THE INVITATION TO STOP
Many who come to this teaching ask for a practice or technique — something to do in order to quiet the mind, dissolve the ego, or stay present. This is understandable. The desire to be free from suffering often translates into the search for a method. And yet what is offered here is not a method. It is not a system, a structure, or a step-by-step formula.
This teaching is a living invitation. It is alive because it cannot be captured by thought or repeated by rote. It points to something that must be discovered in your direct experience, here and now.
The mind naturally wants to organize reality, to create meaning, to grasp for understanding. And the ego — the familiar sense of being a separate someone — is built around this activity. It is always interpreting, evaluating, resisting, or grasping at what is happening. It creates a story: this shouldn’t be happening, this needs to be different, I need to fix this. That narrative forms a kind of veil, distorting the simple clarity of what is.
When we speak of ego here, we are not talking about something bad or something to be destroyed. Rather, we are referring to the activity of self-reference — a mechanism that filters experience through the lens of “me.” This mechanism gives rise to suffering, not because the experience itself is wrong, but because it is being constantly interfered with.
So what is the invitation?
The invitation is to stop. Not to shut down or suppress, but to stop interfering. To pause the habit of labeling and controlling. To meet what is here without resistance.
This is surrender. But it is important to say — surrender is not a technique. It is not something the ego can do. It is what becomes possible when the veil of interpretation is seen for what it is.
The more you see this clearly — not as an idea, but in the living truth of your own experience — the more the activity of ego begins to loosen. Not because you are trying to get rid of it, but because you are no longer giving it your allegiance.
This is not about self-improvement — it is about the soft undoing of the separate self. It is a falling into the natural openness of being.
And because this cannot be packaged, repeated, or applied as a method, it remains a living invitation — one that must be responded to freshly in each moment.
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“This is not about self-improvement — it is about the soft undoing of the separate self. It is a falling into the natural openness of being.” So very true. 🙏
Thank you. So clear. I see this and understand and live with life's challanges differently. It has taken me a long time and difficult life experiences and reflection to see the point in your teaching. How can I expect anyone else to see it if they are not aware of the inner workings of their own life. I have a very close friend suffering because of betrayal some years ago. Always looking for relief from their suffering by contacting trauma therapist and so forth. I know it is always helpful to speak with a professional but I find things don't really resolve or melt until their is a deep resolution to end suffering in a spiritual way. I don't know how else to articulate this. There is no way I would say this to my friend and the impulse would really need to come from them.