Focus on Life™

Have you ever considered what dying means? Often we are
very shady and quiet about death. It is something we do not
want to consider or think about. It is a taboo. It is something
that only happens to somebody else—not to us. In other
words—we are afraid of it. But why?

What exactly are we afraid of? Something we do not know
anything about? Maybe.

Dying means that we are departed instantly from every-
thing we are attached to and have. We have to give away
everything so familiar and “natural” to us, something and
everything we have taken for granted. Our health, physical
body, friends, family, wealth, possessions, lifestyle, habits, and
so on. This is death. It is detachment.

Clinging and attachment do not have to be physical in
nature. We can have obsessions, desires, needs, and cravings.
Suddenly we cannot satisfy those by physical means anymore.
We are forced to be without them. This is death.

We have to die in order to live. What does that mean? We
think that we are alive and kicking when we are driven by our
lower qualities like desire, lust, obsession, and so on.
Satisfying and fulfilling these consume most of our lives. We
call this living. We are in a never-ending circle where old
needs are fulfilled and instantly new ones arise. How liberat-
ing and happy!

Being truly alive means that we are free to live, not
obsessed or forced continuously to fulfil something. Free to
be.In order to achieve this, we have to set ourselves free from
our attachments and desires. They are strong and we cannot
win them by force. The more we resist them, the larger they
become. We can beat them only by ignoring them, by learn-
ing to live without them, by detaching ourselves from every-
thing in a similar manner—as death will do to us, finally, but
this time we do it voluntarily, gradually.

It is a misunderstanding to believe that detachment will
mean literally dying and living without anything interesting
or fun. On the contrary, how much fun and freedom do you
have when you are obsessed by something? Detachment does
not mean giving up living—only giving away all the attach-
ment and clinging. You can still enjoy the sunrise and have a
delicious meal, but the difference is that those do not bear any
utility value for you anymore—they simply are. There is no
need for anything. One is not lacking anything because need
implicitly declares a lack of something (i.e., the object of the
need).

Clinging and attachment are based on ignorance, and de
facto the only thing to give away is the wrong understanding.
Greater wisdom liberates. Always.

When you want something you also state that you don’t have
something. Your object of wanting is the very thing you’re
missing. In other words, you’re declaring your imperfectness.
There is something in you that still requires and is in need.

The person who is at peace and has achieved a state of
calmness needs no thing. He or she has everything. What was
it that you needed?

Within a shelter,
Covered in a case,
Limited by boundaries,
Extended by nature.

Trapped in the illusion,
Bewildered at times,
Lacking the courage,
Bravery, and persistence,
Of final breakthrough,
Transcending for the unknown.

The common is the bliss,
Misery, and sadness,
Of known and accepted,
Which horrific would be to lose,
And be replaced by something new.

To stretch the limits,
Ignore the lines,
Forget the known,
Unlearn the rest,
Exist in full,
Here and now,
Wake from the drowse.

Nothing to declare,
nothing to say,
nothing to hear,
nothing to think;

Only silence,
accompanying friend,
no one to miss,
no one to long,
lots of actions,
many memories,
tons of experiences,
nothing to look back for;

Nothing is the same,
everything is the same,
they are not relevant;

Just being,
no expectations,
no demands,
no claims,
no_thing;

From here,
always here,
from one moment,
to another,
observing,
registering,
no time,
just here,
right now;

No sadness,
no joy,
no feelings,
no regrets,
ready to leave,
ready to stay,
already being;

Calm,
relaxed,
smooth,
peaceful,
in harmony;

Empty Nest.

Money is just part of the framework. In itself, it is nothing. It
is only a convention between people. We have created the
concept called money in order to exchange and settle between
various activities and services. It is an enabler, not the purpose
itself.

Another way of defining money is to say that it is energy.
Notes and coins are energy in their physical material sense
because they are formed of atoms. But money can be seen as
energy concentration in another sense as well. Money pres-
ents, directs, facilitates, blocks, and absorbs lots of energy
from us. Sometimes we are tight with money and we are
struggling to collect every penny and cent to have enough to
survive. Collecting and getting money focuses and concen-
trates our mental and physical energy (effort) in the everyday
life, sometimes more, sometimes less. We might desire some-
thing that money enables us to achieve. We work hard and
long in order to collect enough wealth to do something with
it.In other words, we first absorb and accumulate energy and
then release it in some other form. While collecting and get-
ting the required amount of money, we are bound to make
choices and give up something else. We need to focus our
energy to gather money. In this case, money is a manifesta-
tion/representation of our accumulated energy.

Wealth can also demand energy from us. People who have
great amounts of wealth need to look after it. They have to
concentrate their efforts and focus to manage their wealth. It
creates obligations and liabilities. Naturally, it is up to us to
define these and live accordingly. This is especially demand-
ing when we do not understand the true nature of money and
wealth. Money may turn more into a burden than a facilitator.

Money is only what we make of it and how we place our-
selves in relation to it. It is neither a good nor a bad thing. It
is only a tool. The sole responsibility lies with the user of the
money. Do not mix up the means and the objectives. Money
is purely an enabler, nothing else. It does not define who we
are—only what we have. And everything we can ever have or
not have is only part of the framework. The real essence of life
is not about having, but about being. What is important is
what we are in relation to other living beings—not what we
are in relation to material things like money. A wise person is
the one who realizes this.

We are free,
to stay,
or to go;
No one holds,
but us.

We have so much,
to do,
and are so busy to achieve.
We hold tight,
for all we know.

It’s up to us,
when everything is done,
and there is nothing,
more to do,
cling,
or achieve.

We just get enough,
realize,
and undo.
Nothing to learn,
no more to gain,
nothing to achieve,
nothing to lose,
only no thing.

We give up,
let go,
prepare,
for the unknown.

The more we let go,
the more we gain,
right choices,
and confidence;

Knowing the way,
gives us the lead,
the bearing and the heading,
that guide us through,
the storms and thunders,
sunshine and rains,
through the gates,
of rose gardens and caves;

Our way,
is not here to stay,
it provides us,
the illusion of power,
control and sorrow;
It gives us the taste,
but lets us down;
Or is it us,
thinking of great achievements,
of our deeds when things turn,
our way thanks to luck,
or by other cause,
hidden the truth,
is from us?

Therefore easy for us to claim,
victory and gain,
but hard to admit the case,
where nothing from us,
helped to prevent,
a single item,
where everything went,
the other way,
we never anticipated,
or expected to gain.

Many years,
more decades,
lots of times,
we repeat our way,
control and sorrow,
illusion of gain,
where all the good,
is of ours;
Opposite results,
caused by others,
how strange it is,
when picking up the cherries,
from the cake,
is the way we hide away;
Give away,
let it go,all the way,
let if flow;
No control, no gain,
no sorrow,no pain,
no future,no past,
only here,
experiencing to last;
Easier way,
no stress to strain,
only the wise,
realize this,
the others try,
till they fail.
Give away,
no other way.

Our life is full of incidents and situations where we are
strongly emotionally attached. These occurrences can have a
significant impact on our behavior. We can feel deeply
involved with something but still have little understanding of
the real drivers and motivation. It is not uncommon that we
even know deep inside that we should act differently than the
way we are acting in practice. Still, there is something in us
that is forcing us to a certain kind of behavior.

Attachment is a sign of fixation and pattern that is deeply
rooted to us. We have a strong standing point in something—
great expectations or emotional affections. These sensations
may not be very logical and sensible to us, but they have a
power to overdrive our cognitive understanding and will.
Some intensive occurrences can make us to feel very confused
and fixed to the current state of being.

Often, we are very hard on ourselves. We expect more
from ourself than we do from others. It is easier to forgive and
give away to other people than forgive ourself. This makes our
life hard and difficult. Our internal contradictions and expec-
tations drive us to hardship and struggle. We blame ourself
and get frustrated when things are not in our control. Strong
emotional feelings are something we have a hard time keep-
ing in control. They can even blind us, causing us to act
against our normal sense and better understanding. Especially
in these cases, it is important to let go and forgive ourself.
Emotional feelings are strong signals of our inner state and,
therefore, should not be missed. We have to take them into
account and overcome them. Our feelings cannot be forced
under our cognitive will. We can only try to understand and
forgive. They are to guide us and let us learn more about our-
selves. Great lessons sometimes require hard methods.
Therefore, forgiveness is very important and necessary. What
we do for others we should also do for ourself—forgive and
start with yourself.

Limited understanding leads to misinterpretations and
imperfect actions. These actions are perceived emotionally
and assumed to be conducted with full intention and under-
standing of the causes and consequences by the actor. This
realization raises strong emotional sensations in the receiver
and causes responses that are not based on full consideration
(i.e., something one is regretting later on as too excessive and
out of line).Responses and consequences are something that
are not intended by the initial actor but simply caused by the
limited capabilities of perception and understanding by both
parties. From here, things just get worse and, after a while,
neither party has any control of the matter and the original
starting point has lost any significance and relevance. This is
how a vicious circle is created and the results are observable
around the world every day. And everything starts just from
our limited capabilities to perceive and understand the world
we’re living in.

Our own standing point is very important to us. We regard
it as the right one because it is so real to us—we have no
doubts. Therefore, it is the “truth” and because it is so obvious,
there cannot be any possibilities of misunderstandings by
other people; they simply cannot ignore it and be so blind as
not to see simple “facts” that even we can understand. But
they do not act accordingly, and their behavior is so much
beyond our belief that we cannot stand it. It’s too much, and
we need to do something about it…

Yet everybody lives in his or her own subjective reality. We
are fixed to our own needs and requirements. Our thinking is
full of “us.” We get offended, we have the most at stake, we
have to give up, we have to sacrifice, we are not benefiting,
and so on. It is that We that prevents us from making a dif-
ference. As long as it is our needs that have to be appreciated
and fulfilled first, nothing will ever change. Everybody clings
to his or her own mind-set and perception of the world. And
we have an urge to be right—and let others to know it as well.

One needs to learn to give away. Over time, we acknowl-
edge seeing a broader picture where different opinions and
points of view can be presented and maintained without a
need to conflict. There is no need to be right or gain some-
thing. The whole notion of “us” is just something of our own
fabrication. We only need to let it go—and that’s the only
thing we are giving away, in reality.

Our inner life is sacred and personal to each of us. Our exter-
nal life we share with the world. It is not obvious that they
can be in harmony and still enable the sought-for inner real-
ization. But it is possible.

History has given us examples of sacred people who lived
in isolated places and practiced their spiritual life. Often, we
have this image of true practitioners, and nothing else is “seri-
ous” or real enough. Inner peace and mindlessness do not
require any particular place or arrangement. We can practice
it no matter where we are. It also stays with us when we have
reached the right level. Actually, our environment and cir-
cumstances are no obstacles to our inner development.

We have to live in the world and take care of our duties
and responsibilities. Actually, what provides a better opportu-
nity to practice detachment and tranquility than the chal-
lenges of our everyday life? Our situations provide us with the
training arena where we should be able to stay in a totally har-
monious inner state—no matter what we are experiencing.

Living under time and space where causality is imposed
does not mean that we cannot have a rich inner life as well.
We can experience both worlds continuously. A place or situ-
ation will have no significance for us because our life is our
state of mind. We create the meaning for the circumstances—
not the other way around.

True teachings are nonverbal. They are not given by any
symbols (i.e., writings, talk)—we have to experience them
directly. Therefore, our life defines our existence, and by our
behavior and actions we state who we are. What would be a bet-
ter way to share the wisdom we have gained than to live among
people and be a practical example? No words are necessary.