Chapter One

MOVING DEEPLY INTO THE NOW

DON'T SEEK YOUR SELF IN THE MIND

I feel that there is still ct great deal I need to learn about the workings of my mind before I can get anywhere near full consciousness or spiritual enlightenment.

No, you don't. The problems of the mind cannot be solved on the level of the mind. Once you have understood the basic dysfunction, there isn’t really much else that you need to learn or understand. Studying the complexities of the mind may make you a good psychologist, but doing so won't take you beyond the mind, just as the study of madness isn't enough to create sanity. You have already understood the basic mechanics of the unconscious state: identification with the mind, which creates a false self, the ego, as a substitute for your true self rooted in Being. You become as a "branch cut off from the vine," as Jesus puts it.

The ego's needs are endless. It feels vulnerable and threatened and so lives in a state of fear and want. Once you know how the basic dysfunction operates, there is no need to explore all its countless manifestations, no need to make it into a complex personal problem. The ego, of course, loves that. It is always seeking for something to attach itself to in order to uphold and strengthen its illusory sense of self, and it will readily attach itself to your problems. This is why, for so many people, a large part of their sense of self is intimately connected with their problems. Once this has happened, the last thing they want is to become free of them; that would mean loss of self. There can be a great deal of unconscious ego investment in pain and suffering.

So once you recognize the root of unconsciousness as identification with the mind, which of course includes the emotions, you step out of it. You become present. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.

END THE DELUSION OF TIME

It seems almost impossible to disidentify from the mind. We are all immersed in it. How do you teach a fish to fly?

Here is the key: End the delusion of time. Time and mind are inseparable. Remove time from the mind and it stops — unless you choose to use it.

To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.

But without a sense of time, how would we function in this world? There would be no goals to strive toward anymore. I wouldn't even know who I am, because my past makes me who I am today. I think time is something very precious, and we need to learn to use it wisely rather than waste it.

Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time — past and future — the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.

Why is it the most precious thing? Firstly, because it is the only thing. It’s all there is. The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be. Secondly, the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is your only point of access into the timeless and formless realm of Being.

§

NOTHING EXISTS OUTSIDE THE NOW

Aren't past and future just as real, sometimes even more real, than the present? After all, the past determines who we are, as well as how we perceive and behave in the present. And our future goals determine which actions we take in the present.

You haven’t yet grasped the essence of what I am saying because you are trying to understand it mentally. The mind cannot understand this. Only you can. Please just listen.

Have you ever experienced, done, thought, or felt anything outside the Now? Do you think you ever will? Is it possible for anything to happen or be outside the Now? The answer is obvious, is it not?

Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now.

Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.

What you think of as the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind, of a former Now. When you remember the past, you reactivate a memory trace — and you do so now. The future is an imagined Now, a projection of the mind. When the future comes, it comes as the Now. When you think about the future, you do it now. Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is "borrowed" from the Now.

The essence of what I am saying here cannot be understood by the mind. The moment you grasp it, there is a shift in consciousness from mind to Being, from time to presence. Suddenly, everything feels alive, radiates energy, emanates Being.

第三章
 深深地进入当下

别在思维中寻找你自己

在我开悟或变得完全有意识之前，我觉得我仍然需要更多地了解大脑工作的方式。

不，你不需要。有关大脑的问题不能在大脑的层面中得到解决。一旦当你理解了基本的思维障碍后，你就没必要再了解或理解太多。对大脑复杂性的研究会使你成为一个很好的心理学家，但是它不会使你超越大脑，就像研究疯狂不足以创造理智一样。你已经理解了无意识状态的基本原理：思维认同。它创造了一个虚假的自我，也就是小我，而这个虚假的自我替代了你真正的自我。你真正的自我是根植于本体之中的。如耶稣所说：“你变成了从葡萄藤上砍下来的一根枝蔓。”

小我的需求是无止境的。它感到自己很脆弱，容易受到威胁，所以它一直生活在一种恐惧和缺乏的状态中。

小我的需求是无止境的。它感到自己很脆弱，容易受到威胁，所以它一直生活在一种恐惧和缺乏的状态中。一旦你了解了这一点，你就不需要探索它所有的表现形式，也没必要将它转化成复杂的个人问题。当然，小我喜欢你这样做。它通常会寻找一种依托以便加强支持它虚幻的自我感，并且总是将自己和你的问题联系在一起。对于大部分人来说，这就是他们的自我感觉与他们的问题紧密联系在一起的原因。一旦这种情形发生了，他们最不愿做的一件事就是从他们的问题中解脱出来，因为这意味着自我感的丧失。所以，小我喜欢你无意识地大量投资在痛苦和苦难中。

因此，一旦你认识到无意识的根本原因是思维认同（当然还包括情感认同），你就可以逐步走出这个阴影了。你可以进入当下，这时，你就会允许思维的存在而不陷入思维之中。大脑本身是没有什么问题的，它是一个很好的工具。但是如果你从大脑思维中寻找你自己并误认为它就是你，那它就会变成一种小我的思维，并且控制你的整个生活。

终结时间的幻象

我们似乎不可能从思维认同中解脱出来。我们都沉浸在思维之中。你怎能教鱼学会飞翔呢？

这就是问题的关键所在。请终结这种时间的幻象吧。时间和思维是密不可分的。从思维中去除时间，思维就会停止——除非你选择去运用它。

当你与思维认同时，你就陷入了时间的陷阱：你会不由自主地完全生活在对过去的回忆和对未来的期待之中。这样你的心思会完全被过去和未来占据，而不愿意接纳当下时刻，并容许它存在。过去可以赋予你一个身份，而未来代表了解脱的希望或任何一种形式的满足，因此你会强迫性地认同它们，但实际上这两者都是幻象。

但是如果没有时间感，我们将如何在这个世界上生存呢？我们不会再有任何可追求的目标。我甚至不知道我是谁，因为过去造就了今天的我。我认为时间是非常珍贵的东西，我们需要学会善于利用它，而不是浪费它。

时间一点儿也不珍贵，因为它仅仅是一种幻象。你认为珍贵的东西不是时间，而是不在时间内的那一点，即当下。实际上，当下才真正的珍贵。你越关注时间——过去和未来，你就会越多地错过当下。当下才是最为珍贵的东西。为什么？首先，因为它是唯一真正存在的东西，你的整个生命就是在这个永恒当下的空间中展开的，而这个永恒当下是唯一不变的常数。生命就是此刻，你的生命从来不会不在此刻，未来也不会。其次，当下是唯一可以带你超越有限大脑的切入点，也是唯一可以带你进入永恒的本体领域的关键。

时间一点儿也不珍贵，因为它仅仅是一种幻象。

任何事物都不能存在于当下时刻之外

过去和未来难道不真实吗？它们有时看起来比当下更为真实。毕竟，过去决定了我们是谁以及我们现在的思维和行为，并且我们未来的目标决定了我们现在该采取的行动。

你还没有把握我所说的内容的实质，因为你在试着用大脑去理解它。大脑是不会理解的。只有你能，请专心地听就好。

你可曾在当下之外体验过、做过、思考过或感觉过什么东西？你认为你做得到吗？有什么事情能发生或者存在于当下之外吗？答案很明显，不能。

没有任何事情可以发生在过去，所有的事情都发生在当下。也没有任何事情会发生在未来，所有的事情都只发生在当下。

没有任何事情可以发生在过去，所有的事情都发生在当下。

也没有任何事情会发生在未来，所有的事情都只发生在当下。

过去发生的事情是一个记忆的痕迹，它储存在大脑中，是过去的当下。当你记起过去发生的事情时，你就重新激活了那个记忆——而你是在当下做这件事情的。未来是一个幻象的当下，是思维对未来的投射。当未来来临时，它是以当下的方式到来。当你思考未来时，你也是在当下做这件事情。很明显，过去和未来本身没有现实性。就像月亮本身不会发光一样，它只能反射太阳光，所以过去和未来仅是永恒的当下的光线、力量和现实性的反映。过去和未来的现实性都是从当下借过来的。

我在这里所说的内容的本质通过大脑是不可能被理解的。但在你理解它的那一刻，你的意识就会从思维转变到本体，从时间转变到临在。突然，每件事都会充满活力，散发出本体的能量。