Student:
You mention that we are not our minds. Sometimes, I have a glimpse of this, that I am not my mind, but that I am just conscious awareness of what is happening. In these moments I feel free.
Teacher:
Yes, for a fleeting moment, you touch the edge of reality. But then the mind returns, whispering its lies, weaving its illusions, and claiming ownership of that very freedom.
You feel free because, for a moment, you are not bound by the ceaseless chatter of the mind. The awareness that remains—silent, unclouded—is your true nature. It is always there. But the mind is cunning. It creates identities, opinions, and narratives to pull you back into its grip.
Freedom is not a feeling. It is the absence of bondage. As long as you merely “glimpse” this awareness, you remain in bondage. Because glimpses fade, leaving you hungry for more.
Do you see how the mind turns this into a pursuit? “I must have more of those moments,” it says. And so, even the desire for freedom becomes a shackle.
The truth is this: You do not need to become free. You are already free. The work is to cease believing the mind’s stories that you are not. Recognize the mind for what it is—a tool, not a master. Let awareness, not thought, be your resting place. Freedom does not come and go. Only the illusions do.
Student:
Yes, I think this very well relates to something else that you have said. You said that “man spends so much of his time trying to succeed that he keeps overlooking the things that would easily give it to him”.
Teacher:
Precisely. This is the tragic comedy of man’s life. He exhausts himself chasing success, freedom, happiness—always just out of reach, always “one more effort” away. But he fails to notice that the very chase is what keeps him from what he seeks.
What is success? What is freedom? These are not things to be attained. They are the by-products of a mind that is still and a being that is free of false pursuits. Man does not lack ability; he lacks clarity. He is so preoccupied with trying that he cannot see what already is.
The truth is simple, but the mind loves complexity. It convinces man to strategize, to toil, to obsess. Yet, it is in letting go, in ceasing to “try,” that the very things he seeks come to him naturally, effortlessly.
The path to success—if one insists on calling it that—is not through constant striving. It is through understanding. Understanding oneself. Understanding the mind. Understanding the futility of chasing what is already present.
Man must stop and look. Not outward, but inward. Until then, his pursuits will be endless, and his victories will be hollow.
Student:
And what is it that is already present here and now?
Teacher:
What is already present is you. Not the story of you. Not the mind’s projection of who you are, with its labels, fears, and desires. But the pure, unfiltered awareness that sees all of this unfold.
What is already present is life itself. Not the life you think about, plan for, or regret—but the life that is, in this moment, before thought divides it into past and future.
What is already present is the stillness, the silence, the effortless being that does not need to be manufactured. It is the reality that remains when the noise of the mind subsides. It is that which watches your thoughts, your feelings, your actions—untouched, unaffected.
You have glimpsed this in moments of stillness, have you not? In those rare flashes, when the mind pauses, and the world does not demand your attention, there is a sense of peace, of clarity. That is what is always here. You do not need to “achieve” it. You need only stop believing that it is somewhere else.
The tragedy is that man overlooks the simplicity of what is present because he is addicted to chasing what is absent. What is absent is always a lie. What is present is the only truth.
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