The Stable Ground That's Always Here

Event Updates

Event updates…

• There are still a few spots remaining for the retreat I’ll be doing in Austin, Texas, this weekend, June 1st and 2nd. Cost for the two days is $150 (scholarships have been made available by two generous participants). For details or to register, email me at: john@johnastin.com.

• I will be doing a Friday evening talk in London on July 5th and a daylong event there on July 6th. Email john@johnastin.com for info or to register.

• For information about the retreat I’ll be facilitating in Colorado, July 17-20. Click here.

THE STABLE GROUND THAT’S ALWAYS HERE

I often emphasize how unstable experience is owing to its ever-changing nature. However, as true as that is, despite its constant slipping away, the flow of experiencing itself is paradoxically always here. Something is always present, isn’t it, even if this ever-present presence transforms itself, the very second it appears.

Feel that, the fact that even though what’s appearing keep disappearing, the sense that something is always here remains. The presence of what is, while constantly changing, never goes away. It’s like the ocean, always moving, always changing and yet forever remaining the sea.  

So yes, experiences are transient, without question. They have zero stability. And yet, the flow of experiencing is constant, and in its constancy, absolutely stable. Feel this unshakeable ground that is life’s continuous, unstoppable flow, moving as each experience. Reality may be forever slipping through our fingers. But paradoxically, it never goes away! After all, where could it possibly go when it is everything? And because of this, no experience can take us away or bring us closer to this stable ground and presence that is inclusive of every moment.

We are not a wave that's been plucked out of this sea of life, standing apart from and somehow noticing it. No, we are life, this flow that is ever-present. Everything about us is an expression of this ceaseless flow—body, mind, thought, emotion. And because of this, we don't have to alter any of our experiences in order to realize this stable presence because that presence is found in each and every experience, no matter its flavor. This perception that you're having right now? That’s it! Every moment is this presence, the presence of life, for there is only presence, appearing as each instant. Everything that occurs, even the grittier moments that can sometimes visit us are it. No wave of experience ever departs from the sea of life.

While this sense of something always being here is undeniable, at the same time, we can’t quite put our finger on exactly what it is. It’s a ground that is at the same time, fundamentally groundless in the sense of our not being able to pin it down or define it. The reality is that we can't really resolve what anything that’s being experienced actually is. It is pure mystery as to what the moment is. The determination of everything ultimately eludes us.

The knowledge of what things are is like an ever-receding horizon. Try to determine what anything—a thought, a feeling, a sensation—is and you will forever come up empty-handed. Why? Because as I’m often pointing out, phenomena are here for no time at all owing to their dynamic, ever-dissolving nature, a nature that makes it impossible to definitively resolve what things are. The flow of experiencing… unknowable and yet, always here…

These words I’m sharing are not designed to bring you closer to this ever-present, stable ground but are simply pointing you to the fact that the ground can never be lost. Even when what’s appearing is not to our liking, it is still the ground for there is only the ground. Only the presence of what is.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with trying to alter our experiences. That project is obviously part of what we humans do. But we don't have to have a different perception or experience in order to find the ever-present ground because each experience is that stable ground, each moment, pure presence. We don't need to correct our experiences because every experience is, in a very real sense, the miracle we’ve been searching for, the miracle of life itself. There are not some things that are more the miracle than other things for everything is fundamentally equal in its miraculous, inexplicable, astonishing presence.

That makes it easy, right? You can't miss this ever-present presence. It’s what you're seeing right now. It's what you're hearing, what you're tasting and touching and feeling and sensing in every moment. It's so relieving, isn't it, so freeing to realize that we don't have to have a different experience than the one we’re presently having because the experience happening right now is the very ground and stability we’ve been searching for, the ever-present flow and vibrancy of life.