Each moment when experienced without the taint of judgement is by itself satisfactory. However, there is a tendency of the mind to create stories out of what is in actual fact merely a series of causes and effects. The story that we create can create a positive or negative feeling around the result when in fact, the result is just a part of the natural progression of life which in and of itself is not really good or bad.

Judgement arises when we start to interpret what we have experienced through the lens of our habits, fears and desires. If what we observe is always prejudiced by our attempt to create a narrative that can be judged as good or bad, we will never find it satisfactory. For example, if we observe a nest of birds in our backyard and we become accustomed to watching the babies being taken care of by their mother, our positive experience enjoying the story of mothering might taint our view of the inevitable result — the birds will not stay babies forever.

By contrast, if we understand that constant fluctuation of positive, negative and neutral feelings is a natural aspect of the world, then we can see each moment for what it is without judgement, just another a result of some prior cause. Baby birds eventually become adults, leave the nest and fly by themselves because they were well cared for by their parents. The fact of an adult bird is the result of parenting given by that bird’s mother. Whether that fact is good or bad depends on your perspective but the fact itself is independent of any kind of judgement. It is just a reality of nature.

Objective observation is the key to understanding in a spiritual sense that we do not have to be imprisoned by our prejudices or desires. It is possible to enjoy watching the birds through every part of their life cycle and not get arbitrarily attached to any part of it. Of course anyways, the cycle will simply repeat: babies will become adults and have babies of their own and so on. There is no need to obsess over one part of it since it will eventually come around again. Similarly, by observing through meditation practice that positive, negative and neutral feelings come and go, we can liberate ourselves from the story we have created and simply observe the changing nature of reality.

Share this:

(1) Understand the Pain