HERE ARE THE WORDS
This contemplation is about a place of
refuge deep within us that we can go to
when we're experiencing difficult thoughts,
emotions and feelings.
...are you the words that you speak?
...are you the thoughts that pass through your mind?
You know you're not the words or the thoughts.
Are you your feelings, sensations, experiences?
No... they all pass too, so you know they cannot be you.
What in you knows these things?
Is it just your mind?
Looking inwards now - can you see what knows the answers to the questions that have just been asked?
Where does that knowing come from?
Isn't it somehow in the background?
Thoughts - the words - sensations - experiences...
They all happen...
...but there is presence in the background, that is not completely involved...
with all of those external events.
A deeper sense of you.
What is it?
Where is it?
Can you describe it?
Is it ever not there?
It gets covered over when things are happening...
by thoughts, feelings, sensations, experiences.
But it never actually leaves.
It's like the sun often hidden behind dark clouds or out of sight at night.
But we know it's always there.
What does this deeper inner you feel like?
It's not the body.
It's not the mind.
It doesn't seem to have a beginning or an end.
From there, all that happens in the mind can be observed - and just allowed to drift away.
The mind, the body, experiences - will continue to pull attention outward.
That's okay - it will happen.
But return inwards again.
Live in that state or inner connectedness as much as possible.
Particularly, return to it when you need peace or a refuge from difficult experiences.
Drop back into that empty, clear, peaceful place.
It's always there.
Your inner being...
Always welcoming.
Your true home.
John