cause of these stories. The stories are just “me” thoughts entertained on a regular basis.
Spiritual awakening is not about fixing thought-created problems with the same mind that creates the problems. You cannot fix the dream from within the dream. Awakening is available only when there is a seeing of what you are beyond these stories.

“Beyond” is such a funny word because it sounds as if you have to find some place “beyond” where you are now—some future moment. That just is not true. “Beyond” means that there is an awareness right here, right now—prior to each of these stories. This awareness is here regardless of whether there is thinking or no thinking. In fact, this awareness is what allows thinking to arise.

By simply noticing the stories when they arise, and resting as the awareness that is looking at those stories, the stories lose their power. It is realized that what you are is already free of the stories. No amount of thinking about thinking can provide that degree of clarity and peace.



Scott Kiloby,
Reflections of the One Life:
Daily Pointers to Enlightenment