Words are not just words. Words are magic spells that hypnotize you. They can turn you into a right-winger or a left-winger, they can turn you into a Protestant or a Muslim, they can turn you into a miserable loser or a high cast Hindu. Words can turn you into almost anything. They can change the world around you; they can make you believe that you are absolutely right about things that are all wrong, they can take you in completely and ruin your life. Seriously, what are you without your story about yourself and what the world is like?

Words are useful, though, when you say things like, “The hammer is on the kitchen table.” or “ She will be back tomorrow.” However, it is difficult to put into words what potatoes taste like, or explain how to swim. It is like discussing colors with someone who is blind since birth. “What does it feel like to be happy? Explain it to me in simple words, please. I don’t know what you talk about. I have never experienced this what you call happiness.“ To explain with words what you mean with awakening or non-self is impossible. Sometimes it is better to keep the mouth shut.

 

You are not the one you think you are.
Death is not what you think it is.
What you think that the world is like
and what you think is common sense
are just fantasies.
You are completely fooled.
We are all fooled.
We are all like goats.

 

Today I had a haircut and lunch at the Chinese restaurant. On my way home, a fifteen minutes walk along some very busy streets, I had this thought: Oh, Brother. There are so many different kinds of people here, Hip hoppers, Punk rockers, stressed out office clerks, right-wingers, left wingers, Neo-Nazis, alcoholics, mental cases, Rastafarian's, Muslims... There are so many different kinds of people in this world and so many different ideas. And here comes an ambulance. Maybe someone is dying in there. And here comes the Police. What’s going on? This is our life, suffering, jealousy and hate, love, nonsense, jokes, distress, disasters. So much is here. It’s like a play. Why bother if people play games and delude themselves. Why bother if people pray to Santa Claus or if they hope for nothing but an improvement of the stock market rates. We’re all deluding ourselves and we are all like actors in a play. This is life. What if all the actors in the play suddenly took off their costumes and explained that they were sick and tired of acting. "Shakespeare is a jerk. We want to wake up from this stupid make believe nonsense.“

Some people are fragile, nervous and sensitive. They often spend decades trying to get rid of their nervousness but nothing seems to work. Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs gives only temporary relief. Psychotherapies and meditation does not seem to do the trick either. Medication can be helpful for some time, what I understand, but eventually the nervous person has to get off the medicine because of the side effects. My experience is that it is not until one begins to accept ones nervousness and fragility that things improve. The nervousness and the fragility are still there but one does not bother to fight it any longer.

We spend so much time, money and energy trying to change ourselves, trying to fit ourselves into imagined molds. One part of us is telling another part of us that we are no good and that we ought to do something about it. This is a crazy.

Some people pretend that they are religious; some pretend that they are optimistic and some pretend that they are sincere. Many people simply pretend that that they are not pretending and lecture you on how you ought to live your life. Surrounded by bullshitters it is better to give them some bullshit back. We are immersed in to a world of bullshit.

You cannot become what you already are. You cannot miss out your life because you have been so busy with other things. This is your life. This is what you are. You cannot say to yourself, “I ought to live in the now, nothing else is real.” You cannot say to yourself, “I ought to love what is.” Well, you can tell yourself how you ought to think, but it will not change anything. You can tell yourself, “Do not try to change anything!” But, isn’t that the same thing? We are trapped. This is the human condition.

“You must not give in. You have to wake up. You must not be so negative. You really ought to do something. This is just your mind playing tricks on you... ”

There are many different kinds of smiles. You can smile as at social worker or you can smile as a sales clerk. You can smile as a minister or you can smile as a thug. You can smile as a politician. You can smile consciously. You can smile condescendingly and you can smile like if you feel guilty of something. You can smile completely idiotic smiles as the drunkards.

However, there are also true smiles and true laughs that originate from a completely different place. Such smiles and laughs come from out of nowhere.

“The human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons linked up with up to 10 000 synaptic connections each. Despite rapid scientific progress, much of how brains work remains a mystery.” (I found this information on Wikipedia.)

Indeed, it is a mystery how the brain works. Somehow thoughts, dreams and fantasies are created in the neurons and the synaptic connections. Also love and hate, intuitions, synchronicities, awareness, attention and consciousness is created here by a number of mystical chemicals. The brain is not just a brain. If you can't see what a miracle the brain is, with all its mystical chemicals, you wont be able to see any miracles at all.

Certain drugs can instantly make you lose your consciousness. Other drugs can make you relaxed or wired or crazy. Some drugs can create fantastic fantasies and images in the head. The material world is a total mystery. .

Seriously, what is matter? What does it consist of? Protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, strings, vibrations, energy. But think of it: what is an electron, really? What does it consist of? It is not easy to be a materialist these days. It is silly to be a materialist. It is as silly as defining oneself as spiritual. It is out of date to talk about spirituality versus materialism. We are lost. We don’t know anything at all. Everything is a complete mystery.