Post #14: The Unburnt Screen

Post #14: The Unburnt Screen 

---

Context

consciousness, awareness, nonduality, spirituality, movie, illusion, observer, detachment, innerpeace, vedanta, perspective, mentalhealth, reality

We tend to get completely lost in the drama of our lives. When tragedy strikes, we feel destroyed. When chaos ensues, we feel burned. We identify so closely with the "story" of our lives—the ups and downs, the gains and losses—that we forget the medium upon which the story is playing. We behave like an audience member in a movie theater who screams and ducks when a car explodes on screen, forgetting that it is just light projected onto a flat surface.

Consciousness is the screen; your life experiences are the movie. A movie can show a flood, but the screen never gets wet. It can show a blazing fire, but the screen never gets singed. It can show a knife fight, but the screen never bleeds. The screen supports the movie, allows the movie to be seen, and holds the entire story, yet it remains intimately untouched by the content of the story.

To awaken is to shift your identity from the character in the movie to the screen itself. You stop taking the drama so personally. You realize that while pain, sadness, and excitement arise and pass, the background of your awareness remains pristine and damage-free. No matter what trauma or difficulty you have faced, there is a part of you that remains whole, unburnt, and at peace, simply watching the show.

---

Tags 

Post #5: The Silent Witness

Post #5: The Silent Witness 

mindfulness, meditation, awareness, innerpeace, stillness, mentalhealth, thoughts, spirituality, witness, clarity, calmness, detachment, psyche, wisdom, psychology 

Context

We often confuse our identity with the internal noise of our minds. When we feel angry, we say, "I am angry," implying that the emotion consumes our entire being. When we are anxious, we feel like the anxiety is who we are. We get swept up in the turbulence of our thoughts and feelings, believing that every passing mental storm is a permanent state of reality. We treat the weather of our minds as if it were the atmosphere itself.

However, consciousness is distinct from the objects of consciousness. Think of your awareness as the vast, open sky, and your thoughts and emotions as the clouds passing through it. Some clouds are fluffy and light; others are dark and stormy. But no matter how violent the storm, the sky itself is never wet, never burned, and never damaged. It simply provides the space for the weather to occur. The sky remains the silent, untouched witness to everything that passes.

Practicing this shift in perspective is freedom. The next time a heavy emotion rolls in, don't try to fight the storm or pretend it isn't there. Instead, take a step back and realize you are the space observing the storm. You are the stillness behind the movement. By identifying with the sky rather than the weather, you find a peace that exists independent of your changing circumstances.