The Aware Space
When I first listened to non-dual or Buddhist talks, one of the things I remember hearing was: “You are not your thoughts and feelings.”
I know I gave a kind of internal snort of disbelief and said to myself, “Yes I am – what else is there??.”
Gradually, as I came to see my thoughts and feelings more clearly --as I came to see the patterns and frameworks that shaped my perception of the world -- a larger space emerged. There was something that felt like it was behind or beneath my thoughts – a quiet, pervasive awareness that contained everything, yet didn’t seem to have an agenda of its own.
There is an analogy that works for me, about the sky and weather. Our thoughts and feelings are like clouds and weather, our awareness is like the sky. There is usually so much ‘weather’ in our minds that we don’t even get a glimpse of the sky -- the larger peaceful awareness. As we work with our minds, there begin to be breaks in the ‘weather’ and we begin to trust that our peaceful awareness is always there, sometimes just obscured.
Over time, if we keep practicing with noticing, we can begin to loosen our sense of identity with the thoughts and feelings as “me” and come to feel that the awareness is our home, with the thoughts and feelings just visitors passing through.
Are you the character in the story, or the aware space in which the story appears and disappears? Joan Tollifson, Awake in the Heartland
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