We All Practise Something

We all adhere to certain ideas or beliefs about life; what we think is important to us. The questions are, “Where did these ideas come from?” and “How do we shake free of them?”

Because of attachment and aversion, the eight worldly preoccupations govern all actions:

Hope for happiness and fear of suffering.
Hope for fame and fear of insignificance.
Hope for praise and fear of blame.
Hope for gain and fear of loss.

Attachment and aversion come about because we refuse to acknowledge our own consciousness. Having noted this consciousness, we realise that there is no thing more than this consciousness.

That realisation is pure consciousness, which is beyond hope and fear. Hope and fear only occur when we forget and become involved in something, hoping to maintain it and fearing losing it.

In this way, consciousness comes down into mind level, because the mind is always relating or practising something or other. That relating is relative reality; a reality that seems real but isn’t.

Ultimately, pure consciousness looks at itself and realises … that’s it! That’s it? That’s it.