Do you remember the popular story and movie, the Wizard of Oz? The Great Oz was mysterious, appeared to have great power and was quite feared. When Dorothy and her crew went to visit the wizard after a long journey, he greeted them with a scary introduction.

The Wizard of Oz tries to intimidate any visitors

Such a frightening display would certainly scare away most people who would dare approach such a mighty figure….right? Well, later in the movie, you find out that the wizard is just a little old man with no special powers and no ability to really hurt anyone. He turns out to be just like anyone else. He is quite a talker and a wonderful entertainer but doesn’t have any real power.

Turns out, there’s nothing to fear…

So it is with the mind. Left unexamined and unchallenged, the I-thought, the ego, the part of the mind that attaches itself to every experience and co-opts it for its own agenda, pretends to rule the kingdom. It has done this for a long time. It has done it for so long, it doesn’t even remember when it took up the job of running the world. So, naturally if you attempt to find it or examine it or find out what it really is, it will try to throw you off the investigation by putting up a big show of smoke and mirrors. “Stop! Do not enter! (Insert painful memory) Nothing to see here…hey, I think Netflix has something new on today…remember the time when…?”

All that illusory fear and power that the mind concocts can seem scary, after all, the entire universe is its canvas. It paints its picture directly over your real experience and does it fast.

But awareness is infinitely faster. Being beyond time and space it wont be long before you see what the mind is up to and what it really is. Of course, you have to look. You notice its every move. As you get to the bottom of the mind’s bag of tricks, you just find a frail, wimpy little guy who actually doesn’t even know why he’s there. It’s just another thought. He has no power whatsoever and never did. It was all part of his little game. But now his game is over. Then even if you see a smoke and mirrors display again, you will just laugh.

And that laugh never ends.

This is a response to the WordPress daily prompt: Frail