—Pamela Wilson
Sorrow has been a constant companion for many of us, and yet we are content with the mind's interpretation of what it is. What if sorrow is not what it appears to be?
What if it is a deep invitation to return to authenticity and naturalness? What if, in your heart, you know that sorrow is a sane response to the human condition of confusion and suffering?
Everything in nature has a function, and depression's function is to dissolve the sense of isolation and the unnecessary defenses.
We all know that when sorrow fills us, there is no escape. The depth of sorrow each one of us has experienced is so great. For some of us, there are circumstances that appear to cause sorrow and sustain it. And yet for others, we cannot trace it back to an event.
In both cases, if we feel it deeply, it is too large to be ours alone.
For a moment, don't touch the narrative of sorrow and notice its fathomless depths. What does this reveal?
Have you ever wondered how we have the capacity to feel so deeply?
How is it that we can experience the loss and disappointments of the human heart? There is so much about us that remains unseen. In our innocence, we listen to thought's interpretation of who we are and what is happening in our life. And yet in the background, there is a presence of such intelligence and wisdom that is already carrying the life we call ours. This is our natural Self.
We all have played so many roles in our lives, variously leading to joy and sorrow. The only thing that has remained a constant is this presence: that which is aware of the daily ups and downs, that which feels the emotions and all the body's sensations — and even listens to thoughts.
Have you ever noticed that whatever the age of your body, you often felt much younger? What if you weren't defined by your birth date, or how others view you, or even how you view yourself? What if you were so much greater and simpler than any idea of yourself? And what if sorrow was pointing to that?
Sorrow is a call, home. The human condition of dissatisfaction and depression was born of the perceived separation from our essential Self, our naturalness.
At the heart of sorrow there is longing, an unquenchable hunger that we try to fill with experiences, food, love affairs and material acquisitions.
Longing, when felt directly, is the invitation back to what is Real—to who we are behind our roles and personality.
In the West, the focus is on fixing the personality so it can function better and feel complete. This can be a lifetime process because the personality itself is imagined: it is not who we are.
Like a piece of fabric, it cloaks our innocence and attempts to protect the openness within.
Just check, are you really your role?
As you look inside, are you aware of an aliveness that is naturally open? Right now, all the sensations and emotions have free movement through us. One of the functions of this constant flow of emotions and thoughts is to awaken this alive intelligence to its innate capacity to soothe emotion and clarify the mind. This is when the natural Self starts to know itSelf — to recognize that it simply is.
There is no need for the Self to change or improve; it is complete and perfect just as it is. This is true rest.
A Short Dialogue With Pamela
Ramana’s great question was, "Who am I?"
Nowadays it's easy to see that we are this formless intelligence inside. Yet so many of us, in our innocence, still think that thought is thought, and that it's an object, and that it's going to be there for eternity, yacking away about nothing, bothering us.
Now, if we are not who we are, how come everything else is who they are? Wouldn't it make more sense to say, "Well, if I'm not my role, maybe nothing else is its role."
And rather than wondering what that role is, just ask it directly, "Who are you?" It's so much faster than trying to figure it out.
You don't ask it, "Who am I?"
One of thought's functions is to project onto you, because you have no form. It has to come up with projection after projection, and just in case you relax out of your role it has to create a diversion, quickly.
So ask it, "Who are you?"
Curiosity is the way wisdom gets revealed inside. It is the forerunner of wisdom. Curiosity arises and, if you sit with it, connected right underneath is the wisdom. They are not two.
Each one of these servants inside, from the most irritating of emotions, can reveal an incredible amount of wisdom when you interview it. First of all they show you their functions, and if you have ever had curiosity about how creation was created, or how bodies function, or what the nature of emotion is, or the nature of thought, or the nature of wisdom, all of it is there. These are amazing bio computers, and you can ask and they will reveal anything you want to know.
Be really tender with thought. The pressure we put on it is extraordinary. It's only because thought is also the great mystery that it is able to function with all that pressure of disapproval and dislike and aversion and "I wish you would be quiet" - and all our rude projections: that you are not spiritual and you are the only thing keeping me from my freedom, and would you please just shut up!
That is why in all the great spiritual traditions, at their heart is tenderness - just to be kind inside, and then everything rights itself. Fear rests. Confusion rests. Everything that was perturbing the system rests because they know that when you are tender inside you no longer need their services, because you have returned to your true nature.”
Pamela Wilson shares the presence of openness and love directly from the heart. Traveling widely in the United States, Canada, and Europe, Pamela holds public and private sessions, speaking from the ground of awareness and silence. Pamela describes these meetings as a gathering of people to honor Truth, to rest from the conflict and confusion of the world, and to take refuge in the Heart. She has endeared herself to many through her lighthearted humor, compassion, and deep understanding of what it is to be human. The Fellowship of the Heart is a non-profit organization that supports Pamela’s work.