Life as Reflection

Life is you, there is no boundary between the inner and the outer.   So beliefs about life shape life, it’s basic cause and effect.   If you’re dishonest you believe everyone is dishonest, and that is reflected back upon you, thievery is everywhere.   If you believe financial wealth is the goal, you believe everyone wants it, people around you are measured by it.   The only way to get out of this house of mirrors is to let go of belief.

Life requires nothing of you, the natural law of cause and effect is it’s own justice.  You reap what you sow.    You don’t have to believe in the seasons for them to turn, you don’t have to believe in gravity for it to keep you from floating out into space.  You don’t have to believe in breathing for oxygen to fill your lungs.   It takes courage to let go of belief, because belief is the impetus that carries you out of dark places, but like everything belief has a time and a place.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:  Ecclesiastes 3.1

When you have the courage to go beyond belief, reality reveals itself.   Like a mountain perfectly reflected in a clear still lake, a clear still mind reflects life without distortion.   Quiet contemplation of this pure reflection leads to the realization that what was once believed to be the inner life separate from the outer life are seamlessly united.

Removing the reflection from the lake entails the impossible act of separating the lake from its surroundings, like separating the mind from that which it is aware of is completely impossible.

When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish. -Huang Po

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