Our thoughts and feelings flow like a river. If we try to stop the flow of a river, we will meet the resistance of the water. It is better to flow with it, and then we may be able to guide it in ways we want it to go. We must not attempt to halt it… Keep in mind that the river must flow, and that we are going to follow it.
We must be aware of every little stream that joins it. We must be aware of all the thoughts, feelings and sensations that arise in us. Of their birth, duration and disappearance. Do you see? Now the resistance begins to disappear. The river of perceptions is still flowing, but no longer in darkness. It is now flowing in the sunlight of awareness.
To keep this sun always shining inside of us, illuminating each rivulet, each pebble, each bend in the river — is the practice of meditation. To practice meditation is, first of all, to observe and to follow these details.
Sit with me. Let a smile form on your lips. Let your sun shine. Close your eyes if need be, to see yourself more clearly. At the moment of awareness, we feel we are in control, even though the river is still there, still flowing. We feel ourselves at peace. But being at peace does not mean our thoughts and feelings are frozen. Being at peace is not the same as being anesthetized. A peaceful mind does not mean a mind empty of thoughts, sensations and emotions. A peaceful mind is not an absent one.
When the sun of awareness shines on the river of our perceptions, the mind is transformed. Both river and sun are of the same nature. As soon as the sun of awareness shines, at that very moment, a great change takes place. Meditation lets the sun of awareness rise easily, so we can see more clearly.
When we meditate, we seem to have two selves. One is the flowing river of thoughts and feelings, and the other is the sun of awareness that shines on them. Which is our own self? Which is true, which is false? Which is good, which bad? Please calm down my friend. Lay down your sharp sword of conceptual thinking. Don’t be in such a hurry to cut yourself in two. Both are self. Neither is true. Neither is false. They are both true, and both false. We know that light and color are not separate phenomena — in the same way, the sun of self, and the river of self, are not different.
Just as flowers and leaves are only part of the plant, and just as waves are only part of the ocean — perceptions, feelings and thoughts are only part of The Self. Blossoms and leaves are a natural manifestation of plants, and waves are a natural expression of oceans… It is useless to try to repress or stifle them — it is impossible. We can only observe them.
When a lamp is turned on, the lamp itself is also brought to light. I know that I know. I am conscious of being conscious. When you think, ‘the sun of awareness has gone out in me’ — at that moment it relights itself, faster than the speed of light. The sun of awareness originates in the heart of The Self, it enables The Self to illuminate The Self. It lights not only all thoughts and feelings present, it lights itself as well.
The river of our perceptions continues to flow. But now, in the sunlight of awareness, it flows peacefully — and we are serene.