Holding onto the truth of ‘what is’ is an essential element when it comes to making informed decisions in life. If we can’t believe what we’re being told, how can we make meaningful decisions as individuals and as communities of individuals who live together?
What is it that makes me even raise this topic for reflection and discussion? It’s because today’s world is filled with deliberate misrepresentation of what is true, with the use of false equivalencies, ‘alternative’ facts, conspiracy theories and delusional thinking. This is especially true in our political world. We still have assertions that the presidential election of 2020 was ‘stolen,’ despite more than 60 court decisions that affirmed that this wasn’t the case.
This same dynamic is present in our American culture today. Much of today’s misinformation has to do with people being sold misinformation that is fed to them by certain political platforms, like Fox News. Without any information to the contrary, people are left with what they’ve heard and have nothing to compare with what they’ve been told.
Mindfulness and life’s simple truths
By deviating from the truth of what is, we create an environment of suffering and pain within ourselves and within our communities. On that note, my Buddhist practice has exposed me to some indelible truths about life. One 2,600-year-old Buddhist truth is that the source of all suffering is ignorance, or not knowing what we don’t know. Another source of suffering occurs when we believe in something that is at odds with what is, what was or what will be. In other words, when we believe misinformation.
Still another truth is that when we’re caught up in reactive thinking, we’re being caught up in the painful storylines that we’ve created while trying to make sense out of what we believe about ourselves and life. It’s as if we develop an inner critic who makes up storyline-based conclusions about who we are.
Our mindfulness practice is about bringing our awareness into the present moment without judgment and with compassion. Adyashanti writes, “Awareness is that part of us that perceives and witnesses our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and body.”
It can be quite transformative to realize that you’re not what you thought you were, that you’re not your feelings, your beliefs, your personality or your ego. You’re something other than that, something that resides on the inside, at the innermost core of your being. For the moment, we’re calling that something awareness itself.
What is the antidote to taking these paths that lead us to suffering? Our salvation from suffering is to live in the present moment. By living in the moment, we’re present with each heartbeat, each in-breath and each out-breath from moment to moment.
When we’re caught up in our storylines, we’re listening to our words. We become hooked by the storylines they create, and we either relive the past or rehearse something hurtful that may happen in the future.
Reactive thinking vs. awareness
When we’re being controlled by our reactive thinking, we’re filled with fear, ignorance, judgments, myths and interpretations about ourselves and others. We’re incomplete, never good enough, always striving for completion.
On the other hand, when we’re in touch with our awareness, our thoughts reflect insight, creativity and wisdom that’s far beyond anything our reactive thinking can imagine. We move from a life of doing things to find our identity to a life of being who we are in the present moment.
Jon Kabat-Zinn has written that “When we are truly present, in the now, our natural state of being is to be compassionate and to feel empathy with another person and with living beings.” When we’re in the present moment, we watch our thoughts and feelings as we’d watch water flowing over a waterfall.
When we’re in the now of the moment, we bring our awareness into the now, we’re present in the now and we live in the truth of the now.
Reflections on My Gift of Life
When I’m not in awareness, I’m reactive,
stuck in storylines I’ve created over the course
of my formative years.
When I’m in awareness, I’m at one with my essence.
I observe things as they are and am able to be responsive
with individuals and issues that present themselves.
With awareness, I’m able to be compassionate and
kind. I can see any reaction before it’s expressed
and stop its expression.
With awareness, I can observe that “this is the way it is.”
I’m able to ‘let go’ of any storyline reaction I have about the way
things should be.
With awareness, my essence is expressed in words and
in interactions with others and all sentient beings.
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image: Michael_Luenen