The Reality of Being

commanded by associations from all my subjective impressions.

The life force is always present in us and is a continual source of manifestation. But we have no contact, no relation with it.

My usual consciousness consists entirely in judging—in accepting or refusing. This is not real consciousness. Indeed, in this state, without a quiet mind, nothing real can be revealed to me.

This requires a conscious effort at the moment of the impression. And it requires a definite feeling, a feeling of love for being, for being present. We must respond to impressions no longer from the vantage point of personality but from love for being present. This will transform our whole way of thinking and feeling.

What is important is the effort to be present. We cannot always find a better state that brings a feeling of something new.

In going against a habit, for example, like eating or sitting in a certain way, we are not struggling to change the habit. Or in trying not to express negative emotions, we are not struggling against the emotions themselves or struggling to do away with their expression. It is a struggle with our identification, to allow the energy otherwise wasted

This “I” has a deep fear of being nothing and is afraid of not having security, power, possessions. It is thin-skinned and easily wounded, always eager to be recognized, easily discouraged, rebellious against others, full of self-pity. There is almost constant fear—not a particular but a general fear—of being insecure or incapable, or some other vu

I need to accept emptiness, accept to be nothing, accept “what is.” In this state, the possibility of a new perception of myself appears.

I see my ego expressing itself in my thoughts, my desires, my movements. And I try not to be taken by them.

The Fourth Way is to be lived. In the work to be present I need first to find each day a certain quality of coming back to myself. Then I must become able to observe my identification with the life force and find a place in myself in which at certain moments my attention can hold itself between the two. For this, it is necessary to work with others