The mind tells us that we must figure something out, make something better, define what we are, and make it so that we can always know who we are. We try to form our ideas into a concrete image ourselves, so that we may feel as if we have an identity. We feel like we must be able to capture or put our finger on exactly what we are, then as soon as we know, then we will be able to act.
Who we are is already here as who we are, and there is nothing that can ever be done about that. Trying to change that is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place, because it employs the mind which has only fed the illusion that we are separate form the world in which we live. It is only through total acceptance of ourselves within self honesty do we realise who we have allowed oursleves to become. No, not trying to realise ourselves...but accepting what it is that we have allowed ourselves to exist as. When we have realised ourselves, we become aware of our predicament.
When we have realised that the mind has deceived us, then it is time to stop the mind. Not by trying to figure out a way to stop it, because that only employs the mind still further. It is only through refusal to particicpate in and as the mind that we realise ourselves. The mind will fight every step of the way to remain within and as us. it will tell us that we must listen to it, for how is it possible to get anything done without the mind? How is it possible to understand anything without the mind?
Knowing is not thinking. Thinking involves a system that is bound by the limitations of a machine. Knowing is the complete understanding in an instant, with no thought or effort in trying to come up with an answer. This is the nature of life, seeing direct. Realisation without any effort to realise. Life directing life.