Thought is a camera-click away from reality.

Thought is a camera-click away from reality. The photo pretends to be reality but there is a world of difference between the flat photo and the reality of rolling hills. The personal self is a snap-shot distance away from fundamental reality.

There is something closer than thought, more immediate and intimate. It spills up in the tiny gaps between thought, the reality between the shutter-clicks of the mind.

If we call it something it becomes a thought.

What is closer than thought is elusive in that it cannot be pinned down in words, but it is abundant and accessible as the wind. Call it Life or awareness or don't call it anything at all, and don't think about it, but do pay attention to it. And realize the important distinction between thinking about something and direct looking or awareness.

I've tried to think my way to clarity for years and all it did was muddy the waters. Thinking has been my one paddle through life and it has been running me in circles, getting me nowhere. Not to denigrate the marvelous capacity for thought, but it can become like the field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz, and I am fenced into a very small region of reality when I live primarily in the dream of thought.

It seems that often a point of extremis must be reached before the compulsion to dig with the brain is finally broken.
The shovel snaps.
Dumb awareness, so long ignored by the haughty brain, turns out to be the great, ignored treasure. Awareness may be dumb in the sense of nonverbal, but it is not dumb in the sense of unintelligent. Awareness is intrinsically brimming with pure intelligence.

When it comes to being oneself, there's nothing to mull over. There's nothing to work out mentally. Realization isn't about thinking but about direct looking into the reality of one's being in this very instant.

It's entirely possible to settle back into this awareness from which the mind is witnessed. The conditioning of the mind doesn't have to broken, it merely needs to be recognized as conditioning and nothing more, it is not an entity.

Freedom from the mind is not found in the mind but in awareness. That which witnesses is free from that which is witnessed. Seeing just happens. Awareness happens effortlessly all the time and can be noticed in any moment. The embryo in the womb just grows. Galaxies whirl. It's the One Life that we all are. I am in no way separate from this One Life, no one is separate from it. Who needs success, fame, or a glorious story? All these are nothing compared to the magnificence of simply being alive. There is a great, unrecognized wealth of being that can easily be enjoyed by any human being. Jack is here and it's time for me to help look for our two missing ferrets, Happy Valentine's Day to you.