Remembering Viktor? E.R.O.S.

A long time favourite Buddhist teaching. 

Thank You Chan, Thank you Julia, Thank you Marpa.

The Two Arrows.

The Buddha once asked his student, 

"If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful?" 

The student nodded, yes. 

The Buddha then asked, 

"If a person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?" 

The student again nodded, yes. 

The Buddha then explained, 

"In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow is optional." 

The first arrow is the negative event that hits our lives. This is the uncontrollable chaos that we may find ourselves thrown into from time to time. The first arrow is impossible to avoid. It hits and it hurts. The second arrow is governed by our response to the first and as the parable teaches us, being struck by the second arrow is entirely within our control. Our reaction and response controls the direction and force of the second arrow: 

If we attach ourselves to the pain of the first arrow, continue to think all of the negative thoughts it brought about, repeat the patterns of our past, dwell in the pain, and bemoan our bad luck, we send the second arrow hurtling straight into our open wound. If we pause, breathe, give ourselves a moment to reset, and choose a balanced response, we send the second arrow falling feebly to the ground. 

Viktor Frankl, the Austrian philosopher and Holocaust survivor renowned for his contributions to existential psychology, has a brilliant framing for this: 

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response." 

Our power is in the space that we can create between stimulus and response. 

Our power is in the awareness of the consciousness of that limitless space. 

Our power is not special or scarce or transcendent or for re sale. 

Our power is unadulterated, unaddicted and unattached. 

Once we WHOLLY remember and return to who we have always been. 

Creating that unwavering, eternal inner space is the key to avoiding all of life's second arrows. 

That practice is simple.

That practice is common.

That practice is ordinary. 

Atma Vidya is The Creation of That Inner Space. That we all already are. 

Once we wholly re ground as Self Knowledge. 

Once self knowledge is pointed out to you there is no going back.

Once we learn something infinitely expansive, The Second Arrow ceases to exist. 

Once we realize there is NO path, there is NO journey, there is NO healing. 

Once we get out of our own way and realize who we are, what we don't want and what we deserve. 

Once we drop the addictions, the try hard, the dross, the dregs, the self medication of small BS stories. 

Once we stop bouncing from crisis to crisis, drama to drama, partner to partner. 

We simple be, whole humans. One creature in creation. Not better or worse, not above nor below. 

We realize how fucking simple we are and all of creation already is; 

How simple and ordinary and common earth, water, air and fire and EVERY sentient creature already is. 

Why complicate? Why convolute? Why even do that to your True Self? 

Why try so hard to win at life? There is enough, YOU are enough, stop being a stress head... 

Why reach so hard to plan and control and project that insecurity, that you forget to live freely now?

Why choose to stay stuck with limiting addictions to small BS stories?

Why choose to stay stuck with daily dogmatic rituals and adolescent crutches of insecurity?

Why choose a life of by pass and check outs like stale energy or accepting dregs, or taking drugs, or getting pissed or high or other forms of running away from your Self because you really cant accept who you already are... stop that self abandonment shit right now and face the fucking music, your own beautiful tune, who YOU already are, if you just got out of your own way and surrendered to the wholeness of who you already are... see your own bright inner pilot light permanently, solidly, totally...

that's when you have the inner courage to open your heart and go there and see it and hear it and be it that is...? 

and stop being stuck in all the rapid whirlpools, the addictive crutches, the shallow co dependency, the pretending (acceptance) to a half life and calling it living?  (all those Mofo Second Arrows...) that dark dross "just to get you through"?  

Who Am I? Really? 

What would happen if you dropped ALL those external terms & conditioned patterns, right now? 

Dropped the small BS story of having To Win at life, when it then ultimately drowns you? 

Dropped the addictive baby bottle, the buy pass rattle of bullshit of an escapist love n light?

Dropped the terms and conditions of who the world told you you were or HAD to be? 

Dropped all the labels that "experts" like society or dogma or churches or schools or media or retail therapy or screaming screens or wacked out wackos or mummy and daddy or family tradition want you to have? So they can conveniently dump their own lack and small story lack of wholeness shit on you? 

What if you asked, simply and clearly, Who Am I? 

Beyond all that healing mumbo jumbo? (because you ain't broken...) 

Beyond ALL those inherited conditions? (because there's nuthin' to fix...)

Beyond attachments or insecurities or try hard addictions? (because you don't need crutches no more...) 

Beyond all that you are not and return to who you have always been? (because YOU already are whole)

Those who come from a lack, come from a not enoughness, come from a heavily conditioned gunked up interior. 

No space or grace or depth or breadth of perspective to realize it is all included and Ok, just don't try and re sell me, me. 

Commune in community and support others where you can, pay the GREAT shiFt forward, But don't be a people please, perfectionist or loud noisy projector. 

Two Eyes, Two Ears, One Mouth, creations perfect ratio, please engage discerningly... 

With healthy boundaries, Feel life fully, Let It In and Let It Be. 

Laugh more, why so freaking serious...? 

Why allow second arrows or rabid dogs or sucking leeches or cold water pity party me to stay stuck somewhere you don't belong? Drop that second rate shit asap and know what you deserve, and don't settle for less than wholeness, who am I? really? 

Once we practice returning immediately, each moment to each moment to Our Own Infinite Inner Cleared Space, we can never be anywhere other than home. 

Breathe. 

Really connect. 

To. The. Breath. 

The in and the out is relatively easy.  You do that shit or you die... pretty simple... 

The in and the out often happens on auto pilot. 

The in and the out un noticed gets us unconscious. 

The in and the out, when relative, is shallow. 

We survive on shallow, sure, but do we absolutely, deeply, live? 

Wanna live more deeply? Then Don't get stuck on auto.

Connect more deeply to the pause within each cycle of breath, 

consciously become more aware of that spacious gracious place within The Pause 

as that is where our real freedom lives. 

Mind The Gap. 

As Frankl famously said, 

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

So the next time you encounter an uncontrollable negative event in your life—when you're struck by that painful first arrow—consider the parable of the two arrows. 

The first arrow may have hurt, but the second arrow is always optional.

"Event ~ Response ~ Outcome ~ Srsly mudda duckers..." 

E.R.O.S. 

PRETTY and SIMPLE...

Mind The Gap and Pause More

for that is where life's true beauty and 

absolute freedom reside.

I am toxic to some, I am a blessing to others. Some I held space for, others I hurt. I'm willing to admit that I an nowhere near perfect (how boring) and absolutely not always aware of the vast perspectives that obviously exist.  I still have so much to learn and grow and expand into. But consciousness is aware and present. Always. 

It can't NOT be present. Try it. Wherever you go, you arrive. 

Some try to check out and become lost in living as they can't face their own music. Can't take responsibility and it's easier to blame all those "others" over there, see, them, those, not us... 

How divisive do ya wanna be... really? what a freaking insecure loser...? no no no, NOT losers, just still heavily conditioned... so meet that mind affliction, mind attachment with compassion... these are not losers at all, just still lost little MIND attached puppies. Over thinkers, over planners, over whelmed crisis livers... And that's Ok. Once they have faced enough crisis, once they get tired of their own insecure repetitive wah wah noisy nosy drama, they'll start seeing where to look... deeper, within. 

I can't tell or teach or force that on anyone... every flower opens in it's own time. 

True Nature has NO preaching, no telling, no selling, no short cuts... 

Each egg cracks from within if new life is born... if it's cracked from outside, that's just force and projection and an insecure dude or dudette with a BIGGER hammer (ego, dick, cunt, bank account...? all blunt force hammers used to crack, control and dominate) those BIG hammers coming to show you who's boss... coming to show and tell and coming to spill all their insecurity into YOU. 

If you let them... boundaries, don't leave home without them... tell the BIG hammers to get back in Their Tool Sheds... 

settle pettal, why so up tight? why so leaking loud and loquacious energy? why so serious? why so big insecure hammer? why so small time small mind small life try hard? srsly, some of these quack quack quacking mudda duckers make simple love so freaking hard... why do that shit to yo Self? Yo True Self? Yo True Nature? 

I am consciously developing the discernment to see how much space someone has to receive life's magic and creations medicine. Being Simple can be the most challenging thing for many human doings. Busy doing, busy wasting energy, busy nosy noisy needy? 

As I share more and show people their own pure magic and unadulterated wholeness, some will tune out while others will go unconscious. Simple is hard because they are NOT even vaguely aware that that is where the magic lives. 

No try, no hard, no reaching, no seeking, no path, no journey, no hammers ever needed. 

Because they may simply not yet have the inner clear space and receptive grace and capacity to hold what they already are, they actually scare their false self, they are afraid of them Self because they do not yet know who they are. Who Am I? Beyond The Hammer... Beyond The Try Hard... Beyond The Rapacious Pillaging of take take take, do whatever it takes... 

See, so simple.  Slow and surrender, paise more and open Thy Heart, really open and take no shit. See? 

Show the hammers where to look, never tell them what to see. 

The Simplicity of Absolute Consciousness, bit scary coming home to Your Own True Nature, hey what? 

The Totality of Absolute Wholeness, don't be scared Hammer, put it back in the Tool shed, you'll be ok, you ARE ok... already... 

Own True Nature, once realized,  is 100% wholly awesome like that.