Isolation

Isolation

By David Matthew Brown

Q: I find myself being more isolated, sitting at home a lot more, distracted by TV, music, cell phone, etc…what can I do?

A: We always start from where it is happening.  Isolation is a form of separation.  It is like a prison between you and them.  Or perhaps it is a prison from who you are.  This sense of being alone permeates the world.  It is a disconnection from what is.  To isolate something is to appear to take it from its place and make it different.  So this isolation, what is it?

Q: I feel alone, desperate, lost…

A: Lost, what has been lost?

Q: My identity it seems like.

A: So you have an identity in something and now you can’t find it. Or maybe you don’t know your identity and you are trying to find it.

Q: Okay.

A: When you feel isolated, the image comes and you form an identity with separation. So you have formed a false identity with an image.  Now you are still in consciousness, but lost, correct?

Q: Yes I am lost.

A: Do you want to figure this out? Is this boring you?

Q: No.

A: Good.

Q: I am lost in an image of where I think I am. But it is a thought of thinking I should be somewhere else, but I am here and don’t want to be here. It is like throwing a tantrum.

A: Yes throwing a tantrum is good.  You identify with the idea of what or where you should be.  Thus isolating yourself from where you are. But what actually is happening is a movement, motion of the mind resisting simplicity.  The mind hates simplicity.  So it creates an image of what might be happening and expands it.  The isolation is merely an idea of the mind of another problem to create and then destroy.  So it creates an image, and you buy into the image without investigating it. Then after awhile it craves pleasure. So you go from isolation to pleasure. The pleasure could be TV, music, and sex, whatever.  It is used to fill up the emptiness of the image that was created by the mind that is unobserved.  Does that make sense?

Q: Yes it feels like this recorder that runs, over and over.

A: Good awareness, the recorder is the motion of thought moving to fill up the image. But the image is false. How do we know if something is false?

Q: It tries to convince, its loud, subtle…

A: Stick with me. How do you know something is false?

Q: I don’t know.

A: Good, now we can work with more of a dialogue.  We seem to use words and terms and assumptions as though we know and yet we don’t. False is not permanent. False has a sense of wanting acceptance, needing to be seen, identified with a belief, it has a harsh motion in its nature, grasping, almost there, will get it, sometime, yesterday, a quality of convincing, and its very nature is subtle and dishonest. A false sense has motive.  For example, if I am nice to you then I will get what I want, acceptance maybe. Right? The false idea, image, will, pushes itself; it creates in nature, in its very nature problems.  Is this making sense?

Q: So I have a false sense about my isolation. There seems to be a suggestion about my situation made by the mind. The suggestion is made from my experiences from the past, conclusions about life, and I observe this and notice the false quality of it.

A: Yes the motion of the intellect is to pull out an idea about what may be happening. Which is different from what actually is happening. The false idea is created from pain or pleasure. How do we know that it is not true?

Q: I don’t know.

A: How do you know when something is not true?

Q: I listen.

A: For what?

Q: The suggestion?

A: Okay so now you are listening for a suggestion. Then what?

Q: Well I am alert, intent on watching. What will be the next suggestion?

A: (Laughs) Very good like a cat watching a mouse hole.  You are alert and listening, but not waiting, not waiting for something, not waiting to catch something, but observing the nature of thought. Completely present with listening and watching. If in fact at that moment a thought comes, let it. This can only happen now. Everything is happening now. Past, present, and future.  That is how important this is. No judge or jury with the idea. Just accept that it has come up. Treat it like a child throwing a tantrum. Nothing to change, fix, repair, because in consciousness there are no problems, once you investigate the appearance of a problem you will understand the answer is there. In fact the question came from the answer. It is just that the question gets your attention.

Q: So isolation is a false notion.

A: The idea of it is. So you must observe what you are calling isolation. Remember everything is happening now, in no time.  So you will observe that you are trying to hold on to every thought. These fragmented ideas of a whole.

Q: Wow, it makes sense. But my mind is still trying to figure it out.

A: Figure what out? This isn’t riddle. Watch, observe, investigate, question the mind, question your beliefs, and laugh.  Remember there is nothing to go to, go back to, or fix. That is how important you are to the planet. You are a book of humanity.  That should make you smile. Do you still feel isolated?

Q: No it feels like it was a while ago.

A: Good.  Thank you for participating.