506: The secret of life is to die before we die June 2 24

The secret of life is to die before we die

Death will evaporate if you don’t be too attached to all that stuff that is not the real you. 

What is not you is how your ego is defining itself, and what your mind-driven self-talk is saying.        

Examples:

Possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, gender, special abilities, social/familial/professional relationships, person and family history, belief systems, thoughts, feelings, past, future, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. 

Strangely enough, almost most of these are not you, because none of these define your genuine self.

Our genuine self is beyond our limited ego, and its self-identification with whatever, whoever, and whenever.                                                                                                                                                 It is also beyond the fictional, ongoing chatting of the mind.

All of the above are transient and mostly related to something else outside the real self.

The genuine self is pure consciousness which is the ability to experience factual reality of the moment.

What is the practicality of all of that you may ask?

The practicality is to realize that the attributes of the so-called self that is I-me-mine-myself are mostly ego-driven consequences, and self-created mind-made illusions, all of them transient.

My car is not me, my companion is not me, my work is not me, my feelings are not 100% me since based on external events, and people., etc…..

The secret of achieving serenity is to have a life that is not dominated by our ego nor by your mind with its endless image-making, permanent self-seeking for x,y,z, opinion, and judgment.                       Zen says  “The secret of life is to "die “ before you die".                                                                      That is” to kill”, at least partially the power of our ego, of our mind, and their ongoing activities.                                                                                                                 You will find that there is no death since your genuine self is pure immaterial, and permanent consciousness 

 Don’t get me wrong: 

Obviously, ego and mind are critically important to function in life, but consider them with parsimony that is be mindful of their deceptive power. When you analyze what the main culprits of your 

dissatisfactions are ego-centered, and mind- made fiction.                          

 THANK