Focus on Life™

Where do our feelings and thoughts arise, appear, and vanish?
There must be something that is not in movement in order to
become aware of these states.

We experience time (i.e., past, present, and future) but how is
it possible that we can become aware of these if we are a part
of them (i.e., the observer would be part of the observation)?

Where is that continuous self-awareness (i.e., I am) that is
ever present?

How is it possible to do self-inquiries for ourself? That means
that the observer is observing himself or herself (e.g., an eye
trying to look at itself).

Why can we change but our awareness of ourselves stays?

We build our world from five external senses—what is it like with more senses?

Suffering or joy,
quest or rest,
happiness or agony,
together or alone,
now or then,
you or me,
here or there,
sun or moon,
sand or sea,
one plus one,
music or art,
history or novel,
writing or verbal,
all the same,
underneath,
different by appearance,
disguised for the most,
of their genuine nature,
pure and simple,
of a thought;

Nevertheless,
varies with persistence,
but follows the same,
pattern of,
coming,
sustaining,
and going;

Always afresh,
never the same,
appearance may stay,
but no thing is the same;

Deep thought,
shallow dream,
clear and sharp,
vague and soft,
fragile or strong,
short or long,
still the same,
real for the one,
illusion for the second,
relative for both,
ideas, all the same.

When are we very positively surprised and overwhelmed?
When something out of the ordinary and unexpected hap-
pens, something we have not thought about—something
fresh and new to us. This happens outside of our (previous)
experience and knowledge, and it makes us happy and joyful.
We would love to be more spontaneous, but it is so hard and
difficult. Why?

We love to plan things. It is great to think ahead and imag-
ine the details and occasions we want to accomplish and live
by. Planning is something we do naturally. Most of it is done
purely for practical reasons and for everyday routines. We
need to schedule and arrange our life in a way so we can take
care of our obligations and duties. Worrying is a special type
of planning—it concentrates on the negative issues and their
potential occurrences. We are not actually “planning” for an
occurrence, but being afraid and speculating about all the pos-
sible outcomes and issues that could happen. A positive type
of planning is dreaming. We dream about great things that we
would like to achieve and gain, moments and experiences that
we think would make us happy. Nevertheless, all of this is just
our mind game. Some of it is practical and necessary, but
most of it is a total waste of energy and effort. Actually, it can
prevent us from experiencing more and greater things than
we are ever capable of dreaming (or planning) about.

Our plans are derived from our experience and knowledge.
They project the future as we can imagine it. This makes the
future predictable and “ordinary” for us. We can imagine it
and dream about it—live it in our mind beforehand. It cannot
include anything that we cannot know about. Certainly it has
nothing to do with the reality. We have no means to plan the
future. Still, planning often makes our life “boring.” And it
makes it feel like every day is the same and repeats the same
patterns over and over again. No day is any different, and
nothing new happens. Sound familiar?

When we plan things, we are preparing to live according to
our plan, which means that we are not open for the moment
or anything new. We live according to our already thought
through plan, merely executing and implementing that plan.
Like robots that “think” what happens next and follow the
preprogrammed plan, we do not actually live in the moment.
This makes life boring and predictable. We “hypnotize” and
make ourselves believe our plan, and then we see and hear
what we want to hear and see—according to our own manu-
script—we create a catch-22. How can we experience some-
thing new if we always live according to our existing
knowledge?

Sometimes we run into an interesting person or do some-
thing crazy. These are the times when we live in the moment.
We are not planning but experiencing and letting life carry us
forward. Life offers us many great surprises and opportunities
every day, but we have to be awake and ready to acknowledge
them. Often we appear too busy or occupied to carry out the
daily activities we have planned and expected to accomplish
everything. But it is too scary not to plan. It implicitly tells us
that we might not be in control, something we prefer not to
experience. We would rather plan and know what to expect. It
is safer this way, even though often our mind creates the mis-
ery and sadness because we are too afraid to welcome some-
thing new. It is the unknown we are so scared of, that which
we cannot plan for or know beforehand.

This is the great step we have to take. Once we make it
over the threshold, we realize that all the worrying was for
nothing. Life actually becomes more interesting and exciting
when we are open for the opportunities. Plans are unneces-
sary because life often turns out differently than how we had
imagined it. Being free and living in the moment give us a
tremendous amount of energy to experience and observe
because we are not tied up in planning for the future. Reality
is an even better planner than we are; it is the only thing that
can give us positive surprises. We cannot plan our own joy
and happiness—and we are even less capable of planning to
surprise ourselves! Plan less and experience more. Is that a
plan?

Goes back only a short while,
forgets,
ignores,
leaves blank,
the things we did,
and are not proud about;

All the experiences,
of misery,
darkness,
abuse,
hate,
fear,
and betrayal,
we have not committed,
if you ask from your memory;

Still something in you,
reminds,
and remembers.
It tries to give you,
hints,
tips,
and kind notes,
but often we leave,
those without a blink,
turn the blind eye,
and hide away;

Opportunities come,
and go,
to settle the accounts,
straight,
leave our mark,
and balance the past;

Persistence of memory,
hidden deep,
and hard,
not easy by far,
is to bring into sunshine,
the old dusty,
deeds,
we rather would,
leave and bury deep;

Our memory is short,
and not for trusted,
feelings and the body,
better guides,
for the light and
the record straight;

Do not waste time,
to settle the accounts;
Your feelings lead,
to the deep mines,
of your secrets,
and sides,
way back,
far away,
you should stay
—awake.

We are in the garbage-creation business. The products and
results are our own creation, and the consequences are observ-
able around the world. Most of the garbage is all in our own
mind. The dumpster in question is not a physical one in its
original form—its derivations can be, however. This huge
dumpster is called our mind. It’s the creator and initiator of all
the garbage. Simply, that is its pure existence and raison
d’être. How does this polluter work?

We live only in the moment—now time. Nothing else is
available to us. Nevertheless, we can do various things with
this now time but still everything happens in the moment.
For example, we can think back through our memories and
reflect on everything that has happened. We can also project
the future and wonder or worry about the next moments.
Still, all of these actions are happening in the moment. Our
sole decision is just how to use every moment. We can either
concentrate on the moment or opt for escaping from the real-
ity, either to our past or into the projected future our mind
creates for us.

There would not be any dumpster if we always live in the
moment. We would take life as it comes and make the neces-
sary decision as is required. Very simple, no worries at all.
Things just happen, and life would be only the issues that
emerge to us, some good and some less desirable—all the
same because we can only take them as they come.

The above is unfortunately not the way we live. We prefer
to be in “control.” Therefore, we have to know what happens
next. Otherwise we could not have this control illusion. How
much control do you have if you cannot predict the future
outcomes? Well, this is exactly the paradox. In practice, we are
not in control, but we believe we are. Our way of living is
based on the trick our mind plays on us. And the results are
the huge dumpster we are dragging behind us.

Our mind knows only what we know. It is limited to its
own boundaries and it is not objective where we are con-
cerned. It cannot exist without us. We produce the mind.
Therefore, it is also the one who creates for us the future—the
illusion of time in the moment. The mind works very simply:
It fabricates the future from our personal experiences and
knowledge. In other words, it extrapolates the past and the
current moment to the future based on its previous knowl-
edge. It’s very logical and nice; it’s also very real and accept-
able to us—after all, it’s a familiar future to us. We have
created it and can understand it. It is easy to accept and fall in
love with. How can we not like our own creation?

Our mind provides us with illusions of the future that we
take for granted and as true to us. These snapshots create dif-
ferent kinds of feelings, emotions, and sensations in us. The
mind projects usually either good or bad outcomes. The previ-
ous we dream about and the latter we are scared of or worried
about. These outcomes cause new feelings, and the snapshots
or pictures start to have existences of their own. They can also
create new outcomes and sensations in us. Often, the outcome
is that we cling to these illusions and feelings that arise in us.
We forget the actual projected route to the future moment and
see only the “prediction of the future. “Now it’s true to us. We
are sure it is going to happen, no doubt about it. It must hap-
pen. How horrible or how wonderful.

This is the moment when we produce the garbage. After
seeing the beautiful outcome we cling to it. This is something
we definitely need or want. Yes, no doubt about it. We are
urged to direct our actions toward this outcome. At the
moment we are not yet there but for us it is possible because it
seems so real for us, thanks to our mind. Now we have two
different points to compare: the current moment and the pro-
jected future outcome. An urge or desire has been aroused in
us. Now we know what we want. This can happen in various
of forms: greed, anger, frustration, jealousy, self-justification,
and so on, depending on our projection and the gap between
the now time and the imagined future. From this point
onward, we live in the moment only in a manner that is
directed and geared toward the outcome we illusioned. In
other words, we have accepted the future our mind projected
and are compromising in our principles and behavior in order
to make sure that the future will happen the way we desired it
to occur.

You still remember how all this started? Our mind fabri-
cated a future for us based on the experiences and knowledge
we have at the moment. It did not have any capabilities to
provide us any directions or predictions of the actual reality
that will emerge. Still, we believed the nice or horrible sce-
nario it provided us with and now we are living like if these
illusions are as sure things as our past memories. The compro-
mised garbage is all the things we produced in our mind and
now desire. These compromise and corrupt our behavior and
actions in the now time. Our mind offered us this great future
picture and catered the table with good reasons and justifica-
tions to make it happen.

We no longer observe the world as it emerges. We observe
and see the world only through the lenses our mind produced
for us. We expect our projections to happen. Disappointments
and regret emerge from the realization that the future
occurred some other way than we expected. We are not in
control. We could have even given up and sacrificed some of
our humble and noble principles in our quest to perceive and
“force” the illusioned reality to happen.

The compromised dumpster accumulates and reminds us,
thanks to our mind. It accumulates these memories and fabri-
cates more future outcomes. More garbage coming in—until
we catch the litter itself and get rid of it, just ignore it totally.
We give up our very mind and start living with mindlessness
in the moment. We take life as it emerges and base our actions
on the reality as it comes. What a fresh and pure existence!

“When you talk, you only say something that you already know;
when you listen, you learn what someone else knows.”—
Anonymous.

This quote applies to our mind as well. Usually we are busy
thinking and processing something. Our mind is like a rail-
way station—thoughts coming or going at all times. Actually
they cannot stop. They only come and go. If we are packed
with existing concepts and ideas, how could we expect to get
new ideas and experience something fresh?

Mindlessness is a state where our mind keeps still. It is not
a passive state. On the contrary; it is a state where we are
active and receptive to something new. Mindlessness is about
clearing the mind from old thoughts and concepts and mak-
ing space for something unknown and fresh. The unknown
does not come with loud noise and force. It is a quiet visitor
that avoids brutal action. It makes room for more harsh
forms. Therefore, one cannot order it to come—it comes
when it is appropriate for it to appear. Mindlessness is a
dynamic state that happens in now time. It cannot be stored
or reproduced for further usage. It cannot be restored. We
have to come to it—to prepare ourselves for it.

We want to be in control. We are not comfortable with
unpredictability. We would prefer to live in a predictable,
ordinary way, without any surprises. This is the underlying
assumption in our behavior.

Predictable, controllable life, however, is an oxymoron. We
hate to change, but on the other hand we long for excitement
and thrills. We want to be positively surprised and experience
something new and unknown. The ordinary life is a routine
we do not like either, and we would prefer to get some excite-
ment, but we want to choose when and the way it occurs—
nothing too extreme and yet still new for us.

Sounds quite complicated? No, it is totally the opposite.
Simply, we are just bored and scared to death. We want to
cling to our perceptions of the world but still get some amuse-
ment when we have had enough of all the sameness. In other
words, we like to live in our own well-thought-out world with
all the nitty-gritty details and relations in nice little boxes and
labels we have defined and predetermined.

Occasionally, we tire of the predetermined perception of
the world and want a peek at the reality. But we do not want
to see too much. It might destroy our sense of security and the
wonderland we have formed in our mind. We are scared and
out of balance when we cannot explain and understand some-
thing new or strange. This is especially the case with negative
issues that happen in our life, whereas positive surprises are
always welcome. We actually would prefer to get them almost
all the time.

I must say that we are quite interesting creatures. We want
to live in our own small sandboxes without any disturbance.
Each person is the king of the hill, as long as he or she does
not have to step down from his or her place on the hill and face
the real world—the great unknown and the stage of all plays.

Seldom can we experience silence by chance anymore.
Walkmans, TVs, radio, traffic, and household appliances keep
us company. There isn’t any moment in a day when we would
feel the silence without active effort. It takes a power blackout
to get us even close to the silence. What is it like, the sound of
silence?

We fill our life with action. Motion is important; destina-
tion and purpose are secondary. This is the case with silence
as well. We regard it as something unnatural. We are afraid of
the silence—the emptiness. It feels like something is missing
or something is not right.

What happens when we are totally silent? By silence I
mean internal silence—our mind is at rest. Naturally it helps
if there are no external noises either. But when we are focused,
the outside voices disappear to the background. Silence is an
opportunity; it is a chance to experience something new. We
can start to hear the sound of silence. By removing all the
motion and noise one sets the mind free for something else to
emerge.

Silence can teach us and let us experience something new.
When we experience it more deeply, we start to realize that
emptiness and silence are not totally without anything.
Actually, they are the opposite. But we have to be open-
minded and humble to experience the sound of silence.

Our world is based on dualities comprising items in time and
space. In other words, our life happens by and around physi-
cal concepts and things. This material preference is prevailing
and very carefully reflected in our mind as well.

All the important issues are formless. Joy, happiness, wis-
dom, knowledge, beauty, and love, to name a few. Plato intro-
duced us to the ancient wisdom of forms or ideas. He spoke
about pure ideal concepts that are perfect. For example, an
ideal concept of horse is something that is never entirely cap-
tured in the physical horses. Still, we can realize the ideal con-
cept of a horse by observing the variety of horses around us.
How do we think? We create images. These conceptual
items are not from the ideal world but consist of our experi-
ences. We can reconstruct something that we already know.
Our mind is used to creating physical forms. What happens
when we try to squeeze a formless concept into a material
existence?

It is the same as taking a photo—a snapshot of real life. A
photo is never the real thing. It does not smell or taste or can-
not be by any means compared to the real thing. Still, this is
the way our mind works. It takes snapshots over and over
again and tries to imitate the formless and eternal, perfect,
concepts. We chase these ideas by using physical things and
items as if they were the formless perfect concepts. Our mind
transfers the ideal concepts into physical objects and does its
best to give us the illusion of the real thing. And we are
lured—all the way. But every time we have “consumed” these
mind creations, we are not satisfied. We realize that they are
not the entire truth. We long for the real thing—and off we
go again.

The puzzle can be solved the same way as Plato’s famous
The Allegory of the Cave. One has to realize the real thing and
break free from the chains. We have to set ourselves free from
our mind and its creations. As long as we continue putting
forms to something that cannot have a form, we are living in an
imperfect world, which makes us crave the original concepts.

Formless items cannot be captured in time and space. They
have to be experienced instantly. Over and over again. They
do not bend to the physical existence. They are the real thing,
forever and right now.

Who did you meet today? What did you see? Usually we
answer these questions by mentioning the most significant
incidents of the day.

When we are out walking, we meet many people but only
a few of them, if any, do we remember later on. The same
applies with all the details and items on our way. Why do we
not register most of the activities and items? Why do we “see”
only a fraction of the whole picture?

The most fascinating point is to realize that by getting a
reaction we have already stated something. If there were no
“self,” it would mean that all the occurrences would be indif-
ferent. There would not be any better or worse incidents—
they would all be the same. But everyone gets different
reactions from the same (or different) occurrences (i.e.,
impulses, actions, events, and so on).They bear a meaning for
the self, and only for the self. Objectively, nothing bears any
meaning. Things just are, like a rock or bird. No statements at
all—just pure existence.

Having reactions or feelings proves that there is a self,
something that sets relative values for impulses it receives.
This insight clarified, at least for me, the point of selfness. For
example, when a human being looks at you and intends to
approach you, he or she has defined some significance to you
that is stated by his or her actions. The opposite happens
when you are totally ignored or ignore others. We just do not
see most of the people at all while we are out walking. They
neither exist nor bear any significance for us.

How about those people who register most of the actions
and details around themselves but lay no significance to the
occurrences.(Don’t confuse these people with those discussed
previously who do not “see” most of the world around them.)
This is the state of being selfless. They recognize and are
aware of the things around them, but these items do not res-
onate (i.e., bear any significance) anything for the person.
This is existence in its purest form. And in this state, we are
able to recall the details and events later on. So it is not a pas-
sive state like the “blind” case in which a person does not rec-
ognize or see things around him or her. This situation can be
verified by asking the person to recall the incident.

So, we are selfish as long as we have significant things in
our lives. And this means that we have to bear the conse-
quences as well. When one is selfless, there is nothing that is
interfered or reacted to. And when there is no action, a reac-
tion is not created either. Then our existence is very rich and
instant—and more meaningful than ever before.