It appears to me that all our beliefs are ultimately irrelevant and, even beyond that, counterproductive to any genuine quest for meaning and purpose in our lives; both, collectively and individually.

It seems that regardless of who we are, where we are, where we come from and where we think we’re going we all want certain things in common; without exception.

We all talk about freedom, peace and love.

We all want to stop fighting with our own thoughts and emotions, as well as with the people around us.

We all want to stop feeling pressured by the seemingly uncomfortable and unpleasant circumstances we often find ourselves in.

We want to feel loved by and be able to love others.

We want to receive kindness and compassion from the people around us and have the ability to do the same in return.

We want to stop the conflict and restlessness that we often find ourselves in and that we also see reflected almost everywhere in the world that surround us.

At the same time we would like to feel inspired and motivated to keep learning, growing, expanding and enjoying our life to the very fullest.

We want to feel safe. We want to feel whole.

All of these things, and some more, we share in common…

And then, the question inevitably arises of how we can manifest all this in our lives:

Every time an unkind thought, whether it is towards our own selves or others, appears in our mind…

Every time we feel the presence of a thought that puts us into conflict against anything or anyone; that pushes us to make a hasty and desperate decision over any situation…

Every time something happens that (or that someone else) goes against our wishes…

Every time we look at the world and see cruelty, violence or injustice…

Every time we think our world can come crumbling down because of an unexpected turn of events or any major change in our family, our health or financial situation…

In every single one of these instances we can become awake to what’s occurring inside of us, and become awake to our routinary way of thinking. In that moment, we can potentially change our lives in such a radical way; so radical in fact, that maybe we can attain the freedom that we’ve always sought.

We all have the power to stop following and listening to the same conditioned responses and reactions that have basically turned us into the person we identify ourselves to be.

This would effectively mean that we won’t know what to answer, how to react or how to “defend” ourselves if someone’s been rude to us…

That at that moment we might not be able to feel resentment, hatred, jealousy, anger and so forth, towards ourselves or the person or situation that we have perceived as having hurt us so deeply…

That we at that moment might have to admit our utter ignorance on how to ‘fix’ our relationship, our health or our financial predicament…

That we at that moment might not be as disturbed as we would think we should be by the cruelty, violence or injustice we have witnessed…

That we at that moment might very well not be able to do anything at all to stop our whole world from coming completely apart…

Yet, free of our preconceived notions and beliefs on how to make things right, there is the possibility of coming in direct contact with everything that until that point we have been seeking for. A new possibility is born, and for the first time we could feel contentment, so real and profound that we could never have fathomed it…

There is too the possibility that in this contentment all the problems that appeared to be so completely insurmountable become absolutely insignificant and even meaningless…