SPIRITUALITY | CONSCIOUSNESS | AWARENESS | MEDITATION

You Must Become Nothing To Become Everything

Explaining a recent experiment; the illusion of time, present moment, and inner peace.

Introduction

For as long as I can remember, I have battled chronic anxiety. No matter how small, I worried about everything. My mind was obsessed with predicting the outcome of every situation. The anticipation of what was to come was debilitating and disallowed the beauty of living in the present moment.

Now I understand my mind was preparing me for the worst possible outcome since I was raised in poverty, abused, and suffered tremendously in my youth. In preparation for future suffering, my mind was on a continual loop of all the possible outcomes of any given situation. This mind spiral led to mental exhaustion and depression.

To explain the process of what I have been doing, I must briefly mention that time is an illusion. Time does not exist because the past and the future do not exist. As Eckhardt Tolle explains in The Power of Now, only the now (or the present moment) exists. He explains that the memories of the past and the anticipation of the future happens in the present moment. There is no yesterday or tomorrow, only what you are experiencing presently.

The Experiment

Some time back, I had an aha moment that impacted how I flow through this life. As I sat on the balcony one evening, eyes closed, in a meditative state, I began to chant, “I am nothing. I am not my name. I am not my race. I am not my gender. I am not my nationality. I am not the titles given to me.” As I continued this practice, I dissociated from the labels, and Ari no longer existed.

This exercise works best with your eyes closed. When your eyes are closed, you are nothing or no one. Go ahead, close your eyes. You see, you are nothing. Your brain tries to remind you of your role, gender, or age because that is all it knows. In doing so, you become limited by your own thoughts. When in actuality, everything is consciousness, so you are consciousness, and consciousness is unlimited.

After chanting for a while, I noticed a significant change in my thought patterns. And one day, it clicked. Like magic, I felt like I was experiencing life for the first time. I walked around my room, touching and observing everything with this new revelation; I am everything, and everything is me.

That was the first time I was able to fully embrace the present. My thoughts weren’t racing, and there was no anxiety about the past or future. I was melting into the abyss of consciousness and became one with everything and everyone around me. I felt absolute peace. When you are able to do this practice, you dissolve the illusion of time. You are consumed in the present, and experience newfound clarity and understanding.

Final thoughts

I felt like I was floating; it was a powerful (supernatural) experience. This is difficult to explain, but I became the soft breeze gently blowing the curtains and the gentle rain dancing on the pavement. It felt like an out-of-body experience. When it first happened, I freaked out. But I continued trying until I placed myself in a deep meditative state by melting into nothingness.

As I have continued this practice, I have been able to hold that meditative state for prolonged periods. The most significant point is to fully live in the present, you must become nothing. And in nothingness, you become everything. And that is when you begin to experience true freedom and unfathomable peace.

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© Ari Love, 2023