Living with our Mirages

Thought will continue to seek liberation, whatever that means. It will seek and find nothing. It will seek again and again find nothing. It will continue in this vain until it is convinced that it is futile and stop seeking just as a thirsty man would stop chasing mirages after discovering a couple of times that they were not true water.

The idea of seeking arises from what one has read or heard about regarding the existence of a different way of living and being that is full of peace, love and happiness which is different from what one has been leading till now which is characterized by conflict, rejection, strife and suffering.

Who is not hungry and would not seek food? Who is not cold and would not look for warm cloths? Who is not paining and would not seek relief?

Our good minds which have been trained to seek what it identifies as wanted will certainly set about searching for what it lacks, namely; peace, love and happiness.

The only trouble with this that is not usually explained very well, or even when explained well the mind does not get it because of it preconceived ideas, is that the very attitude of the mind to believe and seek something that is capable of giving it peace, love and happiness, this very attitude is what gives rise to conflict, rejection and suffering.

And how is that? First you perceive that you are suffering and, second, you believe that there is something that is capable of relieving or ending that suffering and, third, you go on to search for that something. Such perception, belief and action, all three, stand on the false premise that there is a you that is experiencing, believing and seeking when in fact all there is are metal activities arising from a special perception of the world.

Once this is seen then it is left alone and not much due is given to it. It is a necessary illusion of interpreting 'what is' by thinking about it; a sort of a mirage arising from the nature of words, concepts and thinking much the same as the ordinary mirage that arises from the nature of heat and light and is not water despite all appearances.

Imagine some nomads living in the desert. Their life will centre on finding water in this vast desert which is their home. Now imagine them complaining about mirages that constantly appear to them and waste their precious time and energy. Wouldn't this be ludicrous? Desert nomads don't complain about mirages because they can easily tell the difference between a mirage and real water. So, mirages don't bother them. On the contrary, they use the image of a mirage as a metaphor in their poetry to point to meaningful things in their lives. They can't and need not do anything about mirages.

In the desert of our minds we also see mirages which needn't bother us. All you need is to not follow them thinking that they are true and contain what is of real value.

All thoughts are lies that are useful in technical and practical circumstances but are misleading when they pose as representing the truth about intimate relationships and what living and experiencing is.

Be like the desert nomads who are not bothered about appearances because they know what real water looks like. Don't you also know what real living is? If not, find out. Find out what is this 'I' which seems to be the centre around which your life revolves.