Submitted by Shaddox on
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Have you ever experienced a state of deep peace, serenity, joy, and loving attunement to what is?
Did you ever notice how, in that state, we’re not remembering the unsatisfied, fluctuating, unstable, sense of “me” that we otherwise take ourselves to be?
This point is so crucial to explain much of the unnecessary suffering we experience on a daily basis, yet so easily missed because it’s so obvious!
The Storytelling About the Unhappy “Me:” A Mental Process of Remembering -
The dissatisfied self, the unhappy self needs to be remembered. Did you get that? The anxious, fearful, depressed, unhappy, or otherwise dissatisfied self needs to be remembered to be summoned up in the spaciousness of the present moment.
Why? Because the sense of the unhappy self is generated by a mental process of storytelling about “me,” and all of the units that its stories consist of, all of the content of its stories, and all of the words it uses to tell them are stored in memory. Thus, the sense of being a dissatisfied self is remembered, actively remembered in the present moment.
The brain can’t tell the difference between a remembered experience and a present experience; its neurons fire similarly either way. Ever notice how a sad memory can evoke as much sadness as something experienced as sad happening in front of you right now? The brain can’t tell the difference and it can generate the same emotional responses to both kinds of stimuli, the imaginary and the actual.
So, when the unhappy self is remembered, the brain generates a sense of unhappiness in the present moment. Do you see the link?
The remembering of the ‘self’ you take yourself to be is what gives rise to the overwhelming majority of the suffering that arises throughout the day.
In short, we remember ourselves into unhappiness! As they say in Vietnam, ối trời ơi! (Oh my Buddha!)
Remembering What Is Already Over Makes Us Suffer As If It Were Happening Now -
Were you ever having a great day when suddenly, something triggered a memory of an event that happened to “you” many years ago, and you immediately felt overcome with waves of sadness or regret?
Consider what occurred in that situation. Without the remembering? Peace and joy.
With the remembering? Misery.
What happened? You remembered to be unhappy! You remembered a past sense of ‘self’ into the present and experienced sadness as a result. And then, in the mother of all ironies, you forgot you were remembering and took yourself to presently be what you just remembered from the past. The selfing mental process is so subtle and so quick. It snaps on us like a mouse trap and stings when it does. Ow!
Can the remembered sense of “me” be what you really are in any meaningful sense? Of course not!
Why not? Because you were here before it showed up! You were at the party of this moment first and the sense of an unhappy “self” showed up afterward. Because the remembering mental process that produces the sense of the unhappy “self” relies on memory, it’s based on what’s not happening now, not on what is.
Because the remembered sense of being an unhappy ‘self’ comes and goes while you remain to see it come and go, the unhappy self can’t be you. You’re prior to it; you come first, then it shows up later. And when it isn’t arising, you remain.
Thus, there is no need to get out of the unhappy self because you were never in it! You are the present reality in which the memory of the unhappy “me” shows up and wreaks havoc in the body-mind like an uninvited guest who trashes a party while shouting “YEAHHH BREAK STUFF!! WOOOHOO!” and then feeling guilty about it later.
The reality is that there is no unhappy guest apart from the remembering. All the mayhem the unhappy “me” seems to cause is all in your head; you’re prior to all of it. The party of your living presence never gets interrupted! It only seems to do so. In truth, you remain whether the remembering is going on or not, so you are not dependent on it. You are free from the need to be liberated. And that is the greatest freedom of all.
You Are Still Here When You’re Not Remembering Your Story Of An Unhappy “Me” -
Your true nature doesn’t need to be remembered to be here; it is always present. You’re not defined by all the rememberings; you’re prior to them. All the baggage you think you are carrying needs to be remembered to be maintained since the past is long gone and only the living present remains. When we’re not actively remembering the unhappy “me” through the mental process of the mind telling itself stories about “me,” what remains? A natural harmony with what is reveals itself. The internal conflict with reality that the story of “me” gives rise to disappears and a natural peacefulness abides where the conflict once raged.
In this state, which is our natural state, “I,” “me,” and “mine” do not constantly claim the content of this moment as “me” or using it to weave stories about “what it all means about me.” In the absence of the movement of claiming and having, getting and avoiding, a natural peace of resting presence shines through. It is that which illuminates all of the thoughts that we take ourselves to be; it is more deeply and intimately you than the story of “you” could ever be. It alone is constant while the ever-unfolding chapters of the remembered story of you rise and fall, come and go. So the stories cannot be you. You come first. The stories come and go, but you remain.
And yet, out of habit, we tend to identify with the mental process and the sense of a time- and change-bound separate ‘self’ that it generates. The more we remember what we’re not, the more we forget what we are.
It’s as if, after showing up late, the aforementioned drunk guy from the party were to claim to be you, the host of your party. “YEAH, THIS WAS ALL ME, BRO! THIS IS MY PARTY! I’M THE GUY! I PLANNED IT! THIS IS MY HOUSE! DO YOU LIKE MY DECORATING?” but you know it’s your house and your party. Before the drunk guy (the story of the unhappy “me”) showed up, you were here first. And after the police dragged him off to jail, you remained. What a relief that he wasn’t you after all!
You Are What Shines Through The Gaps In The Remembered Story of “You” -
When we believe the stories the mind concocts by remembering a sense of “me” rooted in the past right now, we seem to be at the mercy of its constant ups, downs, and volatile fluctuations. But what shines through the gaps in the stories and the movements of the emotions that follow them like a dog chasing its master?
What is present in between the rememberings of the story of an unhappy “me”?This question does not need to be settled by thinking; the answer can be seen simply by looking directly, becoming aware of the gaps between the stories when you seem to forget the dissatisfied “self” and feeling the sense of deep presence that shines through in their absence.
You illuminate all the stories and shine through them without ever being bound by them. Your presence remains even when the mind isn’t actively remembering the story of the unhappy “me.” You’re prior to and beyond all of the stories. They never bound you in the first place, so you don’t even need to be freed from them; you’re free even from the need to be freed. Realizing that the bondage is imaginary because the “me” you think is bound doesn’t exist is the freedom.
As Paul Hedderman says, “you don’t need to get out of what you were never in. It’s enough to see you were never in it. That’s being out of it!”
In other words, it’s sufficient to see that the stories that generate the sense of being an unhappy “me” are not you; they come and go, but you remain. When we’re not trying to run the show by misconstruing life as “my life,” life takes over and flows through very naturally. It takes the wheel and begins to steer it very gently without us having to do anything.
In short, we are not hopelessly bound to the remembering of the unhappy “me.” We never were and we aren’t now. We only seemed to be. The more we turn our attention back to where we’re seeing from rather than the stories that we are seeing arise and fall away, the more we can rest in the reality of our true nature rather than in the fictional stories about “me” that the mind generates by processing its stored representations of the past.
You do not need to be remembered to be; you are.
Adam J. Pearson
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