The Adolescent Realises It's The Parent All Along

The mind is fiercely independent, as it should be, akin to an adolescent trying to break free by rebelling against their parent, which it thinks of as an imposition. Initially, it sees itself as the true master and its faculties as the way to find lasting security for fear of losing its independence. Doggedly trying to prove to itself that it can manage its affairs to remain in the peaceful state it craves, it can only rely on its perceptive mechanism for this. It becomes dependent for its peace on its relationship to the metaphors it perceives, which it calls the physical body, other mind-bodies, and the whole universe, including the world, firmly believing that reality lies in their appearance. As it cannot be aware, it can only cling to these metaphors for dear life.

And so, the mind develops a whole psychology based on what it perceives as a reality made of separate metaphors, and without evidence, it holds the greatest of all blind beliefs. That is, the mind defines itself as a separate metaphor, too and calls itself a 'person'. The person metaphor is born and appears in the thoughts of the mind like an apparition hidden behind the language it uses for its communication. The mind, pursuing this blind belief that it has long since forgotten it has, now assumes that it lives in a world of separate people and that when it calls out plaintively, "I am unhappy," "I" is the name it gives this person. The mind, now fully embedded in the blind belief of the metaphor of a person called "I", proceeds to organise its entire life around this metaphor of personage.

The first thing it does is assume that this person it believes itself to be is really, in some unexplainable, irrational way, equated with the metaphor it perceives and calls the physical body it is connected to. Thus, this metaphorical person depends for its peace on the metaphor of the body that, in reality, consists of a series of fluctuating experiences it calls sensations. Thus, the mind, now unquestioningly believing itself to be a person defined by a body, defines its happiness by the state of the body. The body, however, is dependent on and inextricably linked with an infinite array of experiences that the mind recognises metaphorically as the social and physical environment of the body. Thus, the mind, believing itself to be this metaphorical person whose peace depends on the body, is pulled to and from in its quest for safe refuge amidst the environmental circumstances of the body that maintain its physical calmness.

The mind, equating its happiness with the physical and environmental context of the body, may find this strategy to be reasonable for a while. However, it soon finds that the context of these experiences is in a constant state of change, and finding peace based on these contexts is like trying to remain calm in a small boat in a hurricane. The mind, still believing itself to be a person, finds no lasting peace there and yet, doggedly refusing to admit it cannot find peace, concludes that the task must be to find it through limiting itself, restricting its activity, clinging to the security it believes it has and controlling its environment as best as it can. It creates an invisible wall of limiting energy around this person it considers itself to be and imprisons itself in it, separating itself from what it believes is an external objective reality of other people and the world. It creates a whole society based on this. However, in the end, even this strategy does not work.

Now, depending on how doggedly closed-minded it has become in its defensiveness, the mind may open to the possibility of a third context for safety that is not dependent on the belief of being a person and their dependence on other people and the world. At this point, it is as though the mind stops rebelling like an adolescent and acknowledges its need for safety is still not met. Then, like an adolescent returning to the loving safety of their parent, it opens to the context that what is aware of it is this parental awareness. It opens to the possibility that what is aware of the mind's thoughts and perceptions is this safe context.

At this point, the mind realises it is not what is aware of anything, but rather, the personal self it thought it was is what is aware of it. It realises that awareness is the home of the self. At this moment, the mind realises it is not an adolescent mind that is a personal self trying to organise its life; the true nature of the self it believes it is whatever is aware of the mind. At this point, the mind has to accept it does not know whether this parental awareness is a separate personal mind-like capacity dependent on the physical mind and body and some kind of brain activity. It can open the possibility that parental awareness is an impersonal reality that transcends the physical mind and body. It is the universal reality. After all, the mind cannot know if this is true or not, and in the humble freedom of this not knowing, as this parental awareness experiences itself free of any limiting beliefs about it that the mind stops imposing on it, it experiences the instant peace and wholeness and life-affirming love of itself.

This is the very peace the mind was seeking all along in metaphorical reality. Thus, the mind accepts that it has been the parent of itself all along, and by opening to the possibility of being this loving, parental-aware context all along, it has found its true, safe home. From the secure, whole aliveness of this home, the mind can be enjoyed as the useful tool it is for navigating the world, perceiving its beauty, and expressing the love that is felt for it universally.

From now on, if we catch thoughts that insinuate we are a personal separate self in some way, we may notice the immediate fear they induce and remember that for a moment, we have lost sight of the parental aware reality we are that the mind cannot know is not the impersonal reality that is everything and that is always safe and whole no matter what. Recognising ourselves once again as this, we feal instant wholeness, peace aliveness. In this regard if we experience ourselves thinking and feeling like an adolescent mind, we should treat it as a reminder to return to our parental home and not to follow the mind into its version of happiness.

Love

Freyja