My family and friends get it finally, I’m passionate about spirituality, and yet, what I have realized is that people come to conclusions about what spirituality is.

A lot of people think certain religious beliefs without knowing truly what spirituality is.

People have coined the term to a person who is spiritual, if you are spiritual it has to be in relation to someone who is not.

What I have realized, though, is that the term spiritual is to open ended, and that there are a lot, if not infinite, of definitions depending on what you believe in.

I use the words spiritual to people and yet, for me, a spiritual journey is about wiping away everything you are not.

This is why, you could very well say that I’m on a passionate journey of emptiness. I was talking to a buddy of mine about collaborating and his words were…

“We are not really looking to promote things of the esoteric nature”

Now the definition for esoteric according to Google.

“Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.”

There aren’t many words I like to use for what emptiness truly is, esoteric is certainly not one of them though.

I sincerely and genuinely like to refer to emptiness as existence or even perhaps reality.

So the translation from logic which is passionate about spirituality, is that truly I’m passionate about being empty in order to be aware of reality and existence.

You can philosophize and talk “deep” all day long about the nature of reality, but not until the body realizes the pure emptiness as the inside, will you TRULY be aware of reality and existence.

In order to be aware of reality & existence there are a few pointers.

The insight that you are NOT your mind.

The experience of this is going to crumble away everything that you “thought” you were so that you can realize who you are is not separate from reality and existence.

Consider everything that your mind has created.

Thoughts

Your thoughts have been created from the world, and the world that you perceive has been created from its past.

History has created a conditioning ripple effect on how we view the world today. History has built the foundation of how the mind perceives things.

The true essence of creativity comes in the form of silence; the soul is only activated in silence when there is no mind.

When there is a mind, the mind is coming out of the world, the soul is giving birth to a new world.

If your thoughts come from the world, then how could they be you? How could anyone give you who you are?

The answer is, nobody can give you existence and reality.

Your thoughts are NOT who you are.

Thinking that the thoughts are you leaves no room for awareness, which will block you off from reality and existence, and this causes internal pain in experiences.


“Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence.” – Eckhart Tolle


Name

You were given a name that people call you by. Did you have a say in this name that you were given?

Of course, you can change your name, but originally you did not have a choice. Did you have a name the instant you came out of the womb?

Your name was given to you be the ‘thoughts’ of society.

You need a name to communicate throughout society, but your name is not TRULY who you are.

Even naming you reality and existence is not who you truly are, because not you cannot attach a single word to that which you are.

Words are thoughts, thoughts are not you.

Personality

Your thoughts and beliefs are the direct reason of how you view yourself and how your personality has been created. 

And because your thoughts are NOT who you are, then your personality is also not who you are as well.

This includes any mind created idea of who you are, including the self-image, self-concept and this illusory idea you call “me”.

The Material You Find Joy In

Materials make life super fun, there is a profound love for the materials that this world can give you.

Any material, however, that you look at is being perceived through thought. It means you’re not actually experiencing said material but your thoughts about it.

Those thoughts are coming and going, but reality and existence are constant. They don’t rely on your thoughts, your experiences, the materials that are coming in and out of your life.

Emotions

Your emotions are your body’s reaction to your thoughts, and because you are not your thoughts you are also not your emotions.

Anything that comes and goes is not who you are. Anything that is born out the past and into the future is not who you are.

Eckhart Tolle discusses what he calls the pain body, and it’s essentially the pain identity that your mind has developed that wants more pain, that thrives on pain.

The pain body is seeded inside of the human mind, which creates your problems, stress and anxiety, and unless you disidentify from the thoughts, then the pain will want more.

This pain body has been developed by the collective world pain body, through conditioning and programming.

We learn though the conditioning of the way other people think that reality is and then we take that to be reality.

Then we label reality to be a certain way, and as a result, it causes us to have suffering.

If you are not the thoughts, who is between the thoughts to label reality?

Once you are aware of the thoughts that are creating the pain, then they can be let go of.
And as Eckhart Tolle says


“Once an illusion is recognized as an illusion it then becomes disillusionment.”


That illusion that is believed in as reality as that you are the illusion or thought itself.

Even if you know on the level of the mind that you are not your mind and it stays in your mind as a thought, you still haven’t witness existence.

Let the knowing that you are not your mind submerge you into emptiness.

The knowing then can be known as pure awareness.

The Freedom from Time

The conditioning that has entered into your mind, entered into it from the past. The past is not only gone, it’s also dead.

You cannot exist and be dead at the same time can you?

Of course not, because ‘you’ never dies, if it did then it would not be constant and reality is constant.

This means that whatever you think you know from the past, that knowing is gone, it’s dead.

It maybe knowledge that you can use in this physical reality, however in terms of knowing REALITY, there can be no past, no reference point.

The future is not different than the past in terms of being dead. The false ‘me’, the self-image, the self-concept wants to have a future that it can believe in.

It wants to have hope, hope of better days. It can imagine all day for a better future, but only if you do not want to yourself as reality.

If you are ready to be aware all of life is, reality, then it is key that you know future is ONLY for logical purposes; whatever experience in the mind can come in the future will not free you.

Reality and existence themselves are freedom.

The past exists as a thought, the future exists as a thought, thoughts are not you, thoughts are not existence and reality.

The Freedom from Desire

Desire is a concept of time because, in its nature, the mind perceives that it needs or wants something that it does not have, creating a desire for said thing.

And aside from the practical things (food, water, shelter) if whatever that is be it a person, material or experience as what will fulfill you, then pain will be here.

However, what we want is not to be free from desire, not completely. The desire for certain things in this world can help you experience life to a greater degree.

What we want freedom from is that which creates desire, which is the mind. The mind projects to the future to guarantee its survival, which is perfectly fine from a logical standpoint.

However, to be aware of reality, we must take a break from time, and thus desire. Reality is the break from time and desire. Existence is the timeless moment of relaxation itself.

Freedom from Words 

At the end of the day, words are created from the mind.

So, the best the words of this article can do is point to reality and existence. When the body empties out completely, then words (like truth, reality, existence, and emptiness) have no more meaning.

Freedom from Attachments

The only way that you can be free from the slavery of the mind is to let go of your attachment to it.

You are still going to use the mind to make your way around the world, you are going to use it for logical and practical reasons.

What you are really freeing yourself from when you detach from the mind is the illusions that it creates. The one key root of all illusions that it creates is that you are it.

You are using the mind as a tool not as your master.

Freedom from Desiring Freedom

Last, but not least, you are freeing yourself from desiring freedom. You cannot desire freedom, because it will then be somewhere in the future.

Desiring freedom means that you already are not free. Desiring freedom means that you are already not reality and existence, which are freedom itself.