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Quote by Joseph P. Kauffman

“We often do not experience reality directly as it is, but rather we impose our own mental concepts and illusions onto reality, and then react to our own projections as if they were true.”

Book:Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

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Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

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Joseph P. Kauffman

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“If you have ever watched a football game, you will likely recall that while the game is being played, there is a commentator who is narrating the plays of the game and making interpretations. Our thoughts are just like this. In our mind, we have the direct experience and we have the commentator that narrates and describes our direct experience. The commentator of a football game isn’t really necessary, and he doesn’t affect the activity of the game in any way. He is just describing the game to the audience, and doing so from his perspective, with his own opinions, based on his mood, memory, education, past experiences and so on. In ourselves, the commentator is also unnecessary, and does not change the experience that it is commenting on. It merely describes it from its own biased perspective, with its own opinions, based on its mood, memory, education, past experiences, and so on. Our problem is that we have mistaken the comments of the commentator for the reality that is being commented on. We have confused our own identity as being that of the commentator, and we believe that what is being described is actually the truth of reality.”

Mind Consciousness Meditation Awareness Perception Mindfulness Thoughts Awakening Zen Spirituality Quotes

Book:Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

“While we fear the discomfort of dissolving our fixed beliefs and mental patterns, we often overlook the fact that it is because of these mental patterns that we are unhappy in the first place.”

Mind Spirituality Consciousness Meditation Awareness Perception Mindfulness Thoughts Awakening Zen

Book:Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

Source: Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present Moment

“Ultimately, each of us will have to determine for ourselves who Jesus is and what he represents. For me, he is an artist of life, and what he teaches is the fine art of living. Perhaps this is my bias; perhaps it is not.”

Zen

Book:The Zen Teachings of Jesus