Expansion of Stillness

Intellect doesn’t make you wise. Wisdom is something that occurs as you learn to understand stillness. With this understanding wisdom arises and goes beyond intellect…

Until you truly understand stillness, not much will ever be different in your life. This is because in order for things to be different it has to be understood why they are as the they are. Awakening is not something that one makes happen, it’s something that occurs. How you will know that it occurred is by the awareness you have that your mind was based to self serve and now it’s based in stillness. Very simple to see this once it occurs, very difficult to see it if it doesn’t. The key to the expansion of stillness is to know the true nature of your own mind.

One day it was revealed to me that at the core of all my issues was my own mind and nothing was ever going to be different in my life if there wasn’t an understanding of this. I had to understand why I had to always be busy before I could be still; before stillness was experienced in my life I had to find out why there wasn’t any. Stillness doesn’t have to be attained for one to acquire it, all that’s needed is to be aware it’s not there. Once this occurs there’s a starting point that can be established so the process of stillness can expand, but for this to occur it stillness needs to be understood…

Divine Unity

Divine unity comes from a sacred place, it’s not a place that’s associated with any human activity, it’s a place which simply unites us all to a divine heart…

In my experience a divine heart cannot expand on its own, it needs others. Deepening a connection with others deepens the divine heart which is what unites us. If divine unity were to happen, there would be no more greed, hate, or war because we would fall over each other; it’s in this space for each other that the divinity of life is experienced. A majestic sunset, a cool summer breeze, the magnificence of the ocean, a starlit night. Loving oneself and others is the divine unity that connects humanity, these are experiences from the sacred place within.

I don’t profess to know what life is about, but I do understand how unity with others is sacred. When this is experienced it leaves one speechless. For me because of this divine unity, I have been speechless many times in the last fifteen years. I’m using the words divine unity to describe this, but when this is felt words cannot truly explain it. I watch in awe as I explain what I went through to someone and see divinity in their eyes, to me this is our divinity uniting. Divine unity comes from such a sacred place, it’s not something that any human activity can make happen. When there’s divine unity with others, that’s when there will be unity with ourselves and with all humanity…

Sheepish Reaching

Not justifying everything that’s done creates the slightest of cracks in your sheepish armor. This allows a sliver of awareness to make a difference in the way things are looked at…

Awareness can be described as noticing the different mental factors that arise in each moment. It doesn’t prevent what arises or what happens, but it can lessen the sheepish reactions and some of the consequences associated with what arises; but only if there’s awareness and no attachment. Nothing inherently on its own causes problems for anyone. Alcohol has never poured itself down someone’s throat, it has to be sheepishly reached for. Heroin never forced anyone to put a needle in their arm, same sheepish reaching. It’s the individual alone who reaches for something; this goes for anything. Granted most of this self harming reaching is done sheepishly, but I do try to shed light on this. I know a thing or two about this sheepish reaching because I did it for forty nine years.

So many things sheepishly controlled me, until there was awareness of this the sheepish reaching continued its onslaught of control. How this reaching gets sheepishly ingrained is by justifying everything that’s done. From pointing out the faults of others, to being nasty to people, slander, and so many other justified behaviors, all they do is keep the conditioned sheepish reaching in place. Aware this is being done is the first step in breaking the chains of your sheepish reaching. Stop looking out there for answers, stop blaming and talking about others. In other words stop justifying everything you do as being right and the slightest of cracks may be created in your sheepish armor which will allow a sliver of awareness in to change the way you look at things. After all, if the way you sheepishly look at things doesn’t change, the conditioning of sheepish reaching will remain…

Desires Lure

The most important thing to understand about desires lure is the less one is attached to “I” the less one will be lured because without “I” there’s no one desiring…

The reason desires lure is so enticing is because it actually feels good, this is why the lure of desire is so powerful. The only real issue with this is because of the impermanent nature of desire. It simply will not last no matter what; it has no staying power so something else will be needed almost immediately following the attainment of the desire. Think about it, with all the desires that have been attained throughout your life regardless of what it was, it doesn’t bring the fulfillment now that it brought at that time. Most times even if the same exact desired fulfillment is physically repeated, it’s usually not as satisfying as the first experience. I used so many things as I was lured in by my desire seeking conditioning, but it was never lasting. The lure of the next needed desire always arose. This went on all the time, being lured in by one desire after another and never being satisfied. 

I’ve come to understand desires lure as the main reason people reach for things. If your desires didn’t need fulfillment nothing would be reached for. So there would never be a need for anything hence there wouldn’t be any issue. Unfortunately desires lure has its way with people as it’s deeply ingrained in the subconscious and has been in place before your existence began. I know desires lure is what controlled me for forty nine years and it was directly associated with “I”. Without “I” no one is there to be lured in. Even with this understanding, desires lure doesn’t just disappear, but it does subside somewhat. To me the most important thing to understand about this is, the less one is attached to “I” the less one will be lured in because without “I” there’s no one who needs to fulfill the next desire…

Mind Approved Lunacy

You can only do what your mind approves of. Until you wake up to see this, the lunacy of what’s approved will remain in place and it will be the driving force of your existence…

Everything reached for is a coping mechanism approved by the lunacy of your own mind. Although approving different things will produce different outcomes, the core of all of this mind approved lunacy is the same; it arises from your conditioned mind. This is what causes one to constantly seek approval which isn’t real. The Conditioned Mind makes you believe it is and the ensuing behavior manifest to fill this approved lunacy. The Conditioned Mind says, Hey, you need to reach for something, what is reached for depends on the conditioning lunacy in place; sit and ponder this.

Until this is understood and the diabolical Conditioned Mind is seen for what it truly is, suffering will remain because you will always approve something to fulfill the arisen mind lunacy. There’s nothing inherently wrong with satisfaction, but when it’s the driving force of existence, it will keep the mind in a constant state of approved lunacy. This cannot be seen by a mind that’s locked in this state. Only within a quiet mind state will there be awareness of this. The reason why anything is reached for is because there’s lunacy approval by the mind for the present moment to be different; this is the lunacy of the Conditioned Mind. You can only do what the lunacy of the conditioned mind approves of. Unless you wake up to see this, your conditioning will remain in place and mind approved lunacy will be the driving force of your existence…

Take or Give Mind State

The mind is really very simple to understand. It can be broken down into two mind states, take or give. Everyone who is alive will be led by one or the other…

There’s a lot of stuff (thinking) that goes on between the ears that determines what mind state you will be led by. When it’s broken down, you will be led by either a take or give mind state. To me everything that happens is the result of something previous so the results of living in a state of take or give are vastly different. This isn’t to apply a label that one is right and one is wrong, but if investigated it can be seen how a give mind state produces results aligned with love, kindness, peace, harmony, joy, and a take one aligns you with results of anger, greed, hate, unhappiness, discontent and so on. I had a take mind state for many years and this resulted in much suffering in the form of feeling isolated and alone most of the time. As a result of this, I used many different things to try and not feel this way, but to no avail because not matter what, the take mind state would always return.

Some years ago I began understanding the different results of these two mind states and started developing certain things that put me more in line with a giving mind state. A take mind is selfish in nature and produces selfish results; desirable results if you’re based in the material world. A mind that gives has no selfishness to it and the results prove this. This doesn’t mean the take conditioning is gone for good, but it has lessened to a large degree and hence there is literally no more isolation in me. If the difference of these two mind states aren’t seen it seems the take state controls more; it’s because of the influences of the material world that make this so. Even though by being alive you are part of the world, when you finally wake up, what’s seen is you don’t have to allow the selfish collective take mind state to control you…

Natural Truth

Natural truth isn’t a made up story nor is something that can be manufactured. There‘s only awareness of it when the lies are exposed, so expose your lies and natural truth will arise…

To me it’s clear what truth is and here’s why, fifteen years ago I started to look into a different way to live my life and at the core of this looking was the revealing of my lies. I didn’t know much about anything, but I did know I needed a different way to view life. I understood one thing, that my own mind created all my lies. So I set out to find out why this was and if it was possible to change this. As this process of self inquiry proceeded, my lies were slowly being revealed and as this happened I became less and less attached to the lies. It didn’t become about anything else, it just wasn’t all about the lie of needing to fulfill my wants and desires; when this happens, awakened qualities ( natural truth) arises. This doesn’t mean everything goes your way, it doesn’t matter how it goes because there aren’t the lies of a story of wanting and needing things a certain way; without a story natural truth is revealed.

Truth is difficult to describe in words because it’s interpreted differently by everyone, but I have found truth is the space of what is. What is has many labels dependent on what’s occurring at the time. It can be horrible, beautiful, or neutral, the label doesn’t change what’s actually occurring. Being in the space of what’s occurring changes it and that’s because without a label there aren’t lies, there’s only space. In this space there’s no lie and without a lie is when natural truth is revealed. It’s not a made up truth, it’s the truth of just being in the space of what’s here right now and not needing to add a lie to it. In this space is where you’ll become aware of truth, but it has nothing to do with you directly; it’s a natural truth that arises when the lies are revealed…

Compulsive Reaching

Don’t let the consequences of compulsive reaching lull you into an unconscious state. All compulsive reaching (attachment) has consequences regardless of what’s compulsively reached for…

If you’re always compulsively reaching for something it’s because you don’t think what you have is enough; if you don’t think you have enough, there will always be something to compulsively reach for. Compulsive reaching isn’t something that’s inherently a bad thing, why one reaches compulsively is where issues arise; this is because one thinks something is missing. What is compulsively reached for only matters to the degree in how the thing affects your life. A compulsion to drink alcohol in access has consequences much different than the compulsion to go to a program to stop using those things. But the compulsions core is the same and that’s what needs to be examined. Don’t let the different consequences of compulsive reaching lull you into unconsciousness because all reaching leads to bondage in one form or another, and as stated this includes all compulsions.

You might say that’s not true, a compulsion to better yourself is a good thing, but that would mean you need things to be different to accept yourself. Accepting life exactly how it is in my experience, is the only place you will experience the peace of not needing to compulsively have things different. I’m not saying don’t better yourself, but if it’s at the expense of your peace of mind, where’s the benefit. I say go for the gold, just understand even if it’s attained you will find it’s not providing the benefits you thought it would; shortly afterwards more gold will be compulsively reached for. Investigate this and see how compulsions arise from desire, and desire causes bondage (attachment) which causes suffering. Break free from the compulsive reaching of desiring things different and you will inevitably stop suffering…

Internal Spirit

The Internal spirit is the true essence of all beings. The only reason there’s darkness is because the spirit is looked for externally. When there’s awareness of your internal spirit, it instantly replaces darkness…

There needs to be awareness of the internal spirit of the heart so the dark places of the mind dissipate. The internal spirit is always there just waiting to replace darkness, it never leaves. When you live from the mind the thought realm is allowed to take over and it becomes very difficult to have awareness of the internal spirit. This internal spirit is what turns away the darkness of an unconscious state of mind; this unconscious state is the world of external answers. As long as answers are sought externally, darkness will remain. Darkness creates a world that’s mind based and this is what blocks awareness of internal spirit. It doesn’t allow for the pure essence of the life to be recognized. It holds onto the belief that life is to be managed so it can be a certain way, but even if the way occurs, darkness remains because it’s mind based.

The internal spirit on the other hand is of the heart. When seen it replaces the darkness without effort; as when entering a room and the light is turned on the darkness is no more. That’s all that’s needed, the spirit needs to be noticed. The internal spirit always replaces darkness, unless one’s bulb is burnt out; our path is to make sure the internal spirit is always noticed regardless of the surrounding darkness. As your spirit remains lit, more people will see it and be drawn to you. When this occurs it will draw others to you as the internal spirit expands, and maybe one day there won’t be any darkness to replace because everyone will see their internal spirit…

Harmonic Aspirations

When aspirations are in harmony with love, this opens the heart to loving all beings. Not because it’s wanted, but because this is the way love rolls when aspirations are in harmony with love…

Having harmonic aspirations is worth more than all the books combined on what it means to be spiritual. Why this is so is because your harmonic aspirations are yours and the content of any book is someone else’s. Someone else’s idea of you will never be you, no matter if their way is copied exactly. This is why many remain struggling because they’re trying to be someone else’s idea of who they should be. You can use books, methods, and whatnot as a tool, but the deep seated aspirations of why you do what you do will need to be reflected upon to see if the results of your efforts are in harmony with love. Not the story of love, but the love that arises not from effort, but from one’s own harmonic aspirations. This is where effort is meaningless if it’s not in harmony with love. Only harmonic aspirations with love will result in meaning.

There are as many books about awakening as there are people practicing, but everyone who reads a book and practices doesn’t necessarily wake up. This is because the aspirations aren’t of the necessary energy that allows harmony with a loving heart. True aspirations need to be seen if there is to be harmony with all beings. This doesn’t mean a person won’t harm you or animals and insects won’t bite you, but it’s less likely you’ll put yourself in that type of situations when inspired by a loving heart. In the space of stillness one learns to see their true aspirations and in the process have those aspirations in harmony with love. When this occurs one will love all beings, not because it’s wanted, but because this is the way love rolls when aspirations are in harmony with love…

Perimeter of Love

With an unlocked heart things going on around you may not change, but what does change is the view from looking at life through “I” to looking at life from within the perimeter of love…

I’m sure everyone has heard the expression “the circle of life” but here’s a little different spin on it as “the perimeter of love”. Think of it as though life is a circle, when you love you’re inside the perimeter, and when you don’t it means you’re living mostly from “I” which automatically puts you beyond the perimeter. Outside the perimeter was how the first forty nine years of my life were lived. Occasionally I was within the perimeter, but not very often; this was because my “I” conditioning kept my heart locked. It’s nearly impossible to enter the perimeter of love from “I” because “I” is the lock that keeps that heart closed. When you see this, it gives you something tangible to work with which is the key to unlocking the heart, and with an unlocked heart you’ll be surrounded by the perimeter of love.

Life and love can be synonymous, but only when you’re within the perimeter of love, and you can only be there when the heart is unlocked and open. The locks of the world that keep you outside loves perimeter are many. It’s as though you’re on the outside of a house looking in through a window. Love unlocks the heart to see things that were previously unseen, and this is what opens you to see as if you’re inside the house looking out. When you’re on the inside looking out it’s because the heart is unlocked. With the heart unlocked it may not change what’s going on around you, but it does change the view from looking at life through “I” to looking at life from within the perimeter of love…

Divine Truth Guidance

Divine truth guidance puts you in harmony with life. Understand though it’s not life that does anything to you, but if you’re not guided by divine truth it will certainly seem like it does…

Divine truth is in place to put you in harmony with life and it’s also in place to offer protection against certain behavior. When you’re guided by divine truth, its boundaries allow for life to be lived to the fullest. But the mind has to be open and free flowing for guidance to this truth to take place. There’s heart truth that aligns with divine truth, but it’s often missed because the mind comes into play which blocks the awareness of it. The more you’re guided by selfish behaviors, the less chance there is to be in harmony with divine truth. When things are used and abused to satisfy self, this blocks life from being truthful. The animal realm is guided by truth naturally, that’s why there’s perfect balance. Unfortunately the human conditioning relies too much on the intellect and not enough on divine truth.

Life is guided in one of two ways, either the guide allows alignment with divine truth or not. A quiet mind can see this to a degree and slowly stops doing the things that block divine truth from being your guide. As long as you’re alive life will be lived, but in what way determines your actions and consequences. Cheat on your spouse and regardless if you get caught or not you’ll be out of harmony with the truth that’s in place. So take heed and understand life never does anything to you, but if you‘re not guided by divine truth, it will certainly seem like it does…

Hearing Silence

We live an existence torn between hearing the silence of the Universe and attaching to the sounds of the world. By being aware of the first part the energy necessary that prevents the second naturally occurs…

The selfish and destructive Conditioned Mind behavior that was in control for most of my life has settled in a place of neutrality. I would never say the conditioning is gone forever because by attaching to it as so would give it the needed energy to return. It’s very important to see the present moment as being the point of contact where the world is connected to, but don’t make it into a story. We live an existence torn between hearing the silence of the Universe and attaching to the sounds of the world. By being aware of the first part the energy necessary to prevent the second naturally occurs; truth settles in stillness.

You will never stop the sounds of the world or there will never be an entire world of love. You can however hear your own heart and not be a part of the world’s noise by keeping your own house in order instead of being drawn to the noise and trying to change everything else. When you are mindful of your own conditioning and have awareness of the place where there’s a connection to the world, this is the space where the world is offered your true self. But make no mistake this doesn’t occur by trying to change the world or by ignoring its sounds, it simply happens by hearing the silence of the Universe beneath all the noise the world offers…

Made Up Point of View

When there’s awareness that your point of view is made up, stillness takes its place. This stillness is always there, but not experienced because your made up point of view blocks it…

Without a made up point of view, everyone would see life through the eyes of stillness which by the way are the eyes of love; because of a made up point of view this isn’t seen. Made up points of view are from the energy of unconsciousness. This makes everything that happens in life about your made up point of view, but it isn’t truly ever about what is seen, it‘s not about anything in particular except when a point of view is made up.

A made up point of view is what makes the mind attach to thoughts, and those attachments cause the associated thoughts to control your life. What is really happening is this, life just happens it’s not personal, it’s also not about anything you think it is. It’s not about right, wrong, love, hate, good or bad, it‘s mostly about learning to understand your minds true nature of stillness and not being lead around by made up points of view; whatever they are. When there’s awareness of this you will truly be still; a stillness that has always been there, but was never experienced because of a made up point of view which doesn’t allow stillness to be experienced…

One Perspective Limit

No perspective is wrong, but if you only have one it limits life, and in the process it doesn’t allow any other results except those from that one perspective…

Changing perspectives is what makes life different, but it doesn’t make what happens different, it only makes the perspective of what happens different. If you’re locked into a certain perspective, this only allows one way of seeing things. The more your perspective is based on the intellect, the harder it will be for there to be a shift to see things another way. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the intellect, it just doesn’t allow for much openness. When one sees things from a perspective of only one way, it limits life to that one way. Most times this perspective isn’t even your own, it’s formed from someone else’s perspective, opinion, teaching, book, video, or discussion.

To be fixated on one perspective keeps you entrapped to the results of only that perspective; think about how limiting that is. No possibility of another way, always going down the same path, never allowing anything new. This is so limiting, but with only seeing things through one perspective, how limiting this is will not be seen. Sitting and developing discipline so the minds grip lessens can assist in possibly altering a one perspective mind set, but for this to occur there has to an inkling there’s another way to see things. It’s not that your way is wrong, it’s just that having only one perspective limits life, and in the process it doesn’t allow any other results except those from that one perspective…

Spiritual Waste

If you sit you’ll develop discipline so you can watch your thoughts come and go. Eventually there will be more and more space between them. It’s in this space that you’ll see the spiritual waste held in the mind…

With the emergence of the social media, there’s so much information available on spirituality that it really needs to be investigated before you consider using it to assist in your development. Here is the definition of waste: rubbish, garbage, trash, nonsense. To see if the information you are using to develop discipline is beneficial, there can’t be anything associated with it that forms attachment. Methods, programs, guru’s, life coaches, teachers, or any other form of waste that’s used to keep you attached just keeps you entrapped to the very thing you are trying to break free of. Just as there’s a lot of “fake news” out there today, there’s also a lot of fake information on spirituality. Attachment is something that’s not truly understood by many people, and so most of the information out there is wasteful that keeps you in prison in some way. Those telling you to buy their book, pay for retreats run by paid speakers, or follow (instant attachment) a program are clever to a fault, with the fault being keeping you in prison.

The only thing needed to do is look within so a millisecond of space is created between your thoughts. Once this occurs and there’s awareness of it, slowly there will be more and more space; it takes nothing but awareness to create this space. The waste out there that someone’s program, book, method or whatever has your answer will keep you attached to what you are trying to break free from. I know people defend their so called guru or people they follow adamantly, but it’s only because there’s no awareness of the prison they’re in. Sit often and just watch the thoughts come and go. Eventually there will be more and more space between them. It’s in this space that you will see all the spiritual waste you’re attached to and the prison you’re in…

Inner Discord

Existence is continuous until one day it’s not. Inner discord occurs because of the attachment to self. Without this attachment, the beauty of life unfolds as the inner discord falls away…

The real cause of any issue with life is not with what actually happens, but how we attach a self. Life occurs regardless of the self, but what attachment does is it creates inner discord by isolating yourself and making it personal. Life is neutral until there’s attachment, it then becomes an event that’s all about the self. Without self, inner discord doesn’t happen, life just occurs. I’m not insinuating a self exist or not, all I’m saying is the attachment to self is at the root of all inner discord. If you want to be free of this inner discord, you‘ll have to be free of the attachment to self.

Stay anchored in the moment and you‘ll stop creating your inner discord. This is regardless of what happens in life, unless you make it about life doing something to you. Life does nothing to no one. It’s each individual alone from the way they‘re conditioned that makes life seem as though there’s inner discord. This occurs because without an anchor everything that happens in life is made into a burden of something to do. But understand, whatever goes on between your ears about what you think you have to do, that is inner discord; it’s something created from within yourself. Don’t blame life for the inability of not staying anchored and being left unprotected. Find your anchor so you‘re planted and stay there as much as possible. The more you stay anchored the fewer stories there will be in your life and the less it will seem like there’s inner discord…

Inner Brightness

It’s the outer view of satisfying “I” that keeps you from seeing the inner brightness of your own innate beauty; this beauty is a result of the brightness that comes from looking inward…

No one is more special than another in this existence, but there are some who do see their inner brightness beyond the outer view. Although no is chosen, I would say what makes this happen for some and not others is some are more inclined to not attach to an outer view which allows them to see much more inner brightness than if you are in the grip of an outer view. I have lived two existences, one which was from the outer view where there was much self inflicted suffering. The other is the one I’m living now which is an inner view in the direction of seeing my own inner brightness. The differences in the two views is one created suffering and was done in ignorance, the one today is lived in awareness of the ignorance. Today my view is as it is because the outer distractions don’t control me as they once did. I’m still in the world, but I’m not as controlled by it.

The inner brightness that is seen is a by product of awareness as the outer view is let go of. This opens up space to allow wisdom and insights to occur. This opening is directly linked to the letting go of “I”. It’s “I” that attaches and is the cause of all suffering. Ever so slowing when one begins to look inward the outer distractions of “I” fall away. To me this is what was revealed to the great mystic’s; they were considered special, but all they did was look inward. This looking inward is
available to all, but you will have to overcome the outer view of “I” to not be distracted from it. It’s the outer view that keeps you from the inner brightness of seeing your own innate beauty, and it will only be seen when you look inward…

Controlling Beliefs

When there’s a belief you need something to provide contentment, you’re controlled by this thought. Until this is understood, you’ll remain controlled by the belief that contentment is outside of you…

There will never be contentment in your life as long as you’re controlled by the belief that your contentment is outside of you. Contentment is something that’s already within everyone, but because of the way our minds are conditioned by beliefs, we get controlled by the thought that contentment is something to find. Unfortunately beliefs are what makes the very thing you’re seeking elusive. Beliefs are the reason one is constantly reaching for something outside, until these beliefs are no more, you’ll remain controlled by the thought that contentment is in the next thing reached for. This can’t be stressed enough as being controlled by beliefs will have to be seen if you’re to ever experience true contentment. 

The thought of being content isn’t contentment. What has to happen if contentment is to be experienced is there has to be an understanding of how beliefs control you. The reason why contentment is elusive is because of the inability to be aware of this. When the need to reach for something arises, becoming controlled by belief begins; this is a conditioned cycle that’s very difficult to break. Contentment isn’t something that can be manufactured so it’s in doing less that contentment arises. Many are controlled by trying to find contentment, but since it’s already within, the belief associated with finding it needs to be discarded so you can uncover the reason why you’re controlled by the belief you’re not content…

Sheepish Mind Lies

A sheepish mind can’t understand truth regardless of the belief system in place. Beliefs hinder the understanding of truth because they’re just a sheepish mind response that blocks truth…

If your sheepish mind lies are in control and running your life, it doesn’t matter much what’s going on, it’s going to be difficult to understand truth. It’s such a sheepish world and what makes it so is people haven’t a clue that the truth is inward. What the sheepish mind actually is and how it’s created is by not being aware the truth is already in you. With a mind that’s conditioned to reinforce lies you have to constantly lie, hence the sheepish mind. This is how the lies of a Conditioned Mind are formed and how they block awareness. It’s lies created because if you knew the truth was within, the need to lie would be non existent and so would the sheepish mind.

Everyone has the ability to consciously be aware of the sheepish mind lies, but it’s just not something that happens on its owns. It’s a beautiful thing when your life is in your hands; it’s totally up to each individual what is done with it. Even little lies equate to little usefulness so it’s up to each individual to do what’s necessary to become more aware of the sheepish mind lies. As you’re more aware of being present, the sheepish mind lies untangle and you’re left with truth. If you’re waiting for anything else, it most likely won’t happen as the sheepish mind lies will remain in control…