Beyond the repetitive mind

Magdi Badawy, 10-08-2024

Okay. Yes.
Thank you.

So…
So welcome yourself.

Welcome yourself
as nothing and everything,
as no one and everyone.

This ordinary awareness,
effortless presence.

Silent and still.

No stories.

No effort.

Bottomless ocean.

Absolute,
not-knowing.

Peaceful,
tranquil.

There is no separation anywhere.

The mind is habituated
to do
one could say,
addicted to activity.

Where our true nature,
our essence is non-activity.

Which is not in opposition
to activity.

Because activity is,
in fact,
non-activity.

The mind operates
in the past,
in the future.
It’s conditioned
by past events,
mind impressions.

But our experience,
this moment,
and every moment,
is not in the past.

Presence is eternal,
not in time.

So what does it do?
Live not in time.
Not in psychological time,
because,
chronological time is a useful
conceptual tool.
But what is it to live
free from conceptual time?

You cannot think about it,
because then you’re streaming in time.

But it’s available to you
in this moment,
free from thought,
being without knowing,
being nothing and everything,
the purity of being.

What is it to be guided
each moment
by the unknown,
by the mystery of being,
by love,
by openness:

No borders,
no edges,
no self definitions.

To be undefined,
is that possible?

To be undefined?
Completely,
totally,
every aspect of your being
to be completely undefined,
unstructured, free.

Because,
freedom is your true home,
your true self,
your essence,
your true nature is this freedom.

Not the freedom from this or that,
not the freedom of somebody
with absolute freedom.

Not a freedom
that is the result
of any activity
any doing,
any effort.

One could say
that our innate freedom
is veiled
by the impression of limitation,
the belief and the feeling of
being somebody in time and space.

But what are time and space
in your direct experience
without thinking,
without thought
in this moment?

Dancing on the blade of grass.
The edge of the blade.

The mind of old
always referring to your reality
as mortal,
as phenomenal,
as material,
but understanding
is not material.

It can shine
onto the mind,
but it’s not made out of mind.

The sun reflected
on the surface of the moon
is not made out of the moon.

Its essence is light,
the formless aspect.

Reality is this
formless aspect.

The true I,
the true self
is this formless aspect.

You are it.
It is it.

The mind is mesmerized
by forms and shapes,
colors, sounds,
and phenomenal impressions.

That’s how it is defined.
Mind impressions,
phenomenal perceptions,
memories,
sensations,
preferences,
mentations.
But what is their essence?

What is
the essence of
a perception,
a thought.

What is its reality?

Who would know if not you?
You are the knowingness.
You are that which knows.

You already know.
Veiling yourself with unknowing,
veiling yourself with opacity,
history,
various narratives
about this and that,
about consciousness,
about yourself,
imagining yourself to be
a person,
a man,
a woman, somebody.

What imagines that?
What perceives that?

Beyond
the images on the screen
is the screen.

Beyond
the shape of the ring,
or the shape of the necklace
is the gold.

Beyond
everything that you perceive,
beyond the repetitive mind
is the formless self,
this numenon awareness.

It has
no age,
no shape,
no gender,
no beginning,
no ending,
no location.

Beyond the mind
is the screen,
the essence.

You are that heart.
You are
the core of being
and not the stream of mentation.

So how do we perceive
the narrative,
the repetitive mind,
without being seduced?

That is the question.
It’s available to you,
to be
without being anybody in particular.

To be free, rejoice.
To rejoice.
To flow.

Without any opposition,
such a beautiful exploration.

What a gift
to be
given this opportunity.
To explore and contemplate.