"The thought 'who am I?' (or 'what am i') will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization."
~ Ramana Maharshi


In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better. -- Ellen DeGeneres


http://www.livejournal.com/users/whonowz/
It seems a lot of folks want to change something (psychological) about themselves, be less angry, more compassionate, less judgemental, more tolerant, less compulsive, on and on. There are countless methods/practices/schemes across myriad cultures to supposedly help in this endeavor. Can't help but feel though, that the one wanting to improve itself only exists as a mental image, an illusion. An image can certainly be improved (according to imagined ideals), become more tolerant, less compulsive, etc, but it doesn't seem to be what we are, more an image that is identified with. What we are appears to remain untouched by all these 'shenanigans'.

When faced with this realization, thoughts, ideas, and schemes all tend to come to a halt. When I don't push or pull to be somewhere or something else, what is simply is. In this 'stillness' there is attentiveness. It's felt that this silent attentiveness is beyond all ideas of love or compassion, all concepts of meeting or relationship. In the intensity of the moment all distance disappears and whatever comes into awareness is simply felt, intimately.