Once we say ‘my car’ or ‘my iPhone’ or ‘my…` anything it becomes part of us in terms of how the mind reacts and perceives material physical objects.
If someone scratches our car or we crack the screen on our phone it is felt the same as if the attack was on us, like we wear scratched or injured. The mind brings pain and suffering.
Our everyday ‘consciousness’, which in reality isn’t consciousness but is a mind dominated dreamlike state, constantly in thought, has no energy for the background, which is always there and is peaceful. The mind is concerned with its mental objects, our thoughts, and our possessions, physical objects.
We rarely have a consciousness of the background, for example, a ticking clock, the crunch of the gravel as we walk, a bird singing, a car passing, someone singing, the music that is playing and so on. The mind and its fragile ego are too worried about the car being scratched or the fact that some other minor thing has happened, to even notice or give energy to the background. We completely miss it, unaware of its existence.
True beauty and amazing things happen in the background, there is calm, peace and stillness there, away from the suffering that objects bring us. Yet we will often spend our whole lives only being aware of objects mental or physical unless we choose to become truly aware of the moment and all that is there.
Philip Dodson 