{"id":48045,"date":"2022-10-09T10:10:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T10:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/?p=48045"},"modified":"2022-10-09T10:14:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T10:14:10","slug":"the-show-called-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/2022\/10\/09\/the-show-called-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The show called Life."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday I watched a Netflix show and tried an experiment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the duration of the episode, I\u2019d be only interested in watching and experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the deliciously simple deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So no reminiscing, no worrying, no mind wandering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No thoughts about stuff AFTER the show, tomorrow, two hours ago, or someday and somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurred to me that I\u2019d probably be fine and safe for an hour, and mental activity about something that was not on my tv, could be easily postponed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the experiment failed miserably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 12 seconds after I had committed to being fully focused on the show and nothing but the show, my mind started to wander, silently tiptoeing away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I was prepared and I am quite experienced in this realm, so I caught it and \u2018gently brought my attention back\u2019, as they tend to say in mindfulness circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Aha! Got you, no thanks, not this time!\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So after a bit of extra confirmation that I\u2019d be fine just being engaged in the story on the screen, and the notion that I could start solving all the problems in the world as soon as the episode was over, I was there again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my couch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being involved in whatever happened in the world of 4K pixels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 8 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I didn\u2019t give up, and I forcefully cut off the mental suggestions that were unrelated to the show but apparently deeply essential to my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s undoable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially when you\u2019re not authentically and spontaneously lost in something and deliciously flowing, but try to force your way into that experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It went like\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Show, watching, watching a bit more, slowly drifting away, quickly ending up in a faraway universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing the attention back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re fine, and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s do this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Show, show, SHOW, watching, mental itch, show\u2026-ish, drifting away, drifting more, another really compelling universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was also exactly as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can entertain all the ideas in the universe about not being kidnapped by the mind, but it\u2019s a mission impossible to control it or shut it down at will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mind is not a thing we own, even though it sometimes seems that way, for a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, we\u2019re not lost and we don\u2019t have to feel like victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because what CAN happen is to become more directly and consciously aware of the changing nature of every single experience (including the mental ones), and recognize the non-changing awareness that makes all of it possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our position on the Couch of Life, you could say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fears and worries and emotions and impulses and sensations go away, always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re not stuck with them, they just flow in and out of experience, and they’ll be reliably followed up by a new, compelling episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t HAVE to be freaked out about being freaked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, we\u2019re absolutely obsessed with the stuff in our lives, whether it\u2019s things or states of mind or mental projections, things we want or things we want to get rid of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re obsessed, even though none of that will ever be stable and sustainable and reliable, and none of that will bring us the pure, powerful steadiness we’re desperately looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution is right here, all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We KNOW that we\u2019re alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We KNOW there\u2019s a body that seems to live in a world with other bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We KNOW that how we perceive life is absolutely unique compared to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We KNOW that every state of mind and every mood we\u2019ve ever had left our awareness and made room for something new, effortlessly, and automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what we don\u2019t know is that we are that awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s literally the only thing that has never not been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no experience in life can change it, scratch it, hurt it, break it, divide it, steal it, diminish it, or take it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ARE the pure knowing of life, not the content, not the things, not anything that isn\u2019t infinite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We simply can\u2019t BE what comes and goes because that would mean we sometimes disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just find out who\u2019s watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by @thibaultpenin, for Unsplash)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I watched a Netflix show and tried an experiment. For the duration of the episode, I\u2019d be only interested in watching and experiencing. That was the deliciously simple deal. So no reminiscing, no worrying, no mind wandering. No thoughts about stuff AFTER the show, tomorrow, two hours ago, or someday and somewhere. Just here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[99,102,97,117,100,116,113,107,103,112],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48048,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48045\/revisions\/48048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}