Beingandthis.com

The human condition is founded on conflict and tension. Confronted by 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' the individual Inevitably, it seems, experiences suffering and a life that, more than not, fluctuates from the banal to brutish rather than blissful or joyous. The axis upon which the person finds themselves at odds with themselves, and with life, are conditioned assumptions that the individual is a separate, autonomous entity in the world of 'the ten thousand things'.

It is this belief in separation, rarely questioned, which leads to the conviction that the person is condemned to a time bound journey which imposes an urgency, with enormous effort and striving, (which for some includes intense spiritual practices) to make life work out, or reach some final goal of personal fulfilment. For some, that final goal, is an imagined utopia or 'enlightenment' whatever that may mean.

The irony, a cosmic joke if ever there was one, is that the seeking for liberation or self-realisation is the very obstacle to relaxing into the natural state of one's being that is already, and always been, the case now. This essence, from which, by which, and in which, every phenomenon in perception arises, is the timeless, expansive, unblemished, self-shining Presence of one's ultimate nature.

The fact of one's being, undeniable in the face of every spiritual or philosophical hypothesis of what this reality is, when clearly seen, does not diminish nor negate anything in the human experience despite recognising the personalised realm as feckless, fleeting and appearance only.

Clear seeing, what Wordsworth called 'seeing into the light of things' and awakening from compliance with the dream-world of conventional consensus, moves from the drama and dynamics of conditionality into a non-confrontational engagement or dance with life; in other words, unconditional love and acceptance with a freedom to no longer be scandalised or disturbed by suffering.

My new website is currently under construction, in the meantime, I can be contacted by email at: gerry@gerryoriordan.com