Published articles written by Mike Robinson
Published in Holistic Bliss 2009
What is Love?
Many people have asked the question, what is love? There is no direct answer as the indescribable cannot be described. What we can do is look at what is not love and this action of negating all that is not love from our lives would then leave us with love. We know that judgments are not love. How many of us judge ourselves and others. What thoughts and opinions do you have when you look in the mirror? Are these thoughts loving or judgmental? Can you have such a thing as loving thoughts? Or is all thought based on the past, on memory, which is comparison. Comparison is duality, put into compartments of good or bad, so love itself is not thought, because it is not split into opposites. Try it for yourself, think of something or somebody and look at your thoughts to see whether or not you label it as good or bad? Therefore even positive thoughts are based upon judgments and opinions and ultimately not love.
If you belong to a religious secular, an atheist group, a government party or any other elite system, then that is also not love, because you are separating yourself from others and separation is not love. Anything that divides humanity is destructive, even nationality is a division of one from another. These systems have created a ‘me’ and a ‘you’ and a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’. The world is governed by systems based on duality and separation, whilst the real cry of humanity has been ignored. Nobody is truly listening.
How do we know this? When somebody is talking to you, do you truly listen or are you thinking at the same time and debating what to say next? Or are you forming an opinion based upon comparison? When you do this to another person are you loving them? Do you feel loved when it is being done to you? You cannot truly listen and think at the same time. If you truly listen by allowing your thoughts to come forth and move out without getting caught up in them, then you are committing an act of love. It would seem that love is not what you do, but when you stop doing or trying, then it is there naturally.
When you were first born your mind was empty, you had no memory, yet you had the instinct to cry when you felt pain or hunger and a response came from an external source to soothe that pain and hunger. You were also very sensitive to the world around you through scent, touch, listening and feelings. As you grew older you were influenced by your parents who filled you with their beliefs, their opinions and conditioning. Education added to, and reinforced these beliefs and your opinions, likes, dislikes and reactions to pain or pleasure were being moulded by the society that you lived in. You were no longer the empty vessel from birth, but rather something very far removed from that point, a product of beliefs, comparisons and judgments. Your journey into suffering had begun.
Who you have become is not the real you. Your parents, religion, country, education and society do not make you who you are, they only mould you into something that they believe you ‘should be’, and this has created a ‘false self’. Is it possible to know your ‘real self’ which is love? That which exists beyond all of this conditioning? If there is something beyond your false self, then what is the first starting point to uncover this ‘real you?’ If we see for a fact that we have become something other than what we truly are, then this ‘observation’ is the first step. This looking at the self without judgment, will set you free, as this is real self knowledge. No guru, beliefs, religion or new age system can give you self knowledge. This treasure of looking and seeing yourself just as you are and recognising all the striving and desire to become something, releases the constant external search on a supposed path to ambition or spiritual enlightenment.
No-one can give you self-knowledge. Only you can discover you. This discovery is the realisation and observation of the conditioned false self and what emerges from this awareness is the truth. Where fear and illusion is not, love is.
So, be true to yourself. If you find you are jealous, angry and opinionated, see that as a fact. Do not try to justify it, deny it, hide it or change it. Looking at something without labelling it as good or bad, which is comparison, sets you free as you are being non-judgmental. This also releases blame of yourself and others. When you see that blame is not love, then you can let go of it and the suffering will end. It is said that we learn through suffering, this is not true. We as humans have suffered for thousands of years and we have learnt nothing. There is still endless suffering and abuse upon this planet. When will we say, ‘enough is enough?’ Until you love, you will always suffer. You personally need to take action to find peace, love, honesty and joy inside of you, or the chaos will ensue.
You are the world and the world is you. The chaos and suffering is not ‘out there’. It is not someone else’s problem. The problem exists in each individual, making you a key element for peace on this beautiful planet; that’s how important you really are.
Only the truth will set you free.
Published in Holistic Bliss 2009
Life and Creativity are One
Whilst living on the earth, the human being has many ways of expressing its energy. Some people express themselves through physical activities such as sport, others through mental activities and some use the hands to create through art, sculpturing, building, etc. Problems arise when the creation lacks the energy of the heart. Many things created by humans have a distortion in them and they lack a certain beauty and joy. These things have been created by the egoic mind which has not included love and inspiration. Creations from the mind are based on the conditioning and memories of the individual; they are creations of the past and they have nothing new in it. They are built to engage the minds of others and so real beauty goes undiscovered.
Most of us are taught to drop heart based creations when we are young. We are conditioned to believe that the mind is more important than feelings and educational subjects such as art, dance and drama are secondary to intellectual pursuits. Envy soon follows as we are taught to compete and become a ‘somebody’. We leave behind that innocent, intuitive being as we excel in that which is expected of us and we close down the natural inquisitiveness and the drive to find out the truth for ourself.
As we grow older the mind becomes more stressed as it is filled with complex language, data, facts and figures. The creative being inside has been bound and gagged and shoved into a corner as the intellectual conditioning takes hold. We move far away from our natural abilities to sing, dance, paint, draw, sculpt, observe nature and laugh and in its place we say, ‘I can’t’ or ‘I shouldn’t’. This beautiful intuitive, joyful aspect of ourself can no longer express itself as it does not know how to create something distorted, ugly and destructive, so it slowly fades away because it is not allowed to love.
True creativity is an expression of joy from the heart. This is not something that can be given to you nor can it be taken away. It can be covered over by the expectations from others and your own desire to strive to become something other than who you really are. What gift do you have inside of you, which you can share with the world? What was your childhood dream? This dream to express yourself through joy is what you came here to do, so what stops you from doing it? If you lost your job, your house, your car, your friends and your money, then what would be left? Only you would be left, which has all the inspiration and creativity ability that you will ever need.
If you are using your creative skill in your job, but you are not happy or it lacks joy, then you need to take action to change it, because before long you will stagnate in the idea of being safe and secure. Most people hold back from expressing themselves because they are afraid. They fear what everyone around them will say and think, yet most people have a deep yearning to break out of the confines of their conditioning and become the innocent care-free, creative, loving being that they really are. If you can do it, then everyone else can...Live a creative life starting from today. Look within and find out what would bring you the most joy from your heart...and then do it!
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