Meditation – What remains after death? (Magdi 05-28-2023)

Presence welcomes itself and each other effortlessly. Stillness is at the core of all activity. The personal story is an imaginary and painful narrative. Believing in a personal self leads to worry and concern. The mind spins to find equilibrium, but true peace is found in the unmoved presence. Death is just a concept, as is everything else. Awareness is the reality that perceives. Thoughts come and go, but awareness remains. The nature of the body and the world has nothing to do with the true self. We find comfort in the limited sense of self, but we don't need to identify with it. True freedom, love, and joy are found in knowing we are not bound by time and space. but you you so welcome welcome yourselves you are always welcoming yourself as presence welcoming each other as presence presence welcoming itself you effortlessly at the core of all activity is stillness the silent still aware presence there is nothing you need to do and there is no personal doer doing anything it is presence itself which recognizes itself the personal story is a script being written on the clouds which continuously dissolve which have no substance your personal story is an imaginary story entertaining in a way and quite painful in a way you view you view your story like you view the sensation of hunger like you view a beautiful rose innocently but as soon as you believe yourself to be somebody in the story as soon as you believe that there is a narrative which refers to an actual personal self you experience the sense of attraction worry and concern and the mind spins to return to equilibrium but the equilibrium is effortless it is not possible for the spinning mind the scrambling mind to come upon the peace of being which is unmoved it is by imagining yourself to be an entity some sort of personal reality that you imagine and experience yourself as being in time with a beginning and a subsequent ending it is a movement of thought an impression that comes hand in hand with the belief that you are somebody a son, a daughter a person you hear this word and sometimes the thought appears oh I have heard that before I already know that what is it that knows that? somebody who exists somewhere someone who is this someone? this holy one who has heard this before the death of the body is what it is like the ripening of an orange on the orange tree it is what it is part of the tree part of the earth part of the planets, part of the galaxies which are all concepts and words terms, notions because there is no orange and no tree and no earth and no galaxies outside the conceptual realm that defines them as such experientially simply not knowing before the mind before the script I am not the concept not the words but this formless aware presence such a wonder which we all know first hand as our reality in this moment and every moment not something in time and space but that within which manifestation appears that within which time and space appear our choice that within which all appearances appear does not appear and yet being reality is coming what could the mind be? sometimes the thought may appear what will happen to me once I die but do you die? what is it to die? when the mind is still and quiet does death mean anything? isn't it the activity of thinking that you find such a thing as death? death of what? death of something but what is a thing outside of the concepts in the stillness and quietness of the mind what is a thing? what is this and not this this and that names and labels the realm of mind and variety but is awareness the reality which perceives right now which is is that in the realm of thought in the realm of mind or does thought appear within awareness through awareness out of awareness and when you go in the realm of mind you can ask a question does that which is unborn ever die? and you can contemplate what is it in my experience in this moment which is unborn which cannot not be thoughts appear and disappear waves on the surface of the ocean mental activity neurons firing triggering various physiological activities interacting with the cosmos none of which has anything to do with you through nature the nature of the body is what it is the nature of the butterfly the nature of the wind the sunshine which is what it is a dance, a movement, a flow the light shimmers on the surface of the lake wavelets shimmers on the surface of the moon creators what does it have to do with you? with self-knowing aware presence so you you can go to your sphere of death explore the narrative the me narrative what is going to happen to me and assumes me notice how precious this me is sometimes in a very subtle way there I am me whatever that means some sort of weird comforting sense from being a limited me how odd that we find comfort in being me a limited personal self and how much we worry and spin and defend and protect this illusion somehow we have that feeling of being somebody this what we do we don't need to, but that's what we do identify with the story of it some elaborate me narrative we complain and love our complaining as we complain about our complaining maintaining, trusting, complaining unwinding sometimes we are proud this falsehood false pride as it pertains to an illusion you can trust your insight that you are not in time and space you know the freedom, love and beauty and the joy freedom that which is neither born nor dies you don't need to identify in any way not with a body mind you don't need to you you