Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)
Your life is constantly moving, changing, evolving, flowing. Circumstances come and go. Some of the events in your life are painful and others joyous and fun. This is the nature of living in the world. You experience the world through the lens of your eye, the drum of your ear, and the physical sensations of your body. The constant change you perceive through your senses is the source of great suffering, great unhappiness, and fear. The natural tendency is to look to the past or the future to find some happiness, success, and fulfillment—the endless grasping for happiness that always seems just out of your reach. There is always something else to pursue a goal, a dream, an idea that will provide the happiness that you long for deep down in the depths of your being. Rare is the one who stops this endless looking to the past or the future. Rare is the one who stops to see that which never changes never moves and is constantly offering you lasting happiness, fulfillment and, more importantly, a love that is so vast so indescrible it offers you the endless joy of your true nature.
Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) What is the word of Jesus? Are they just words that he speaks or words in a book or do his words point to something much deeper? Where do his word direct your attention? Right now I am traveling through Australia on tour with Gangaji and her husband Eli. Since arriving here I have met some of the most deeply loving people, people who are aware of a great secret—the great secret of Life. In the many meetings I have attended here the common conversation is the story of life, the story of suffering that is always based on what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. Many of these stories are deeply heartbreaking, exposing the deep suffering that people experience in life. Each person has different experiences and circumstances that have appeared in their life, but ultimately it is the very same story you are telling yourself everyday. The endless story of your life is the layer that hides the deepest secret, a secret that is waiting to be discovered deep inside of you. Once this secret is discovered there is a great release into a natural joyous freedom. How can knowing this ancient secret help you to understand the teaching of Jesus on an even deeper level?
Jesus says, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Luke 13:11-13) Do the things that you own offer you any lasting happiness? What will happen to even your most prized possession at the time of your death, will you take it with you? Who is the one who has and who is the one who has not? Is he talking about possessions or something much deeper? Who is it that does not hear and who is it that deeply hears?
Jesus explains, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:32) This is the secret of the great secret of God—the great secret of true fulfillment. If you know the truth of who you are, if you stop and see the deathless spirit within your own heart, you will be more abundant, more wealthy than the wealthiest man or woman of earth. You will know that which is eternal and know it to be the truth of who you are. This cannot remain conceptual for it to have any lasting value you must stop and ask yourself—Who is it that hears? Who is it that sees? Who is it that understands?
Jesus says, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:24) If for a moment you stop paying attention to your thoughts of the past or your thoughts of the future, what do you experience? What do you notice? The common experience is to try and cling to the good experiences of life and get rid of or avoid the bad experiences in life. But this endless clinging to and avoidance of is the source of deep suffering throughout the world.
What exactly are you telling yourself about yourself or others? Does this endless conversation you are having inside your own head offer you any peace, any happiness? This does not mean you should try and stay focused on the present moment. Trying to stay in the moment is another trick of your mind. You are the moment. The moment is always here whether you are aware of it or not. The endless freedom of the moment reveals itself when you simply, very simply, stop talking to yourself.
Rumi says, “Christ is the population of the world and every object as well. There is no room for hypocrisy Why use bitter soup for healing, when sweet water is everywhere. Lovers think they are looking for each other, but there is only one search. Wandering this world is wandering that, both inside one transparent sky. In here there is no dogma and no heresy. The miracle of Jesus is himself. Not what he said or did about the future, forget the future, I’d worship someone who could do that.
Rumi says, “Christ is the population of the world and every object as well. There is no room for hypocrisy Why use bitter soup for healing, when sweet water is everywhere. Lovers think they are looking for each other, but there is only one search. Wandering this world is wandering that, both inside one transparent sky. In here there is no dogma and no heresy. The miracle of Jesus is himself. Not what he said or did about the future, forget the future, I’d worship someone who could do that.
Rumi continues, “On the way you may want to look back or not, but if you can say there is nothing ahead there will be nothing there. Stretch your arms and take hold the cloth of your clothes with both hands. The cure for pain is in the pain. Good and bad are mixed, if you don’t have both you don’t belong with us. When one of us gets lost, is not here, he must be inside us, there is no place like that anywhere in the world.”
Jesus explains, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) When you focus your attention on the past it is like living your life looking in a rear view mirror or looking at a mirage in the desert. Is that past real right now in this moment? Looking at the past or the future hides what is always here, it hides that which never changes, is always constant, always present. Pain is part of life, but suffering is the story you are telling yourself about the pain you experience in life. Suffering is complex and it has to be practiced to continue.
The cure for suffering resides in the pain. It is the fear, anger, or hysteria that you are avoiding that hides the truth of who you are at the core of your being. Instead of avoiding the pain, penetrate the pain or fear, or any emotion you are experiencing with your awareness and discover what is at the core—What do you experience when you meet any emotion, when you allow yourself to full immerse yourself in it, not by acting it our or suppressing it, but by allowing yourself to become it? What happens when you take the label ‘fear’ or ‘sadness off the emotion? What do you experience if it has no label, no story?
Jesus illuminates, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” (Luke 5:37) The new wine is the essence of your life the life force that beats your heart. If you pour your life energy into your story you will suffer, it destroys your life or the wine skin will burst. If you remain aware of this life force and stop touching your story you are free from this endless suffering, you will be free from the endless commentary of your own mind—new wine in new wine skins.
Discovering this secret for yourself is the key that frees you from the prison of you own thoughts. This ancient secret, the key to true lasting fulfillment, can only occur when you stop and look where Jesus is pointing.
You are life. You are free. You are eternal. You are the deathless spirit. Discover that which is free from all thought, all emotions and all sensations—You are That eternal Freedom—the doorway to the Kingdom of God!
True abundance has nothing to do with the things of this world. It has nothing to do with any emotion or feeling. In Truth, you are endlessly wealthy, endlessly abundant. You are Love itself and that Love never ends! Wow!
Love is who you are. Love is the essence of Life. Love is the great secret of Life. Not the love of someone else, but the Love, the infinite Light that you are.
