Question: If it’s so simple to rest in the space of loving awareness, which is what we are, then why does it feel so difficult to stay here?

A First Reply

Who is the one asking the question?

How hard is it to simply be yourself? You are yourself. Can you ever be anything other than yourself?

Know this to be true. Know yourself as yourself. Then where is the question of ease or difficulty?

A Second Reply

For a time, it can seem difficult to abide in one’s own being because of the outward-going tendencies of the mind, tendencies that are often termed samskaras or vasanas.

Consider the following scenario: Meditation reveals the natural repose of loving awareness. Afterward, you look at your phone and immediately you get swept up in the content of an email, in the whirlwind set in motion by the news, or in the developments of certain personalities that are prominent in social media. In fact, you get carried away to such an extent that you really believe and feel that you’re playing this part: you’re upset about this, clucking about that, deeply saddened about this other thing, and have half a mind, you think, to write to so and so about something else besides.

One by one, you freely assume each part in turn–and forget that you’ve freely assumed the current one. You plunge into this role, delighting in it one moment and fretting over it the next. It’s very exciting for sure!

By dint of going knee-deep into these very dramatic plays in which you seem to appear, you, by the same token, seem to forget the uncomplicated, colorless, drama-free, agenda-less loving awareness that you are.

After a long time spent role-playing, you ultimately get fed up not with this or that part but with all the parts. You, therefore, turn back around, only to discover that you’ve always been loving awareness.

The recognition of your true nature is like a surprise birthday party that you’ve always been “in on.” This is why you laugh, smile, or cry.