April 2024

Random Encounters With Mind

You all have random encounters with the unfabricated nature of who you are. These are moments when the light seems to illuminate the emptiness, when loving awareness fills your heart with gratitude, when bliss takes over and there seems to be nothing else anywhere. Though you cannot promote an encounter with the nature of mind, we can suggest a simple scenario to give you a sense of how a random encounter with your mind might unfold:

Perhaps you notice yourself, when you are quiet enough, immersed in the present moment. You might be walking in nature. Maybe you are sitting in quiet contemplation or wildly trance dancing. It does not matter, just allowing yourself to feel connected to the world around you is enough. Suddenly, without warning, your perception shifts. It's as if a veil has been lifted, revealing a profound clarity and expansiveness within your mind. You become acutely aware of the thoughts arising and passing away, like clouds drifting across the sky. In this moment of clarity, you realize that your sense of self is not limited to your physical body or personal identity. Instead, you feel a sense of interconnectedness with all of existence, as if you are a drop of water merging back into the ocean. As this realization washes over you, a deep sense of peace and contentment fills your being. You understand that beneath the surface of everyday experience lies a vast reservoir of pure awareness, untouched by the fluctuations of thought and emotion.

In this state of heightened awareness, you experience a profound sense of freedom and liberation. You recognize that true happiness and fulfillment are not dependent on external circumstances but arise from within, from the boundless wellspring of consciousness itself.

As quickly as it came, the encounter fades, leaving you with a sense of awe and wonder at the mystery of existence. You continue your journey, but now with a newfound sense of clarity and presence, knowing that the true nature of mind is always within reach, waiting to be discovered anew with each moment of insight and awakening.

Without a conceptual framework for understanding this random encounter with mind, and having no label for the experience, the flash of insight you experience in the moment can be life--altering. Genuine realization of the mind’s nature can give you a sense of direction or of confusion as it asks you to let go of all previously held beliefs. There is a sense of transmission from All That Is that deepens your commitment to One Life awareness. In many spiritual and philosophical traditions this experience would be considered one of luminous emptiness. An encounter of luminous emptiness does not require effort, and though you could have spent years in preparation, you are never and always prepared for the moment of luminous emptiness when it arises.

Luminous refers to brightness, clarity, or radiance. In the context of luminous emptiness, it signifies a quality of awareness that is vivid, luminous, and free from obscurations. It suggests an inner radiance that illuminates the mind and allows for clear perception. Emptiness does not refer to mere nothingness but rather to the lack of inherent, independent existence in all phenomena. Emptiness teaches that all things lack intrinsic essence or self-nature and that everything is interdependent and interconnected. Emptiness is the ultimate nature of reality, free from all conceptual limitations.

Bringing these two concepts together, "luminous emptiness," the deep knowing of the fundamental nature of consciousness as both radiant and liberated reveals itself. It suggests that the mind, when freed from conceptual elaborations and obscurations, possesses a luminosity or clarity that is inseparable from its inherent emptiness. Luminous emptiness is often described as the true nature of mind, which is pristine, pure, and unbounded. It is likened to a clear sky that is always present, regardless of the passing clouds of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions.

While practices such as meditation, contemplation, and various tantric techniques are aimed at directly realizing this luminous emptiness within oneself, no practice is necessary.  A random encounter with the true nature of mind could be an unexpected and profound experience that provides insight into the fundamental nature of consciousness and reality.

When you see the inseparability of luminosity and emptiness, when you trust yourself, you can find your own liberation—with this very mind that you have right now, and just as you are in this very moment. Look deeply at the nature of your own mind, and you can find your own luminous emptiness, because it is within you at all times and in all ways. It doesn’t matter whether your thoughts and emotions are positive or negative—the nature of mind is right here. A flash experience of mind gives you a sense of direction and can motivate you to go further; however, it is up to you to extend your exploration so that you eventually come to a genuine realization of What Is or One Life. Random encounters with mind occur all the time. That flash encounter is a transmission of the universe through which you are introduced to the deeper luminous emptiness of One Life. Always be aware that everything unfolds exactly as it must unfold. There is no cosmic plan, no true agenda. There are just random encounters with mind. Here, there, and everywhere in this and all moments. It is One Life.