A monk, having entered life in a monastery, given up his fancy clothing and creative gadgets in exchange for a simple robe, no more sex, plain food, hard bed, cold showers, shaved head (did I mention no more sex?) is one day walking alone in the forrest.

As he walks his mind becomes still and calm, absorbed in the wondrous beauty which surrounds him. He falls upon a clearing surrounded by tall trees, and stops, the rising sun's rays, revealed through the still clearing morning mist as if a mystical bridge from above, land like soft warming tendrils on his face.

In that moment the stillness becomes stiller, he takes a deep breath, his head tilts upwards, his eyes close and a deep relaxation takes over, a dropping into his chest, into his heart happens. 

In an instance it dawns on him, "I Am!" 

Here.....I Am.....even without fancy clothes, soft bed and warm showers, plain food and no sex, here.....I Am.....I exist. I'm whole and complete right now, needing nothing more..... I Am!

The subtle sense of existence, I Am, that is ever present, unchanging, self content, fulfilled, still, empty and quiet, and self confirming, can so easily go overlooked for a whole lifetime. It is what we are at our core, and yet it can go unnoticed for a lifetime, how ironic.

The practice of renunciation is a process which can reveal that even without this and that, even without the love of the other, I Am, whole and complete, this essence is always there and available if only we know where to look, where to BE, if only we come to know what gets in its way. The stillness and quiet, the calm and harmony, the empty fullness that requires nothing more, is undeniable when the seeking mind turns in on itself and stops.

The monk, returned to the monastery bowed in humility, reverence and gratitude to the head monk and all his fellow monks, hung his robe on the hook and left. 

He went back into the world, enjoyed a great meal, laughed and made love with a beautiful, kind woman, had a warm shower and fell asleep in a soft bed.

He now knew that with or without things he remained whole and complete, no longer was he seeking pleasure, pleasure, pleasure in the hope of one day feeling complete and happy because of what he achieves or attains. No longer was he attached to outcomes.

He was now able to engage in pleasure with a completely different attitude - no longer slave to it, but rather a full appreciator of it. In Sanskrit one of the terms for an unliberated being is a 'bhogi' meaning an 'enjoyer', however one of the terms for a liberated being is a 'maha bhogi' a 'super enjoyer'. This because, the liberated being is no longer relating to pleasure and pain in the same way as before. The unliberated person (bhogi/enjoyer) is slave to pleasure and pain, the liberated person (maha bhogi/super enjoyer) on the other hand enjoys the pleasure fully when available, no longer plagued by pleasure disturbing thoughts such as "what will it be like when this pleasure ends, I don't want this pleasure to end". The maha bhogi enjoys pleasure fully and endures pain peacefully when it comes, knowing it is part of the flow of life, just like pleasure, not ever losing sight of what they really are at their core. 

So, the realisation of the so easily unrecognised formless sense of existence, I Am, reveals that 'I Am', even before pleasure and pain. Knowing this, it is no longer necessary to push pleasures away, enjoy them if they are there and endure the pain when it comes, knowing that neither will deliver completeness or incompleteness. What I am already exists in its fullness, now, before and after the pleasure and pain.

The methodology of the practice of renunciation was necessary for this to be realised undeniably for himself, based on his own experience, and not just as heresy - "what I Am at my core is never determined by pleasure or pain". 

Incidentally, the pleasure most sought in the hope of completeness is love.

Could this realisation have happened without the practice of renunciation? Yes maybe, but how it happens would simply be some other process, one way or another the insight is delivered, then hopefully if the realisation is complete the practice is no longer necessary, dropped and the realisation is lived fully.

Peace for now.

We're all always doing our best. 

It's true that in a previous moment we may have performed better. It's true that in the future, with a different mind set or feeling, we could also perform better. 

If in a particular moment we find this question arise: "can I do better here?" then true, that question may bring about a lift in performance. 

We may have performed better in the past, better in the future, even lift our game in the present, but, all this being said, in each moment we are always doing our best given what we have been given, our mindset and feelings at the time. 

When you criticise the other you have forgotten this is the case, you have forgotten your true nature and feel compelled to make them wrong and you right. 

This realisation that we are all always doing our best is particularly important if your suffering in life arises in the form of blame, criticism and judgement of the other (remember, the same applies for everyone, we are all always doing our best given what we have been given). 

It's also particularly important to see if your suffering arises in the form of self condemnation and regret.

Be kind to yourself and others, we're all, always doing our best. 

And furthermore, human happiness is never determined by outcomes, it comes from one's attitude to outcomes. What this means is that the pleasure and pain that life delivers through actions which happen through you or the other are ultimately not as big a deal as you might think. We're all doing our best.

If this notion is not acceptable to you then it's probably because, deep down there is attachment to outcomes. This means that life has inserted a deeply ingrained belief which says "my happiness, my completeness is to be found in outcomes, found in the way I act and behave in life and how the other acts and behaves in life". This is very normal, the 'human condition' we could say, but normal doesn't make it true. 

Peace for now. 

Wisdom doesn't hold any absolute standards.
Double standards are doubly unwise.

The consciousness looking through your eyes, functioning through your body, where does it originate from?

Consider this; maybe at some point God, Consciousness or Source was experiencing the world through the vehicle of the dinosaur. Now God is functioning through the human body, experiencing the world from that perspective.

That's how close you and God are. 

We could say this is a story whereby God has spun a divine hypnosis, forgotten itself, and from time to time wakes up to the fact that what is being sought outside is closer than close.

The belief of 'personal doership' and the subsequent relentless mental and behavioural manifestations which stem from that belief obscures the recognition of our continuous and unbroken connection to Source.

Unfortunate outcomes have never subtracted from what you are at the core; fortunate outcomes have never added to what you are at the core. 

Connect to that core, know thyself, and life can continue to deliver its usual pleasure sometimes and pain at other times, and you will remain at peace.

Relating to the other as a competitor, rival or enemy gets tiring quickly.

Self Enquiry is an investigation into the nature of Experience.

Expecting to be able to control life is as fanciful as watching an avalanche thunder down a mountain side and asking it to move a little to the left, and now, a little to the right.

Beneath the noise lies a great well of stillness and silence.

Just stop... and Be, and you will see.