Did you notice that the sun came up today?
It didn’t.
Well, at least not from the perspective of the Earth itself, or the sun, or anywhere in the entire Milky Way Galaxy… The sun only, ever comes up from the perspective of a human being on the surface of the Earth looking out at space during the rotation of the Earth. Saying the sun comes up is really only a statement that’s true from a particular perspective within a particular set of circumstances. Take the singular human perspective out of the equation and saying that the sun comes up is actually a false statement.
Speaking of false statements, they say we need to stay at home in order to create more safety for ourselves and our fellow humans. If you’re like me you’ve already asked yourself the question, “Is social distancing and staying at home really what’s best for myself and our planet?” If you’re like me, then you’ve already registered, at a very deep level, that something may be terribly askew with this perspective… If you have the sense that something may be off, wrong, out of balance, or muther-friggin FUBAR, then I’d love to offer an alternate perspective on how to take our local and global authorities advice.
Disclaimer: I want it to be clear that I have an intense interest in the safety and well-being of all people/beings, and that this writing is one way that I feel I can be of service to others at this time. I’m not saying it’s the right way or the best way, it just happens to be an unconventional, uncommon and unpopular way…
The advice that our governments are telling us is (in my opinion) utterly ridiculous and completely unsustainable, from the conventional perspective of individual people living separate, cross-pollinating lives. It hasn’t, doesn’t, and never will be effective in creating more health and well being, because the very premise that we are separate individuals is false. Trying to keep everyone separate from everyone else in order to facilitate well-being is like trying to solve alcoholism by guzzling vodka; it’s literally trying to solve a problem with the exact source of that problem. It’s insanity.
Let’s take a quick moment to prove this for ourselves:
Observe all of the most painful experiences of your life (or even the mildly inconvenient) and recognize that all of those experiences had built into them the sense of separation and an intense sense of being an individual person(ality). Once you notice that being a separate person(ality) is at the center of all your experiences of suffering it then becomes possible to free yourself from the confines of that perspective; ie, to free yourself from suffering. In short, if you’re interested in not suffering anymore, investigate WHO is suffering.
Ok, back to the main meal, the part of this that really matters.
What happens if I take a different or less common perspective? What happens when I take the perspective of Consciousness (or Reality, God, Buddha, The Universe, The Tao, etc), which is never and could never be separate. What happens when I acknowledge the truth of my direct experience, free from thought or memory, just exactly as it is?
Nothing in consciousness is ever separate from anything else in consciousness. Consciousness itself is the experience of being aware. And once you realize that the experience of being aware is the most fundamental aspect of all experience, a simple and stunning fact becomes clear; I AM ALREADY HOME! Another way to say that is that I-AM is home. The experience I-AM, or being aware, is ground zero, the one place you could not leave even if you tried. So, when your government (or your mom) tells you to stay at home that is actually profound advice, advice that I am also sincerely encouraging.
I’m suggesting that the sense I-AM is Home. Why? Because it’s the only experience you cannot depart from. Being aware is the only experience (it’s not really an experience, but I’m not going to explain that now) you cannot NOT have. Again, prove this for yourself by answering this question, “Tell me about an experience you weren’t aware of?” You can’t do it. Or, just try right now to not be aware. You can’t do it because there are no experiences separate from the knowing of them. There is no such thing as experience without awareness; it is literally impossible to not be aware, therefore it is literally impossible to not always, already be at home.
Staying home is an invitation to investigate the only thing that never changes; Consciousness (The sense of being aware). Notice that all experiences change. Circumstances and conditions change. Thoughts, feelings/emotions, sensations, perceptions, activities, and relationships all change. The awareness that knows all these experiences never changes.
Consciousness is your home because it cannot be disturbed and it never comes or goes. You want certainty? Fix your mind in that which doesn’t change. You want safety? Put your mind in that which is indestructible. You want freedom? Widen your gaze to that which has no borders or boundaries. You want love? Open your heart to that which receives all things unconditionally. You think things are crazy and out of control? Recognize that what is aware of crazy is itself completely at peace in every moment…
Don’t be a separate self who stays in temporary, insecure structures like your house or your personality.
Don’t stand on the horizon of consciousness watching the world rise and fall. Stay Home. Be the shining itself. Let your attention rest back into its source; the ever-present I-AM…
