Flame Without A Candle

My favorite comedian, Vanda Mikoloski, says, "Why do we need beliefs? Why can't we just show up?"

Presence is unbelievable. I can't believe in the present moment. I can believe in the past, in what is already known, but it is impossible to believe in the present moment: I can only surrender to it.

Thinking shields me from the radiance of Presence.

A thought is never what is. A thought is the image of what has already happened and gone. Thinking is the shadow of the past, cast into the future to avoid the present.

I construct my beliefs from these shadows of the past. Belief is the story I carry, but that story is always over. I wrap myself in a story because I lack the courage to be present.

When I drop my beliefs, I can drop my doubts too. Doubt is just the flip-side of belief. Every belief conceals a doubt, springs from a doubt. Doubt is the true believer.

To be without believing is faith.