Monday, August 14, 2017

Grape #32: Brain Off, Soul On

August 14, 2017

Sometimes, your brain plays tricks on you. It clouds your real vision, forcing you to see all the negative, and virtually none of the positive.

And then you remember...to turn it off.

You remember too late, perhaps, after too much heartache and pain, but you do eventually remember.

You make a conscious decision to turn your brain off, and your soul on.

The soul is who you really are. You are a being of light confined for a time, wrapped up for a time in the mortal coil of human life. You are confined, in a way, but you're never really trapped. You're never really helpless or hopeless or dark.

The human brain is like a super computer weighing heavily on the lily pad of peace floating within you. It's the part of you that helps you function here as a human being. It reminds your muscles and bones to move as they're supposed to, and tells the other parts when you're about to stand up, or extend your arms, or even scream. And while the brain needs rest, such calm relaxation is simply another bodily function, and no more.

Resting your brain is not the same as engaging your soul.

The soul is like the sun. It's always shining, even if you can't see it, even if you can't feel it, and yes, even if you find yourself immersed in the darkness. Just as you go about your day without constantly thinking about the sun outside, and go about your evening without thinking about the sun still shining on another part of the planet, so too do you easily forget about your soul. And yet, strange as it may seem, your soul never forgets about you.

It flickers constantly, an unending, bright-burning flame within you that can never be vanquished. It's the part of you that sees beyond this human life and all your silly entanglements here. It smiles warmly at the person trying to cause you pain, or make you angry. It sends only love out to the worst among you, up to and including the worst parts of yourself.

Even though your soul is never really off, you too often forget it's there, and you allow the tricks and treacheries of your brain to do all your thinking for you.

Through meditation and practice, you can learn to turn your brain off, and allow your soul's light to shine brightly within you. You can do this in bed at night, or while you're praying in your favorite sacred place in town or at home, but you can also do it while walking down the hall, or speaking with someone at work or in the supermarket.

You can tell your brain to just stop doing all its brain-like things for awhile, and you can instead give yourself over to your peace-loving, life-loving, love-loving soul.

It isn't easy. God knows, it isn't easy. And in those moments when you feel your saddest, or darkest, or most guilty or unworthy, you may feel like even your soul is against you. That again, however, is just your brain playing tricks on you.

Your soul wants only joy, and peace, and love. When all is dark and sad, the sun still shines brightly on your lily pad of peace. Your brain goes off, your soul shines brighter, and all is perfect. It's there, right now, inside you, and it's waiting for you to sit back and relax. Go there now for just a minute or two if you can't do more. Sit on your inner lily pad of peace, and breathe deeply with the light of your soul.

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