Evolution has wired us to look for the one, often unlikely threat that may be lurking in an otherwise non threatening ocean of well being. Think about it. What is it that keeps you awake at night? That gets your stomach churning and your mind racing around the same track a million times over?
I’m prepared to bet that almost 9.9 times out of 10, it’s not the fact that you’re breathing or that your bed is comfortable or that you have electricity or that you had a nice dinner or that you get water out of a tap or that when you wake up in the morning, you will still know your name or still have friends and family.
Despite all our wellness, the thinking mind, largely under the direction of the Ego, will go searching for even the slightest thing that it believes poses a threat to its survival.
For most of us, most of the time, these are all the things we take for granted and so pay little attention to. Yet, amidst all this wellness, the thinking mind, largely under the direction of the Ego, will go searching for even the slightest thing that it believes poses a threat to its survival. And upon finding one, say the words of a friend or the loss of an income, will fixate on it, obsess over it and catastrophize it.
We lose sleep. We agonize. We toss and turn. We imagine and rehearse awful scenarios. We anxiously test out possible solutions in our mind. Sometimes they appear to be successful and we are sufficiently reassured so that we can finally get some sleep.
But there are many times when, even if we do discover the solutions we seek, we are doubtful of them and we lose more sleep. And so it goes. Meanwhile, everything else that is going well for us is ignored, their value lost on a hyperactive mind plunged into an addiction of over-thinking and catastrophizing. It’s an addiction that gives birth to the twins of anxiety and depression who soon court desperation and hopelessness.
So, we are mired in the bad stories, having lost sight of our good stories – the stories of the things that are working well for us. Most of us have learned to do battle within our bad stories and we often come out of it, if only temporarily, wounded, scarred, battle-weary, jaded or at the very least, wary of life.
Meanwhile, we have installed an alarm clock of vigilance that is ready to go off at the slightest hint of a threat. Indeed, it’s the very clock installed many years before, most likely in our childhood, whose alarm bell now rings to warn us of any perceived threat.
Bad stories then get most of our mental and emotional resources. Good stories don’t, but then again, they don’t need them. They tend to be self-sustaining.
End of story?
No. See, there’s a state that our Ego will never willingly let us go to – the state of no story. Like good stories, it doesn’t need our resources. But unlike good stories, it cannot be threatened by bad stories.
What do I mean?
When we have a bad story going, it can sometimes bring our good stories into question. Did he really love me? Was she really honest? Did I actually fall in love or was I just infatuated? Did I make the right decision buying that car?
In these and many other ways, our good stories can be pulled into question. But in the story-less state of no- story, there is nothing to question. No thing to question. Just experience.
But what purpose does that serve, you might ask. A great deal, not all of which I will be able to write about in a single post. For now, however, I will say that it serves the critical purpose of being a bridge between our bad stories and the good stories that we hope to go to from the bad ones.
You see, sometimes the intensity or longevity of a bad story makes it difficult if not impossible to get directly from it to a good story – A childhood wound or trauma. A rejection. An abuse. An abandonment. Poverty. Illness. An accident.
We need a bridge to get from these ‘bad’ stories to new, ‘good’ stories. Our no-story state serves as a very stable bridge that is always available to us and that will help us make this critical journey.
These intense experiences are held in the body – our subconscious mind, some would say – for a long time. And these experiences which we can call stories are a collection of memories, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions. We need a bridge to get from these ‘bad’ stories to new, ‘good’ stories. Our no-story state serves as a very stable bridge that is always available to us and that will help us make this critical journey.
If you haven’t already guessed it, the no-story state is the state of mindfulness. In this state, the intensity, the turmoil, the pain, the fury and the fear of the bad story all dissolve gently under the Light of Awareness, which is why this is the state of no-story. Here, in the present, in the eternal now, we find ourselves on the very safe and infinite ground of neutrality, or as I prefer, the Buddhist term, equanimity.
In the spiritual context, however, ‘neutrality’ or equanimity is not nothing. It is not a state in which we don’t feel anything. On the contrary, it is a state which we would describe as peaceful, blissful, calm, joyous, even rapturous, except that we are not there to experience it as our personality-identified Ego. But more of that in another post.
The key thing about these feelings is that they are not conditioned by anything, neither the presence nor absence of anything. Rather, these natural qualities which we call feelings arise spontaneously from the unconditioned, natural ground of our being
The key thing about these feelings is that they are not conditioned by anything, neither the presence nor absence of anything. Rather, these natural qualities which we call feelings arise spontaneously from the unconditioned, natural ground of our being
From this unconditioned, no-story state, we feel empowered and energized, clear and focused, equipped to navigate a physical realm, (which is where all our stories, good and bad take place) and sail safely into a new, good story.
Put another way, this bridge, which is effectively the Present or the Now, is the bridge from our past into our future!
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Join me every week to sit in the presence of your true Self and experience the greatness of Life flowing naturally, effortlessly and powerfully in, as and through you!