Are you planning on a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year? Or maybe you plan to be miserable? Or even a little of both, depending on the situation?
Well... best you give up those plans and, as a result, it just might be...more than you could expect.
Give up all your plans for how it should be and you will not go into any situation or event thinking you know what you need to be “happy” – simply because the truth IS...
... you have no idea and "you" never will.
In fact, it is your belief that you 'know' what will work that causes all the trouble.
This is because you have become accustomed to adapting to what you perceive. Yet, what you perceive is an experience constructed from the past and that's why you perceive it. The ego constructs its own experiences superimposing what it 'knows' upon experience.
It can never be other than expected, which is why you are so often disappointed with what you expect.
Nevertheless, you cannot create experiences that are in your best interest simply because you do not know your best interests and, thus, continue to rely on what is perceived in order to adjust behaviors. All your many goals impede and conflict with one another and this often infuriates you because nothing ever seems to turn out as you EXPECT, even though all experiences are, in fact, planned and prepared for ahead of "time." Therefore, every experience is as expected and it is just this expectation that you suffer through.
What you perceive was constructed beforehand; else you would NOT perceive it at all. The egocentric 'mechanics of experience' are complicated because the ego-self thrives on an imaginative complexity that makes no sense.
Therefore, go into each and every situation with no predetermined or prepared responses, since it is your preparation that stifles “surprise. Allow it to unfold as it will, because it will unfold differently than expected, but only without your preparing for what you expect. This is because you have no idea how it CAN be, only an idea of how it COULD be, based on past conditioning...and who wants to be victim to the past?
The ego is NOT conditioned for “surprise,” and therefore, has no such expectation. It is conditioned for expectation and what you expect is what you will experience each and every time, but each and every time it will not be what you want and your disappointment is always added to the menu of expectation. The ego will not construct experiences except from that menu and, make no mistake, death is on the menu and you are preparing everyday.
Leave your expectations behind and prepare to learn what is in your best interests in the recognition that you don't know. Let “surprise” teach you that there are experiences outside expectation, but only as long as you believe you have NO idea what to expect.
Would you like next year to be a “happy” new year?
Best to give up that thought...
Best to give up that thought...
Well, I'd have to agree that we take our expectations from a menu of pre-offered expectations. The worst is not realizing it and when one does, it actually hurts the brain to give it up. Chaos and confusion often threatens. And yet, I know when I've held no expectations, or as least as far as I refused them, certain events and experiences thereof, seemed to take on an almost timeless proportion. It's very strange and full of surprises, often pleasant...but, alas, one slips back into the cycle of expectations both of oneself and of those imposed by others that we seem wont to take into ourselves.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I think it is to the degree that people have them and how it works as a set up every time if they rule one's life. Expectations perhaps petrify the older one gets or lead to bitterness for all the ones denied, and then at some point they just fade away in the face of mortality.
But as you know, there are those whose expectations are often exceeded, and there are those whose expectations have led only to deep disappointment time and again. I suppose it has to do with confidence and realism more than the gamble of hope, dreams and wishes.
I wonder if both the Merry Christmas and the Auld Lange Syne have generally worn off their social myth in these changing times, but nobody wants to say good-bye, speaking of useless expectations.
Maybe the trick is, is not to be sentimental about life, and yet not unmindful of what graces there are. What else is there?
This is actually a very thought-provoking post, Mike.
Blessings~
Mike, really like how simple this sounds. Hope it's as simple to do...or is that expectation and I've already blown the first possibility of surprise?
ReplyDeleteI'll try it a different way. Instead of Happy...
Surprise New Year's wishes,
Barbara
Ahh Mike, so true! Having no expectations...what freedom.
ReplyDeleteI find I often have secret expectations I'm not conscious of until they don't get met! Just as well I completely ignore my mind. It can think (and expect) what it likes. Doesn't bother me at all.
Your blog is generating more comment - you need to slide up to other bloggers and get them to link to you, that way it won't just be me and Mynahnni who comment!
Merry Christmas! In the parlance of my people (in South Bend, IN) - you have a good one now.
Love, Suzanne
Mike - I have, mostly silently, acknowledged your blog posts as some of the most powerful to be found in the non-duality "subset" (if I may be permitted the indelicate reference).
ReplyDeleteIf nonduality blogs were a high-pressure steam boiler on the verge of exceeding it's designed capacity, your blog is the relief valve that prevents the boiler from exploding. You are always there to remind Mr. (or Ms.) Nondual Dipshit that even though you have the nondual metaphysics worked out in your brain - there is always, always, always some entity somewhere that is going to deny you your peace of mind.
On a personal note: I have been "enlightened" for 40 years - and my life still sucks. And, to no one else's surprise - I am going to DIE! AAAAHHHHH!
I have no problem with that. Or do I?
Willie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words!
"On a personal note: I have been "enlightened" for 40 years - and my life still sucks. And, to no one else's surprise - I am going to DIE! AAAAHHHHH!"
Yes, I could tell by your comment.
"I have no problem with that. Or do I?"
Which? The "enlightenment," or your death? or both?
I too have problems with it and sometimes I think death has to be better than this damn "enlightenment"!
Ha!
My Best To You Willie!
mikeS
No One,
ReplyDelete"Your blog is generating more comment - you need to slide up to other bloggers and get them to link to you, that way it won't just be me and Mynahnni who comment!"
Yep, tried that. Unfortunately I sense I'm raining on peoples spiritual parade, so I stay in my own yard these days.
Although I do jump the fence occasionally to smash pumpkins over at your place.
But only because I sense you can handle it.
Funny how some non-dualists don't much like me. Not very non-dual of em'.
Merry Christmas! (or substituting any facsimile thereof)
mikeS
Nahnni,
ReplyDelete"But as you know, there are those whose expectations are often exceeded, and there are those whose expectations have led only to deep disappointment time and again. I suppose it has to do with confidence and realism more than the gamble of hope, dreams and wishes."
yes, that does perplex me. But I have found that when expectations are exceeded, there was little faith in that expectation to begin with, which tends to defuse its power, thereby, empowering what is not expected or more than expected.
"Maybe the trick is, is not to be sentimental about life, and yet not unmindful of what graces there are. What else is there?"
Hmmm...that might be a tough balancing act, but you could be right.
Merry Christmas! (or whatever you do during this holiday thing)
mikeS
Hey Barbara,
ReplyDelete"Mike, really like how simple this sounds. Hope it's as simple to do...or is that expectation and I've already blown the first possibility of surprise?"
Ha! Good point!
"Surprise New Year's wishes,"
Thank You...
...and may all your expectations dissolve into pure joy! (just don't expect that...)
mikeS
great blog Mike!
ReplyDeletealso have you noticed that if you rest completely, when no matter what is arising...the thought of expectations, or the thought of no-expectations, or the thought that this is not a thought...etc etc..i mean any perception for that matter....that very perception undoes itself... just poof! And from that vantage of resting..all arisings have the same nature... :) that of undoing themselves..basically free in other words. Actually this already seems to be occurring... :)
Oh Mike...not only can "I" handle it..."I" love it. Or whatever label you approve of!
ReplyDeleteGreat comments from Willie, very sharply observed.
Thanks Guys!
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy New Year!
mikeS