Without Your Story, What Are You?

But when it’s for a “someone” we imagine ourselves to be, then it’s never enough, for the energy of seeking is never satisfied.” –Michael Jeffreys “The mind” (the reason for the quotation marks is because the mind, if investigated, is ultimately unfindable and thus a concept) has a story about who it thinks “you” are based on everything that has apparently ever happened in your past. I.e., the family your body was born into, where that body grew up, where it went to school, jobs/titles it has held, friends it has had, traumas it has appeared to suffer, how it’s been wounded and needs to heal, etc. (By the way, note that all stories exist in the mental realm only, as the body itself has no story!) And these stories, when believed, are very convincing! However, is this the absolute TRUTH of your being? In other words, is “your story” what you actually, as in literally, are? And if so, which story are you prepared to go “all-in” on and claim is the real you? I’ve looked, and I can’t find one. Can you? Really look. Actually taking the time to really look for yourself is what sets the direct path teachings apart from every other philosophy/spiritual path. It’s allowing your own direct experience to have the final say, rather than what a book, video, friend, family member, or guru tells you. It’s a knowing that is not second hand or mediated, but unmediated, direct and obvious. What if there is just THIS? (THIS being whatever is presently happening). That despite the mind’s never ending attempts to label and define everything—including you!, Life is completely and utterly unknowable, and thus defies all attempts to label it! How do you define or accurately label something that is never static, but always in a state of flux, forever changing? It’s like trying to define a raging river... as soon as you say, “I’ve got it figured out; it’s this way!” it’s no longer the case as it’s already moving on to becoming something else.

The mind’s nature is to seek, but never actually find. Which is why the story of “as soon as I get all my ducks in a row,” i.e., as soon as I have enough health, money, love, friendship, security, etc, then I will be happy is a fantasy. Because it is coming from the assumption that happiness is not located here and now, but somewhere in the future. But the thing about the future is that it only exits as a linguistic concept, and not as an actuality. Can you actually find, as in touch, the future? No, because as Eckhart Tolle reminds us, all you have ever experienced is NOW. And the thing about the NOW is that it’s not located anywhere, because it’s ALL that IS. And because it is ALL that IS, it doesn’t require any story. And if NOW, which is inherently inclusive and leaves nothing out, doesn’t require a story, then you don’t either, unless you believe you are somehow separate from THIS moment? Pause for a moment and let that sink in. One question that can be helpful in seeing through the illusory, but compelling nature of seeking is: Does the seeking voice in my head actually have ANY verifiable substance behind it? In other words, other than the compulsion to seek, is there anything more to it than that? What proof do you have that it can actually make good on its numerous claims? And if it really could, wouldn’t it have delivered by now? How many years/decades must you continue to chase your tail before admitting that it always remains just out of reach? But perhaps you have to keep doing it in order to see the futility of doing it. To become so exhausted and stressed out from constantly trying to micromanage the moment, that eventually you give up out of sheer exhaustion. And, having exhausted all your tries and strategies, you simply (and truly for the first time in your life) just STOP. Stop trying to do or not do anything, and instead just silently BE as you are and have always been. Does being as you already are require any story? –Michael Jeffreys What if whatever you are, whether we call it “Consciousness” or “Awareness” (or any other label) doesn’t need ANY story to exist? That in fact ANY story is an artificial mind generated overlay that, when believed in, is the very thing that is blocking your direct experience of the natural peace that is already fully and effortlessly present? So what’s the “solution”? My suggestion is to just Let Go. Just for a moment, drop all attempts to define, figure out, or understand anything that is presently arising. When thoughts come claiming that there are reasons why, in this moment, letting go is not possible, simply let that thought go. And when another thought comes that says, “Yeah, but...” let that go too. Just keep letting go until there is nothing left to let go of.

The key is that you have to actually do it if you want to experience the “peace beyond all understanding.” This is because it’s not merely an intellectual understanding, but an energetic shift in perspective that must be experienced directly for it to have any power. When you let go of needing to know or figure out anything, it can begin to dawn on you that it was the attempt to try to hold on to or improve an “I” or “Me” that only ever existed as a concept, that was the source of your suffering. Once you are clear on what you are not, and in fact have never been, then the ever-present truth of your eternal essence begins to effortlessly shine through and with it a natural joy and peace which is beyond anything the mind can ever imagine. If you are interested in delving deeper into this topic of, “Without Your Story, What are You?,” I invite you to check out the CE Blogtalk radio show I recently appeared on, with my two welcoming and engaging hosts, Mark DeNicola and Amanda Monteiro, titled (surprise, surprise!), “Without Your Story, What are You?,” which you can listen to below: .

Read the full article at the original website