Simplifying Decision-Making

In this seeming world it can seem like the mind has many choices in form to make.

I can use the analogy of going to the movie theatre, where there are projected images on the movie screen. The projector behind is projecting images on the blank screen. Yet, while watching the movie one forgets one is watching and finds oneself getting involved in what is going on; feeling sad when an actor dies, or yelling at the screen telling the actor not to go into a room.

One forgets that it is just a movie, just a blank screen with images being projected onto it. It cannot be changed in the slightest way, as the movie is already written and filmed. The making of the film is already over and cannot be changed. The only choice one truly has is how one is going to perceive the movie. Is one going to remain at peace remembering it is just a movie, or is one going to have a roller-coaster ride in the emotions that come with the forgetfulness that the movie is not real?

When the mind is misidentified with a false sense of self, one believes one has real choices they can make between things of the world. It seems like choosing ice cream over waffles or a Honda over an Aston Martin is a real choice, and choosing the right one makes one happy and the other one doesn’t.

Yet, this is the same as if I pull up this blanket from the bed here, and say this part of the blanket is waffles and this part of the blanket over here is ice cream. There is a seeming amnesia that the first and second option are the same! Both are the blanket, both are form, both are the one blank movie screen with projected images on it. It is all the same. There isn’t really any choice at all in choosing one piece of the blanket over another and saying one is better and one is not.

In recognising this one can see that there really aren’t any real choices that can be made between what is the same. To do so is to make a choice where no choice is offered. This is what keeps the mind in guilt as there is a conflict about this duality: worrying about, “Did I choose the right thing, did I get something wrong?” There is a lot of confusion in this.

If there are no choices in what is the same then where are the choices? Just like in the movie analogy, when you remember it is a movie you always have the choice of how you perceive what is happening on the screen. This means that the stepping-stone idea of choices is really in the mind, between a false sense of self or the true Self, as behaviour is an effect of the mind. What is done comes from what is thought and believed.

Choices in the world are the projection of the choice between remaining as true Self or misidentifying with the ego. The ego won’t want you to see this option because this means getting closer to the escape hatch of all suffering that seems to be experienced.

Now that you know what the real choices are, one has to get clear on what one is going to identify with.

The mind will now come in and say, “Well, Dylan, if there are no choices in form what am I supposed to do in the midst of choices?” Another way of restating the question, “What am I going to do or what am I going to decide between,” is to think of it as:

• What am I going to identify as?
  • the true Self or the false sense of self
  • Peace of mind or inner conflict?
  • Certainty of Self or doubt of the ego?
  • Inspiration or fear of future consequence?

Once one has decided for one the behaviour will come automatically:

• A gentle smile to reassure another that all is well.
• The inspiration to write a song that will touch many hearts.
• The undisturbed Presence to any experience of the world.
  

All of these are examples of involuntary behaviours which are an effect of not misidentifying with a false sense of self.

All upsets were only a misidentification and a forgetting of the true Self, seemingly overlooking the Self to misidentify with the ego. Choosing, which is really accepting, the true Self is to have a singular desire for peace of mind over anything else. Desiring peace more than getting the ice cream that was wanted but didn’t get, desiring peace more than getting that parking space you wanted but another took; forgetting that the real decision is in mind and not in self-concept preferences of the world.

To be at peace or to not be at peace is the only question!

Accepting the true Self that is ever-present rests on seeing the falsity or illusory nature of the ego. When the ego is seen with non-judgement, seen as false, and then overlooked this takes one out of choice. There is nothing to choose between Oneness. Conflict, being the idea of another ‘thing’ to choose between, has gone and is seen as only an unreal dream that never happened. This is choiceless awareness. All decisions of the world now become as easy and as right as breathing. One relies on the ever-present, intuitive guidance of the Self moment-to-moment with no concern for a particular outcome.

In Being, no matter what involuntary behaviour stems from the intuitive guidance of true Self, it will feel as right as anything else because the peace of Being that is sourced from the recognition of one’s true Self is one’s only experience. It feels like one is gently carried down a river on a warm, summer’s day.

All concepts laid aside. Resting, forever bathed in an Ocean of Love as Love Itself. Rest comes from waking. Relaxed in Love, relaxed in Supreme Happiness as the unbroken moment.

One must gently awaken to sinlessness before the Great non-perceptual Rays are Known.

❤ ❤ ❤