The It, is!
It is at the core of our responses and reactions.
It is a rather simple thing at first glance, but It penetrates the whole issue of the character and identity of the self that It takes on, and constructs the reality It creates for Itself.
“What do you perceive “It” to be? Is “It” what you observe?
Do you see “It” as it is?
Are you Open?
What are your responses to the “image”?
Are you attracted or repulsed?
I want to go to the fluid dreaming of “It”.
There was something about “It”, like a Zen realization. I was in a space where I experienced an awakened place of being. Empty of any hold on what I “wanted” or felt. “It” was more of an empty nucleus where whatever came into me was something that I chose to include in myself. “It” didn’t define me, nor did “It” belong to me. I had the choice to include “It” or not. “It” was like a conundrum of exchange in a flow of what is. The ”Is” was outside of me, and yet included me, like I was swimming in a lake.
I felt totally separated from my being. “It” was outside of me. A real detachment with identification. I felt I could wear “It” or not, depending on Its nature.
Next, I was walking on the beach thinking about what “It” was that I was seeing, realizing “It” was what “It” is, and not something I wanted “It” to be.
I felt totally free, understanding that all I interpret about what “is” is by way of the totality of my consciousness and character as a human being walking the earth. “It” was not that “It” was illusion, but that I created an illusion about “It”.
I bring the ”is” into my character and being as a human, with or without the skills of consciousness and awareness.
I was then walking towards a group of four or five men sitting around a fire. Some of them came and went in my awareness. They were talking among themselves.
As I approached I saw a small square piece of metal in the sand, like someone had thrown it away. I picked it up and examined it. It had some combination of symbols etched and carved on its surface that I didn’t know how to read. I thought it to be something someone had as a kind of lucky charm or spiritual token.
I put it in my pocket and walked up to the men. We greeted each other and after a pause I asked, “Do you know what ‘is’ is?”
I didn’t wait for a response. I felt I had to say more. “Most of us want to change what “is” to what we want “is” to be. We don’t listen or look to see, or even give our attention to knowing what “is” is. Instead we respond with what is embedded in our learned habits of what we “think” we know “It” to be, or what we were taught to believe “It” to be.”
I continued, “Then there is our response to what we feel, think, or know about “It” with either acceptance or rejection. Seldom is this reflected on in the moment, nor is it considered to be right or wrong, we simply react unconsciously with our habits of responses, especially unexamined responses. We interact according to context or circumstances. This is universal among human beings. It has the effect of bringing forward conventional images to be used to define what “is” in unconscious belief, bypassing rational reflection.”
I paused. I felt I was losing my audience when one of the men, 30 years old or so, said, “Where do you get this stuff? Do you think you are some sort of guru or something?”
I knew this kind of interactive experience well. I know that stepping beyond what is conventional is not what most people are used to. It is also disruptive of the conventional frame of being in the social matrix of interaction. The dialogue is generally not a dialogue, but rather an affirmation of what the culture promotes it to be, what “is” and what “is” is supposed to be.
Questioning also disturbs the psyche’s sense of comfort and balance.
“No, I’m not,” I replied. I could feel his accusatory intensity. “I am looking at how to look; to view the “is” and read it for what it is, rather than accept or reject it in denial or judgment without knowing. We do this habitually all the time. We do it about everything, and then we hold on to our unexamined opinions,” I stated forcefully.
“What’s that?” he demanded. I had taken the token out of my pocket and was holding it in my hand.
“That belongs to my friend!”, he declared, “Where did you get it?” he demanded.
“I found it”, I stated flatly.
“Liar!” He exclaimed. “My friend is a very spiritual man and would never have given it away!” He was angry, self righteous, indignant. “You stole it!” he insisted.
I had not said anything to him about how I found it. It was clear that he wasn’t going to hear or accept much from me in this circumstance, nor was he open to what I had to say about what this “is” is in reality.
I turned to face him and declared, “You won’t believe me, it doesn’t matter what I say. Your feelings have obstructed your ability to see what “is” and you closed the door of perception with your conviction that I had something to do with it or him.”
I continued, ”This is a perfect example of how we block our vision of what “is” because we do not see what we bring to the experience that prevents us from rational vision in creating an objective distance from ourselves and of what ‘is’ is.”
I thanked him for providing the perfect example of what, and how, we use our self interests to obstruct our vision of reality as it is vs the reality we have come to expect, want, and believe.
He was still blocked. I turned and said to him, “You are blocked by your feelings and nothing of this is getting through to you. One doesn’t have to be a guru to know how to face the reality of what “is”.”
His friend threw away the token because he realized it blocked the view of the reality of the “is”.
There are so many ways we block our vision of what is, especially when It doesn’t do for us what we want it to do. Consider the “heroes” of some of the idealized images of what we would like the “is” to be. We feed into our self image, good and bad, and then accept and embrace the ideal without knowledge. This is yet another story.
I didn’t want to explain to him about how I came upon the token. If I had tried, it would have turned the subject from the “is” to using it for self justification. This wasn’t about me. It is about what “is” and how we meet It, with or without objective distance. We must seek ways to demonstrate it so that oneself and others can develop the skills of objective observation of all and everything, especially ourselves, and how to escape feeling-based, mental distortions of the reality of what
“IS”.