To listen to your inner voice
In a lot of self-help books and and conferences it’s common to see or hear that we must find our true self. They urge us to live fully by cultivating our passion and that we are excellent persons just by being born. This should be our true self.
It’s as easy as believing in you! Believe in you!
Sometimes I wish it was that simple. The way I see it, is that believing in oneself is very hard in a world that pushes us to actually hate ourselves.
Believe in you, but since you are not pretty enough, buy these shoes.
Believe in you, but you are a worthless man if you don’t buy this car.
Believe in you, but you first have to buy this and that.
Believe in you so you can be just as anyone else!
Believing in you sounds like a cute idea, but how should we do that if we live in a culture that pushes us to actually lose our own identity and be clones? We are all responsible for this because we push each other, creating a profound insatisfaction for life and for being at peace and simply be.
It’s just a matter of observing life around us, of listening with attention. We insult, compare and judge harshly. And if we are the ones being judged, we jump into defensive mode and attack right back. We have created a system where believing in our true selves gets confusing and frowned upon.
But what if listening to our inner voice and finding our true self was a matter of just being still, instead of searching and buying stuff?
When we sit zazen we just remain there with our spines straight and letting thoughts drift away. We contemplate fears and emotions without clinging and allowing Silence to just be. With this practice we can get rid of all the mental junk so that our True Self shows… if only for a fraction of a second.
This Self doesn’t want to look better than the others. It doesn’t want to be super smart and win big in business.
It’s a Self that doesn’t own anything, that has no money and that can’t cover with any kind of make up.
It’s an Inner Voice that simply is. Simple and clean. It doesn’t need any kind of language to communicate because it doesn’t care about that either. It’s just Silence mixed with contemplation of life as it is.
This Self is a part inside ourselves that we have covered up with ideas, frontiers, fashion and attachments. But it’s ready to float up.
The Self doesn’t depend on brands, politics, flags or sports teams. It’s an island that shines bright in a restless and violent ocean.
It’s possible to listen to that inner voice that takes us to the Self which answers the question what am I?
The way to reach this Pure Self is so elegant and simple that gets away from sight.
And to reach it one must sit still in zazen to appreciate the wonder of Silence.
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