Simply Being

Now, Let's pay attention to the following.

Have you noticed that running after success distances you from yourselves?

Have you paid attention to that?

We live in a time that glorifies efficiency and productivity.

And of course, from a very early age,

we are taught that a fulfilled life depends on the goals we achieve.

Our worth is based on our accomplishments.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Now let's pay attention to the following. Have you noticed that running after success distances you from yourselves? Have you pay attention to that? We live in a time that glorifies efficiency and productivity. And of course, from a very early age, we are taught that a fulfilled life depends on the goals we achieve. Our worth is based on our accomplishments. It seems like our identity gets built around our list of tasks. But the reality is that we are so much more than what we do, what we produce, what we achieve. When we only focus on being efficient, the deepest part of us remains outside. And that's when we feel an internal emptiness, even if we have checked off a long list of goals, because somewhere along the way, despite all the success, we lost our way. These days, our worth is measured by what others can see, our actions, our possessions, and of course that shapes a really narrow picture of who we are. In that limited view, we are only what we produce. If we do, then we are. This model assigns us value based on our credentials. But what about our intimate aspects that cannot be seen? These aspects that are not measured by any statistics now posted on social media, not listed in our resume. And these are the ones that really should be heard. This deeply rooted mindset of constantly doing and accumulating slowly pulls us away from what truly matters, ourselves. It disconnects us. Without even noticing, we gradually become more enslaved to the need to show results, to prove we are moving forward, producing, achieving. In that process, our innermost self is gradually relegated to the background. What can't be measured or displayed often gets forgotten altogether. That creates a sense of emptiness. Because instead of feeling fulfilled, we find ourselves trapped in a maze with no way out. Life starts to feel like a race with no finished line. We hit one goal and the next one shows up right away. With every achievement, we instantly feel the pressure to chase the next. Sure, each accomplishment brings a moment of relief, a flash of satisfaction, but it doesn't last. That feeling of lack comes right back. And life keeps going, caught in a cycle that never lets us rest and pulls us farther away from what truly matters. This is perhaps one of the great paradoxes of our time. We have been convinced that the meaning of life is to reach goals. But if we are honest, what really happens? When we finally reach one of those goals, we feel a brief moment of joy and almost immediately a new restlessness appears, a new demand, another goal to chase. And the hardest part is that the fullness, that sense of being complete, slips through our fingers. It always seems one step farther away, like a horizon that keeps moving no matter how far we walk. We live constantly pushed toward the future. Always projecting ourselves into what's next pulls us away from the present, the now, the only moment when life is actually happening. What we are experiencing right now feels insufficient. Something always seems to be missing. So what do we do? We wait for the next step, the next goal, the next achievement. And in that pattern, we slowly stop inhabiting the present. That disconnection leads to frustration because even if we are achieving things, the emptiness doesn't go away. That emptiness isn't because something is missing. It comes from the mind being fixated on what's ahead, on the future. And meanwhile, the now, the only reality, becomes secondary. Now, this tendency is not unique to our time. Throughout history, across different cultures and eras, there has been a strong inclination to focus on doing and to set aside simple being. Its cause runs deeper than social pressure. It comes from a kind of deep confusion about consciousness, the I, and the truth of our own nature. That confusion keeps pushing us to search outside ourselves externally. It makes us believe that in order to feel fulfilled, we need to meet certain expectations. But in reality, we are already what we seek so much. The simple fact of being already holds everything essential. In all our rushing to get somewhere else, we have forgotten how to just be. Not because we did something extraordinary, but precisely because we stopped doing so much, because we allowed ourselves to simple be. This peace cannot be captured by striving for it. On the contrary, it reveals itself when we stop searching. When we let go of that need to control everything, a peace appears that depends on nothing. A peace that has always been there, untouched, waiting for us to stop interfering. It unfolds on its own when we give ourselves permission to rest in who we are. Now, reaching that state of true resting we have been talking about, it's not so easy. Why? Because the mind, especially the egoic mind, is deeply conditioned to stay in motion. It is used to doing, solving, controlling. For the egoic mind, stillness feels like a threat. Without constantly interfering, it feels that it loses its role, its meaning. So even when we seek inner peace, we often do it from that same pattern, trying to understand everything, analyze every sensation, every thought. As if peace were just one more mental effort. That is a subtle trap because the peace we are speaking of is not reached by thinking about it. It doesn't come through mental understanding or mental effort. It arrives when we let go of control and simply allow ourselves to be present without manipulating the experience. The peace in the self is not achieved by willpower or effort. There is no need to force anything. Just an internal disposition is enough. Letting things be as they are, without trying to adjust them to fit our expectations. And just to be clear, this is not about passivity or resignation. It is a way of being fully present and open without fighting reality. It is allowing the experience to unfold exactly as it is. And from there, the deeper truth begins to reveal itself. And it is just in that state of pure presence where we start to find a different kind of peace. A peace that does not depend on accomplishments or on outside events changing or happening the way we want. It's a kind of peace that rises from within, from our essence, beyond the ego's constant instability. When we let go of that constant need for achievement, only our essence remains. That presence that needs no decorations, no approval, no accomplished goals to feel whole. That pressure to get somewhere, to prove ourselves, to be someone in the eyes of the world just fades away. What is left is the quiet pulse of being alive, of simple existing the way we are. Because life does not demand from us heroic deeds nor brilliant labels. It just asks us to be present, to dwell in the now without rushing, without masks, and with the serene honesty of someone whose symbol is, and in that state of acceptance time seems to pause, and everything just becomes still. In that place, so simple and yet so powerful, we rediscover our essence where we remember what we are beneath all the narratives and roles. In that fullness a presence appears, a sensation of being in contact with the eternal, with the sacred, with that mystery that was always there waiting to be recognized.