Beloved Friend: Hey Dylan, how are you? I want to ask you something.
I recently moved to Japan. I’ve been here for maybe a week. And there are a lot of triggers. From family, the society, and just people. What are these triggers doing here? Are they here to help me expand? Or are they just a reflection of my inner self?
Loving Reminder: Hello sweet friend,
Thank you so much for writing this out to me. This is so beautiful to hear that these triggers are arising!
Seen from the false perspective of the ego (false sense of self), these triggers will be seen as a setback. Its false nature is of judgement, therefore, it will always seem to judge what arises and form false conclusions from what is arising. These often appear in the form of thoughts that suggest, “You are doing something wrong; look at you, you piece of shit, you were doing so well and now you have gone backwards; you are guilty and worthless for having these triggers arise, be a better person so these don’t come up.“
Correctly perceived from the true Self that is Love, the very fact that these triggers are arising is a great advance, indeed. The only purpose of perception is to raise all of the false thoughts and beliefs that are misidentified with in mind, that seems to cover over the experience of the true Self (in awareness, not Reality) or experience of peace of mind and happiness.
What one seems to do and how one seems to feel always come from what is thought and believed on the mind level. Therefore, these triggers that seem to be arising in awareness is just the false ego-belief (false belief in separation or duality) and its unloving thoughts, emotions and perceptions all coming into awareness to be seen as false. Perception is an inroad into emotion, which is an inroad into thought and belief, which is then an inroad into what is being desired in the moment? In any experience of upset or lack of peace the core desire on the mind level is always to misidentify with a false sense of self, and then to play out its belief of being a victim.
When the mind misidentifies with these unloving thoughts—always speaking against Love or true Self—one experiences the effectual upsetting emotions and upsetting, fearful perceptions of the world. With this seeming misidentification, one often mistakes oneself for the one that is judgemental, triggered, upset, fearful or has the judgemental problems. Judgement is a sure quality of the ego and not the true, loving nature of Self that you actually are, which these unloving thoughts seem to be covering in awareness.
Whenever these seeming triggers arise one always has the opportunity to take a moment to question them. “What is this currently showing me? I ask the Love that is my true Self to show me how to see this differently.” These triggers are providing a beautiful opportunity showing one what one is desiring more than present peace—true Self—that is always available this moment if desired singularly. Is my desire singular for peace right now or is my desire split for someone or something in the world, emotion, or intellect to be different than it is for me to be happy?—placing the Peace that is already here right now into a future goal, where it can never be experienced.
In my experience, when I noticed the mind suggesting I would be happy and peaceful when this happened in the future, when I achieved this in the future, or when this particular situation happens I would notice that even when those things did happen I still wasn’t happy. “I will be peaceful when my partner changes,” and then the partner changes and there is still no peace. One is left chasing fruitless happiness and peace.
The same can be said about the past! “If only I had said that differently I would have been happier, things would have gone differently.” One can begin to see it is all just false thoughts, imagination. It is only false, ego thoughts that are suggesting things should conform to its false image of how things should be. One doesn’t have to believe them. Yet, since the thought is founded upon a false sense of self, whose causeless nature is unhappiness, if this thought is misidentified with in mind, one experiences the effects of that thought—unloving emotions and then one seeks to correct the unhappiness on the level of perception, rather than the mind level where the false source of the unhappiness truly is.
As one initially begins to get curious and question these thoughts, going deeper within to the core desire, one opens to discerning between the ego and the true Self. Since a large majority seem to be ego thoughts that arise in mind, therefore, the thoughts that arise within awareness are not yours, or not the Real thoughts of the true Self which reflect Love wholly.
When clarity arises between what is ego and what is of the true Self, one recognises that the true Self is always unchanged and undisturbed by any ego thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. All one had been feeling, while misidentified with the ego, was its roller-coaster of emotions and judgemental, comparison thoughts. Nothing in form needs to change or be different than it is to return to peace. It is only the misidentification with the ego-belief and its unloving thoughts that needs to be questioned.
When one’s attention shifts from the level of perception (the world and specific problems) to the mind level, one opens to a space of mind-watching. “You are too tolerant of mind-wandering,” states A Course in Miracles. In this observation of arising thoughts from the ego, the ego can be looked upon with non-judgement in which it is seen as false. Since the world is an effect or reflection of one’s state of mind, when the ego and it’s unloving thoughts are overlooked, the experience—the effectual emotions and perception—will follow.
As one revokes value in a false sense of self, the true Self is left shining As It Is. It has never changed or has never been tarnished by any ego thought, emotion, or perception. As the true Self is recognised As It Is, always having been present, all of its qualities such as unconditional love, peace and happiness are sourced from the recognition of Oneness or Non-duality.
There is a wonderful Love underneath all appearances, that will arise from “within.” You will know your Self as this Love, and it is then an Experience that was never not there will dawn. You will be now without a doubt that You Are unconditional Love as all of Life, because you are Life and Life is Whole, Unchanging, Limitless, and without an opposite.
Love is all that matters. All lack of love was only a misperception to be corrected by the Unconditional Love of Being.
I appreciate you sharing these thoughts and want you to know that you are Innocent and have done nothing wrong… or right! You are always where you need to be to continue extending the love and peace that you are.
I love you always just as you are!
Your Friend,
Dylan
One Silent Mind 