Focus on Life™

I found this article from my archives and it’s related to my book, Fragments of Reality, or actually why I wrote it.

Everyday Life

Most of us are living in a middle of constant rush and hurry. Either we create it ourselves or it is imposed and assumed by the external world we are exposed to. It is amazing how much noise is around us. It starts from the early morning when you’re barely awake and continues till the final moments before going to bed. We are never really here in the moment, ever. Either we are accompanied by a radio and mp3-player or then we are among other people who keep us busy. That’s life–everyday life.

Still everything happens here and right now. We walk, talk, meet people, travel, work, eat, and so on. All these comprise of our life. But all this is just the external frame or the stage of the plays. It’s the outcome or the façade. What we are really experiencing and going through cannot be interpreted from the outset. A top athlete may look busy while he/she is running but how do we know? Within the situation might be entirely different. Actually when one seems to be occupied by the outset the reality within is often exactly the opposite. You cannot afford to think while being in the moment. Every golfer knows this: think about the swing and you have lost it before the club touches the ball.

When is the right time to be? Never is the usual answer—I don’t have the time. But this is part of the illusion like anything else. We are all the time and it is not possible to be but now. What we mean by not being here is to say that we scatter our perception of the world either to the future or to the past—in our mind. This creates the illusion of not being here while you still are physically here. This paradox was something I started to write about. When one begins to observe the world around us it is easy to realise that most of the time we are not living, at all. In another words we are not present.

This non-presence is easy to prove to yourself. Every time you don’t remember a particular circumstance or occurrence you were not there—you were wondering in your mind. Isn’t this a bit intriguing, we live but actually we do not? We look but we do not see. We are receptive to sounds but we do not hear. We sit in a meeting but we are not there— atfer we might not even remember being there at all!

No wonder people may start to feel frustrated or disappointed. It appears that they are not living at all. But if you begin to realise this you still don’t have the time to do something about it. We are busy, with our everyday life. It’s the work, the family, the hobbies and so on. A nice catch-22: constantly occupied to be without ever being. Where to start and how? Is it even possible without going to some isolated place and leave everything behind? Go somewhere in order to find time to simply be. Do you see it! I repeat: go somewhere in order to find the time to simply be. But we already are, when we only realise it.

This is the reason I wrote the book while living my everyday life. Being present is not about places it’s about a state of mind. Therefore any situation or place will do. Actually the busier and more active your life the better your chances to explore and realise the beingness in your very everyday living. Inner peace and harmony are not related to the external circumstances but internal tranquility and presence. Who needs to be calm and quiet in the woods?

We tend to be very practical in our thinking. It all culminates into question—how? How am I going to do it? How is it possible? How did you do it? Many questions and very little answers. If you were to know the means you would not bother to ask—you would just do it. But how have you done it in the past—without the answers before the action, that is?

One person’s impossible is other person’s business as usual. What’s the difference? A point of view—the other person cannot imagine a solution based on his/her past experiences, knowledge and understanding while for the other there is no mystery because it is part of his/her everyday life (understanding). In other words the doer believes and the doubter does not.

Ask a successful entrepreneur how he managed to do it, and often you may not find specific answers. They will emphasise their vision, passion, and dedication—they believed 100 per cent what they we about to create. And more importantly, they had the strong will and confidence in themselves that they can make it to happen, no matter what. And after all, how could you know beforehand how to do things that you have not done before? If you were to do only those things that you have done earlier, you would repeat yourself. So, is there any other way to create something new?

Your thinking is based on your past knowledge. We only know what we know, and we see and hear only what we know. Worries are produced in our mind and only by our mind. It is a closed system that exists only when you are thinking (of it or something else). While you are in the middle of some intensive action, you do not have time to think. You have to act. Try to think while hitting the ball in the golf court and you certainly do not make a dream swing.

Often thinking substitutes the action, and makes the realisation of our goals more difficult. It is not that one does not need to define the goals and plan things in advance, but it is important to realise when it is the time to believe on what one is doing and start to walk the talk (or the thought). Mind can produce different scenarios endlessly. Those what-ifs and hows have only one problem–they do not match with the outside reality. Only by starting to move one can keep a bicycle stable–the same applies to our lives as well. Paralysis by analysis cumulates the worries but does not provide any remedy for the underlying issues.

A different matter is when it is a right time to consider the how-question. If you want to make something big and major, it is not very wise to start by thinking how you are going to realise it. This would only result that you are not going to vision such a grand ideas and objectives after all. The road looks very cumbersome and also the visibility is very poor. You start to doubt and very soon the great venture has been turned into a farce—and all this can happen just in your mind! A sailor does not know the weather conditions for his entire route before starting to cross the Atlantic. He certainly knows where he’s heading and why he is doing it. He even may have a clear vision how he is going to sail the route and how long it is going to take. He is confident on his skills and competences to make it to happen. The how-question does not come to halt the action. In a word he believes himself.

Many times not doing is worse than doing something. While you are not making any progress you are still doing something—being in the same spot. Circling around the same area certainly consumes lots of energy but the overall impact may not be exactly what you wanted to have. Taking the first step is often the hardest. The sooner you do it the easier the consequent paces are. And like always before in your life you will figure out how to do it after all. How you did it? -is the question you can try to answer—afterwards. Just do it!

(See also Reverse Confidence )

For us the visible reality is the real thing. We associate ourselves with it and respond to it as well. Often we feel uncomfortable and find hard to match with the world around us. Inside we are at distress with the outer reality. It does not reflect our ideal inner state.

Throughout the ages it has been said that the visible world is not real or it is called as an illusion or maya. Plato had his famous The Allegory of the Cave which described the same with a dark cave and shadows that the people we’re obliged to observe - not the true figures or the outside world. These metaphors are hard to grasp and to realise by us living in the modern world.

Still nothing could be more true. Maybe the phrasing could be different but the original message remains intact - always. This visible reality is the one where we communicate and observe. Still we are present in other planes as well. They are not visible to us but still we are members on those ones as well. Beside the physical body we have also our feelings and emotions as well as our mental capabilities. They are as real for anyone as the physical world itself even thought we cannot see them.

So, where’s the real reality and what does it mean? The world every wisdom tries to illustrate and refer to is the reality of thoughts. That is where anything is first created - it is thought out. Only after that it can be expressed and materialised. No matter are we talking about going shopping, building a house or even speaking. First it has to be created and then it is a matter of realisation depending on the case at hand.

A thought without any feeling is not complete. Saying ‘I love you’ without a feeling is meaningless. Similarly the feeling or the passion / desire has to be combined with the thought. Together they are something. This applies to talking, building a house or any other matter. (The third required element is power or will to execute or carry out the matter but this is just a hint for the considerate reader and not relevant for the topic.)

Why should we not focus on the outside world and instead purely concentrate on the inner higher reality? No matter where you look you find the wise words that encourage to look inside or as Pythagoras has so nicely put it: “Man know thyself then thou shalt know the Universe and God.” These should not be understood in a manner that one ignores the visible world or isolates from the world. They purpose is to encourage to focus on the essence or the source where everything is really taking place and where one can have control and real influence on the visible world.

First this may sound quite a bizarre or contrary but just consider how much in control of your world you really are? Are you pretending to be in control or just really facing the facts that you are only an observer for the occurring events. A feeling of being in control is not the same as having a real influence on the issues and understanding what’s really causing them. Can you have a peaceful and happy life?

Some people can. And they have followed the advice. They have realised that in order to achieve something one has to look inside and find it first there and only after that can it materialise in the outer world as well. Actually nothing can prevent it from occurring shall the desire be strong and persistent enough. Why is this so hard to believe and start to implement?

Simply because we are used to live and look outside of ourselves. We take it as granted that by doing something in the outside world we can make something to happen in our desired manner. But what happens when you start to do this? One creates a perpetuity machine without even realising it and having a chance to jump out. Often only the final desperation makes the person to get out of the cul-de-sac and start to look inside for strength. Only then can something start to happen. The reason for this is very simple. The outside reality is just a mere cause of the activities that happened before - ie. the results or the reflections of the mental thoughts and feelings. Nothing can ever change in the outer reality till the thought and emotional structures are changed accordingly.

One has to ’see’ and ‘feel or believe’ together the desired outcome first and only then it can start to happen. If you just look the current state of the visible world and take it as granted without any creative and passionate effort then nothing will ever improve or change. Actually the opposite often happens. A negative spiral is created - things look so bad and hence I will be so depressed and so on. Naturally a positive inspiration and feeling is also possible to happen - then only the sky is the limit - isn’t it?

Why is this so hard to believe - still? Since we do not see the real reality and thus we do not consider it matters. We think that we can think, feel or say whatever we feel like without much consideration or significance. And look the state of the world today! Have we been able to live in peace and love each other as humans? How about your thoughts and feelings - only loving and peaceful everyday and towards everything, permanently?

Maybe we should start to consider more carefully the wise words repeated so often to us throughout the centuries. We even have living proves of people who have achieved a permanent state of tranquility and happiness. Even the latest science do not disapprove this. Einstein and quantum mechanics can do wonders if one wants to study them. Why is it so that the observer effects the observation or to put it differently the thought effects the thinker.

We think we are. Where am I while sound asleep?

We are only our thoughts, but who thinks us?

I am either sound asleep (i.e., unconscious), dreaming, or awake. When am I?