substitutes

Yesterday I had the best slice of pizza I've ever had. It cost $7 and I ate it outside where it quickly got cold but damn was it ever tasty for those 20 minutes I was chowing down. Which leads me to today's thoughts...

Everything external that's relied on for happiness can only ever be a temporary substitute for that which radiates from within. Life, at least for some, seems to be a gradual and sometimes painful movement of detaching from these external sources one by one until finally coming to rest solely within oneself. In the comfort, the warmth, the joy, the loving embrace of the inner light that each of us carry but can become separated and alienated from.

It's so simple that it seems impossible. Just coming to rest, moving through the thoughts, sensations, emotions, and eventually it's reached and spreads throughout the body and mind from some unseen source. How could this be enough? How could this be so enough that everything outside starts to become increasingly inconsequential from the moment contact is made? I don't know, but it seems to be the case. The love of God, people talk about. All you need is love, some beatles say. The kingdom of heaven is within, and such.

Unlike words, which can sound so grand and which sometimes must to convey significance, the reality is so simple. It's just there. Always just there, waiting patiently and quietly, but the world of the senses is so compelling and distracting. The effort to turn away from it can be enormous. To close the doors and stop filling up with sensory stimulation, and instead coming to rest in the only thing that can truly sate this seemingly unquenchable thirst. Allowing the inner light to radiate throughout one's entire being and beyond. Again and again and again, until nothing remains but the light.