I decided to begin this blog with a quote by Dr. Viktor Frankl, “he who has a why can bear any how.” What is most important in life is not pleasure or pain but what we ultimately find most meaningful. In my own journey I refer to this as walking home to the One, that which is greater than the “I”. This is not an optional journey it is required by all of us, but it is our choice as to when we choose to take it. This is referred to as the death of the ego. The ego sees death as suffering, the soul recognizes this as awakening to that which is greater than what we see with our human eyes.
Alcoholics Anonymous refers to this process as dying to our own self-importance and surrendering to the ONE” or the Higher Power. As I have mentioned before in previous blogs “FEAR” is born from only trusting in the self or the ego. Investing in self/ego will never bring us what we are looking for in life, peace, equanimity, forgiveness, and love. It is only through our alignment with God or Higher Power which grants us a greater ability to make it through our lives with the love and prosperity that He grants us all. Without this realization we are all grasping constantly for more and more of something that we think we need to fill our empty spaces. This would basically mean that we are all addicts never satisfied, depending on self and our silly thoughts to lead us to the next big thing in our lives. This is why it is critical to surrender to the “All”, God, Higher Power as it is the only way to break free from our addictions and live a life with greater meaning and purpose.
Einstein once said that the same consciousness that got you into your current situation will never be able to get you out of it. In other words, your thoughts and feelings that enticed you to bite the hook will not help you to get off of the hook. Logically that makes sense, doesn’t it? If those thoughts trapped you, why would you keep turning towards those same thoughts to get you out of the quagmire? Funny how this never seems to occur to us when we are hooked. We just keep looking back to the same old thoughts, memories and situations to give us a different or better answer to change the situation. I ask you how does that logically work? It doesn’t work and will never work no matter how hard you try to make it work!
Belief in something greater than the ego requires faith. Faith must always be alive and growing. We must all be willing to touch the deepest parts of our soul to get in touch with what lies beneath what we see. There is a treasure deep inside each of us that is waiting to be touched. Beneath our desires and addictions there is joy, peace and happiness. Once we touch this sacred part of self, we can never go back to what was. Touching this soft part of self gives us the capacity to let go of all the obstacles that get in the way of living our true purpose.
No one says it more beautifully than Tich Nhat Hanh: Excerpt from Living Buddha, Living Christ
“That treasure of happiness, the Kingdom of Heaven may be called the ultimate dimension of reality. When you see only waves, you might miss the water. But if you are mindful you will be able to touch the water within the waves as well. Once you are capable of touching the water, you will not mind the coming and going of the waves. You are no longer concerned about the birth and the death of the wave. You are no longer afraid. You are no longer upset about the beginning or the end of the wave, or that the wave is higher or lower, more or less beautiful. You are capable of letting these ideas go because you have already touched the water.”
What he is saying is we can all access God/Holy Spirit/Buddha/ Higher Self/Christ Self, as this part is at the heart of which we all possess. This is accessed through stillness, mindfulness, meditation, quieting the outside and going within. All that is required is a commitment to dive into our true essence. The heart of who we are is always waiting for us to discover the treasure within. This is what is referred to as awakening, consciousness, enlightenment this is the journey we either choose to take at any given time or not, but eventually we all make the journey home.