“True freedom and the end of suffering is living in such a way as if you had completely chosen whatever you feel or experience at this moment. This inner alignment with now is the end of suffering.”
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“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”
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“What you truly need may not be what you think you need.”
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I never made any plans-
the Plan is there
and we can fit in
with joyous ease
and delightful uncertainty.
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I like movies. A lot. Have you seen The Game? It’s way high on my list of favorites.
So, Michael Douglas’ character signs up to play a very mysterious game – there seem to be no rules, no boundaries and no objectives. Or, he is not told what the point is when he signs up to play.
The Game is different for each player, and the rules change continuously, depending on the player’s responses and reactions. Once a player has committed to the game, it does not stop… until… well, writing too much about it will spoil the effect for those of you who haven’t seen it :)
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“Awakening is Truth-recognition. It is not an experience, state, or form of anything you can mentally know. The path of awakening involves finding false ideas, or lies, and seeing their falseness. When you see their falseness, you see truth. To find truth you have to be a detective. You have to notice that things don’t add up, like a bad alibi.”
–James Wood The Path of Awakening (2007) p. 2-3
Who’s playing? ;)
Svaha 
Game on ;)
Most of my life I have been trying to understand the rules and control the outcome. At this point I think that this effort is very funny. Even when I am still efforting. Hey, at least I am aware that this is happening.
When I let life carry me without fighting the direction I find I am being propelled but rather honoring that this is the life I am being asked to live I experience great joy even in the midst of challenges.
Thank you for this particular topic. Today…I am ‘Loving What Is’.
I think most of the discussions surrounding these issues are not terribly fruitful, since we are trying to describe in words something that, by definition, occurs beyond words. I think when we stop worrying about labels and get on with learning to view the present free of preconditioned ideas, living in the moment for its own sake and seeing it as it is, allowing it to pass like water in a stream, unjudging, we approach the concept of awakening, enlightenment, perception of truth, or whatever one wishes to call it.
Whether or not desiring these things can prevent them from happening is not an important issue, although it seems to me that it could be a distraction. Over time and practice we reach that point, or not, and freeing ourselves of the tendency to judge the present based on the past is what we need to be working on. While we continue to desire enlightenment, we are still judging: enlightened/not enlightened.
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Nothing changes. It is the desire for a change that trips us up.
@ Adrianne, thank you for what you shared about changes in your life over the time you have been a student on this path.
@ Bill, thank you for your comments. I agree that desire for change is problematic, but when we align ourselves with desire for the truth, the change that results is healthy. There is more acceptance of what is, now, as it is.
In my experience, the commitment to inquire into what’s true results in more freedom from ‘the tendency to judge the present based on the past’.
Thank you for being here :)