"You will receive everything you need when you stop asking for what you do not need" ~ Nisargadatta
 
Western psychology addresses the ‘unmet needs’ while Nisargadatta recognizes that the idea of ‘unmet needs’ itself is the barrier to Having All, the barrier to Love. 
Love, Diederik

“We have the choice of two identities: the external mask which seems to be real … and the hidden, inner person who seems to us to be nothing, but who can give himself eternally to the truth in whom he subsists.” ~ Thomas Merton
 
That Truth is within. The word ’surrender’ comes up in our circles and workshop under a variety of circumstances. The ‘external mask’, the self-made, false identity objects mightily to that word and can make it a highly unpalatable idea. Surrender to the Self within.  Choose Again!
Love, Diederik

“The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance. Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.” ~ Hsin Hsin Ming

I am my opinions. This is a position I hold without even being aware of it. My opinions constitute the rock solid structure on which my identity rests. I do not dare let go of an opinion out of fear of no longer existing. Ignorance masquerading as wisdom?
Love, Diederik

"Therefore the Sufi attends to his own journey, and does not judge others." ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan
 
Funny thing, this judging. It becomes such a whirlwind of ego-thought activity. I judge Trump; I take a deep breath and see it is the ‘self’ I am judging; I judge me for judging the ‘self’; and so it goes on and on. Tired of it yet? All judgement has to be relinquished if I ever want to Know Love.  “The struggle between right and wrong is the primal disease of the mind.” (Seng-Ts’an)
​Love, Diederik

"One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end." ~ Krishnamurti
 
Yes, that is one reason to be afraid. ‘Fear of the unknown’ is not possible. If it is truly unknown, what is there to be afraid of? No, I am afraid of what I have made up as  future; the future I have made up is a projection of the past, so all I am doing is reliving the past. On the other hand, it could be said that the Unknown is another word for God, and I know that God=Love brings about the end of my very existence as a self-invented identity and that is a scary thought. Time for a leap of faith or ... stay bunkered down fending off ghosts, demons and loved ones?  
Love, Diederik

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." ~ Kahlil Gibran
 
There is such fear and pain at the thought of healing and that could be because in healing I will have to withdraw and detox from the range of addictions called feelings. I will learn to see feeling, experience feeling, purely as a guide to the source of the feeling: my mistaken identity. Detoxing can be experienced as very painful as some of you may know first-hand.... 

Love, Diederik

"The Self says ‘I AM’–as in the very grand sayings of Christ, especially in the Gospel of John, in which he says in the state of onenenss with Yahweh (which in Hebrew means ‘I AM’), I AM is the way and the truth and the life–but the ego says ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that,’ thus attaching itself only to a small portion of the Vastness. “ ~ Ravi Ravindra
​
I love this. To the ego “I am” is a terrifying statement. The ego, the ‘self’ I think I am, is incapable of grasping the unlimited, the eternal and so it rushes in to add, to embellish, to embroider. Each of these is the opposite of what the ego claims it to be: these are not embellishments or important characteristics, these are limitations. The simple, clean, all-encompassing “I am” scares the shit out of me ... I am that.

Love,
Diederik

"Don't surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn't true anymore." ~ Cheryl Strayed
 
That idea never was true. There is no truth in the self I chose to be; there is no joy, lasting joy, in the self I invented. As I relinquish my attachment to an idea of an ‘i’, I make room for Truth to smile and say: “Well, well, there you are...” Piece of cake.

Love, Diederik

“What is sin? All that binds you.” ~ Nisargadatta
 
What a remarkably wide ranging definition of ‘sin’. Could it just come down to the idea that ‘sin’ is every thought, every opinion, every personal belief that contradicts Oneness can be seen as ‘sin’? 
Love, Diederik

Our Special Video Series continues with:
Diederik's response to the question: "Can I relate to others without projection?"

Projection is involved in all our relationships, and in order to navigate them successfully, we can learn about how our projections on others are a product of the beliefs we hold about ourselves.