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The following is an extract from
the above book, Love's Quiet Revolution:
the End of the Spiritual Search.
Purchase from US or UK.
Visit Scott's website - Reflections
of the One Life,
where other essays may be
read and videos watched on-line.
See Scott's entry on the Western
Writers page. |
Notice that life is a symphony
of sights, sounds, smells, sensations, thoughts,
feelings, states, and experiences. Notice that
the beautiful music of this symphony can only
be fully realized when there is no self pretending
to be the conductor.
Notice how beautiful and big, and yet how empty, the space
around you is when you go outside. It never ends. It embraces
you.
Notice that there are no problems until a thought
reaches up to label something within your field
of awareness as a “problem.” “Problems” are
perfectly designed to keep self-centeredness in place because
you get to think about them, analyze them, and complain to
yourself and others about them, including about how you are
or are not overcoming them. This keeps the focus on you.
Life is simply happening. It is not happening
to you. It is happening whether you resist it
or welcome it. You only think it is happening
to you. This mode of thinking helps you keep the dream of
a separate self alive.
Notice the self-centered nature of a thought, and notice
the next thought that tells you that you should not be self-centered.
It is all a dream of self-centeredness.
Notice that, when
conflict arises in an interaction with someone or in a
given situation, you entered the interaction
or situation with a preconceived thought that
it would turn out a certain way. Conflict arises
when your dreams about reality do not match reality.
Thus, you brought conflict into the situation
when you brought your dream into it. No one is
the cause of your pain. You are simply dreaming
that you have control. Rather than blaming people,
situations, or even yourself, simply notice the
content of your dream.
Notice that resentments towards others have nothing to do
with them. You are simply believing a presently arising dream.
In this dream, a person or situation was supposed to do what
you wanted them to do. That is not reality. The source of
your pain is never outside you. It results from your attachment
to thought and emotion arising within you. Do not try
to fix or overcome resentments. Just notice them. Feel them
fully.
Notice the feeling of lack within when someone
does not give you the praise, acknowledgement,
or approval you are seeking. Realize that the
problem has nothing to do with what they did
or did not give you. The problem arose when you
failed to feel directly this sense of lack in
the moment it first appeared in your body. It
then fueled painful and untrue thoughts about
how others are responsible for your happiness
and contentment. You are noticing that lack is
an illusion.
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