Confidence.

Real confidence, like real happiness and real love, cannot be disturbed or upset. True confidence comes from knowing our true nature, with is pure awareness. Because of realising this inner confidence, joy arises, and therefore compassion develops. This realisation – which is unshakeable, indestructible and undeniable – know it is the very nature of all sentient beings, and is nothing to do with blind faith.

It is a confidence of seeing clearly. This could sound as if it’s only for yogis in a mountain cave, but no! We recognise, and then realise that essence is naturally already clear. The mind, too, is naturally clear, but there is ‘stuff ‘ in it that arises from the past: the mind is naturally clear in itself.

This clarity does not mean we don’t see the turmoil in the mind, or in the world, but we know that these are temporary relative events. And, unfortunately, most of the time we can do nothing about them, as each individual has to work out what life is all about, for them.

It’s like having an empty table in front of you. Things may be placed on it, but you know that the table itself is always empty. There are just things on the table. The table is our mind: its true nature is clarity.

If we believe that the objects on the table (mind) are permanent and real, we will only acknowledge the objects on the table, and never see the table itself. Having spent our precious time collecting things for our table (mind), we endow them with value, and will protect them. Deep inside, we only hope our acquisitions are meaningful, but we will not have real confidence in this, precisely because the things on the table (mind) are not real. Actually, the table isn’t real either! Behind it all, we know this, so we feel vulnerable.

Relative confidence is always aggressive. It’s like money – we all have to agree that things have a value. If someone comes along and sees that they have no real, intrinsic value…we get upset!

Ultimate confidence is passive. In ultimate confidence, there is nothing to defend, like a thief entering an empty house!

There is no point in finding fault with the tables of others. At some point, they will realise that their clutter is causing them suffering. All we can do is keep our table clean. Others may then see that they too have that option.