As much as we imagine that things endure, the truth is that experiences literally transform themselves the moment they appear. Experience has no stability; it is constantly slipping away, here for a brief instant and then gone. Feel that, the absolute impossibility of ever holding any experience in place.

The fact that experience has no stability presents a challenge for us humans because we seem wired to find something we can count on, something stable and secure, a kind of ground that can be relied on. But given the radical instability of everything, the question naturally arises: Is there any real stability to be found?

The answer is yes, for even though what’s present is constantly slipping away, there is at the same time, a constancy to reality. Experiences come and go, to be sure. They have no stability. But the flow of experiencing itself is constant. Something is always showing up, isn’t it? Something is always here, even if that which is here is constantly dissolving. It’s a paradox. Something is always present and yet, that which is present is in a state of continuous flux.

Rationally, one would think, “It has to be either stable or unstable, constant or inconstant. It can’t be both, right?” But it is both. Reality is always here; something is always happening. That’s the constancy, the stability. And yet, this constancy, while always present is at the same time in a state of constantly becoming something else! Always here and yet never remaining.

It's quite strange, really, that when what’s present disappears (which it always does), it also doesn't disappear. The sense that something is present remains, even as it keeps slipping away. It’s like a radio that’s always on. While the specific song being played is never the same, the music is constant. This is the stable ground that’s always here.

If we look for this stable ground in particular experiences, we will invariably miss it because experiences are inherently unstable. One moment, we feel as if we’re really grounded, centered, at peace. And then, the feeling slips away and we find ourselves having seemingly lost touch with the ground that a moment ago, we thought we’d found.

If experiences are constantly vanishing, then where is the stable ground to be found? It is found in the flow of experiencing itself. While experiences are discontinuous, experiencing is continuous. And so, it is in that constant flow where we find the stable, ever-present ground, the ground that appears as all of life’s comings and goings, the stable ground of being that is the basis of everything.

 

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Whether this ever-present ground of being that appears as each moment is being noticed or not, it remains the ground. The ever-present stability of life is the case, whether it's being recognized or not. But in the recognition of it, we get to enjoy its fruits, the sense of its stability, the ease of it, the rootedness of it, the expansiveness of it, the vitality of it.

This ever-present ground is like a home that can never be taken away. From the standpoint of this ground, we are always home for there is only home, only the ground. Feel that, the continuous nature of it. The ground of being has no interruption. If we were to experience something we thought of as an interruption or an obstacle, well that too would be the ground, the sheer existence and being-ness underlying each distinctive flavor of life.

Every thought, every feeling, every sensation, every sound, every visual image, every texture, all these different expressions of reality are reality. They're all the stable ground, this music that's always playing no matter how it may sound. It could sound like a gentle lullaby or a cacophonous dissonant piece of music. But all of it is the sounding of the ground.

These words I’m sharing are not designed to bring you closer to this ever-present, stable ground but are simply pointing you to the fact that the ground can never be lost. Even when what’s appearing is not to our liking, it is still the ground for there is only the ground. Only the presence of what is.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with trying to alter our experiences. That project is obviously part of what we humans do. But we don't have to have a different perception or experience in order to find the ever-present ground because each experience is that stable ground, each moment, pure presence. At the level of description, everything is clearly different. Joy is not sadness is not fear is not calmness. But from another perspective, everything is fundamentally equal, equal in its miraculous, inexplicable, astonishing presence. The ground of being pervading everything...

You can't miss this ever-present ground; it’s what you're seeing right now! It's what you're hearing, what you're tasting and touching and feeling and sensing in every moment. It's so relieving, isn't it, so freeing to realize that we don't have to have a different experience than the one we’re presently having to know this stable ground because the experience happening right now is the very ground we’ve been searching for, always here as the ever-present flow and vibrancy of life.