Separation and suffering

This article is inspired by Mother Nature. Yesterday, the author and his wife went for a walk through the forest and witnessed a pond with birds living on the water. 

There was a mother bird with a few tiny, fluffy baby birds following her. As the mother bird was swimming to their nest, the small babies slowly followed behind, squeaking and peeping in their high-pitched voices. The mother approached the nest, climbed on, and waited for her babies.

The babies, still peeping and squeaking anxiously, only reached the nest maybe a minute later. The moment they were with their mother, they became quiet. 

Even though the babies were never really alone, they became anxious when they felt separated from their mother. Their illusion of separation disturbed their peace, even though their mother was aware of them and observing them all the time. Once united with their mother, they were in peace and they stopped squeaking. 

Now, let's consider our own experience.

Ignorance

In the same way that the baby birds suffered from the idea of separation, so do we. Through ignorance, the idea of this 'separate self' arises. This idea of this separate 'me' and 'I' did not arise in the past, 30 years ago when we were born, or like that. This idea arises in the present moment, and this idea is entertained from one moment to the next. From this idea, we believe that we are disconnected from our Divine Mother.  

This apparent disconnection from our Divine Mother makes us feel alone, scared, intimidated, anxious, just like the baby birds. We feel disconnected from the Oneness of things. We feel unfulfilled and unhappy, and we try to fill this hole in many ways. 

We enter into relationships, hoping to find happiness, but this fails. We try changing our jobs, but our ignorant mindsets remain the same. We travel the world, we take on a new religion, new beliefs. All of this, in vain.

When we look at our own behavior and the behavior of those around us, and we shall see the truth in this. We are doing all kinds of things to find happiness, while causing unhappiness for ourselves and those around us. 

Now, let's check up.

From Ignorance to Peace

First and foremost, we drop the ideas and concepts of what our Divine Mother must or should be. We drop these, and we simply investigate what is always here and now. We acknowledge what is Real. We are talking about our own Awareness, Consciousness. This is our Source, our Divine Mother. She gave birth to our Universe. 

Acknowledging our Divine Mother, we start to realize that we were never separate from Her. We have never left Her lap. At first, we may sense Her subtle presence intuitively, and we experience moments of quietness, peace, and fulfillment. 

See, when we renounce the external search for our Divine Mother, quiet our minds, open our hearts, we shall see that She has been waiting for us to acknowledge Her, to surrender to Her. She has been here all along. She never left us. 

We start to acknowledge our Divine Mother everywhere. She is looking through the eyes of every living being.

A Buddhist monk told the author that "Everyone has been, or will be, your mother. So, treat every sentient being like your own mother." 

This is true, and very obvious. Once we stop looking with our eyes and start seeing with our hearts, we cannot unsee this.

To conclude, we want to acknowledge that we have never been separate from our Divine Mother, we are simply overlooking our Source of lasting peace and fulfillment. Let's drop the concepts we hold, let's call off the external search for peace and happiness. Let's wake up to our Mother's Love. 

A photo of the pond where the birds live, although they cannot be clearly seen in this photo. 

Related articles on this blog:

Waking Up, Part 1 - 30 December, 2020
Removing the Space, Part 1 - 06 May, 2021
Checking Up - 21 June, 2021