Tomorrow Never Knows

I've been thinking about inclination A LOT recently. Adyashanti talks about it often at satsangs lately, and really hammered on it at the retreat I went to at Mount Madonna Center in January.

At the retreat I was thinking not-quite-obsessively about a certain person who had dramatically captured my attention (through no fault of her own...), and all this talk about inclination caused me to reflect on what my inclinations were regarding this person. There didn't seem to be much question about it, so without much thought, I went into action. Not characteristic of my recollections of the "me..."

So, as all the familiar territory of "relationship stuff" reared its ugly head(s) the question of inclination went onto the front burner bigtime, and I nearly asked Adya about it at the last satsang I went to. When I had a chance to see Byron Katie, on her book tour for her brand new book "A Thousand Names for Joy," she was also quite specific that when we aren't holding a thought action just happens, and she would question whether "we" are involved in the least.

Yesterday I was entertaining thoughts for much of the day (I just saw the major tag-line on Byron Katie's website - "When you argue with reality you lose - but only 100% of the time ;-)") and was once again feeling my connection with inner awareness dim out some. But then this morning, things started flowing again. I was listening to Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth for the Nth time (recommended, recommended, recommended, check it out on audio read by him, listen over and over...), and as I generally do, hearing greater depths to it when the following grabbed me by the throat:

"When you find that truth,
all your actions will be in alignment with it" (somewhere in chap.3)

That's it! It's not about "your" inclination at all. Simply let go of thought (and I did and will), and enter into the pristine beauty of the moment. This isn't a skill, it's our natural state, meaning it requires no effort or movement. The requisite skill, optional perhaps but highly recommended for anyone having tendencies for falling back into obsession (hello people of the West...) is to be able to observe when thought begins to cloud the experience. That's what understanding the structural nature of the Imaginary Self (see A New Earth) really helps with, although as one gets clearer this is left behind as the experience of suffering that arises when we go into resistance becomes so "in your face" that there's no question of ignoring it or hesitation in letting go of that thought.

Move into the center. Observe what's there. Perhaps nothing but Peace, Beauty, Bliss.

Turn off your mind, relax
and float down stream
It is not dying
It is not dying

Lay down all thought
Surrender to the void
It is shining
It is shining

That you may see
The meaning of within
It is being
It is being

That love is all
And love is everyone
It is knowing
It is knowing

That ignorance and hate
May mourn the dead
It is believing
It is believing

But listen to the
color of your dreams
It is not living
It is not living

Or play the game
existence to the end
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning

Lennon-McCartney (written by John, too bad he lost IT...)
(c) whatever