Podcast: Download (Duration: 10:32 — 3.6MB)
In order to be happy, I must have my way.
Transcript:
Most of you, nearly all of the time, have – running as a mantra back in the background, where you can’t see it – and the mantra is: I want my way. And it’s not a, ah, casual mantra. In the caves, we had to have that. In order to survive, we had to have our way.
Now in theory we’ve gone beyond that now, but it’s still there. Our basic instincts are still there. It’s not: I just WANT my way … I MUST HAVE my way! And then we have different levels of it: I must have that way … to survive, or (that’s fading now) it’s: I must have my way to be happy. And if you notice, most people aren’t happy. Just spend a little time with them. Just go in a little bit, and there you’ll find they’re not happy.
What is happiness? Well, what I translate as happy is a deep fulfillment, in every moment. The mind can still be busy and saying this and that and I want this and I want that, but inside, you’re not identified with the mind, you’re identified with a deep stillness. If you’re not in that stillness and observing the mind, you’re in the chaos of the mind that keeps saying: I must have my way.
You see, all your distress, all your upset, all your unhappiness, all your complaint, all comes from not having your way exactly the way you want it. And of course that’s very difficult because there are seven billion other people who are trying to have their way. The Muslims are trying to convert the Christians. The Christians are trying to convert …we’re all trying to convert each other to see the way that we see things, so then we think we can feel fulfilled. So all your fear is coming from: you think you’ve got to have your way.
Now, what I’m suggesting is: slow down, be here, be now, sense, look, see, feel: what … is … actually … happening … now. But the mind says, “No, no, no, no, I’ve got to check out the future because … because a tiger might come around the corner,” or “my car might not start, I won’t get to my appointment, and I’ll lose the business, and this and this and this and this and …” Be here, just one moment at a time, and suddenly life starts to unfold in front of you, ah! so delightfully … suddenly you start to see differently. You see nature differently. You see people differently. And then it becomes rather funny.
When you see people, it becomes quite amusing, because when you see them, first of all, you see their behaviour, which is nearly always ridiculous – entertaining, but ridiculous. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything, just their conditioning. And then behind that you see what they’re trying to … not show you, what they’re trying to avoid about themselves. And then behind that you see who they are, as a human being – their delightful uniqueness. But it doesn’t stop there. Stay there. Stay there. And suddenly … just an incredible beauty, an incredible delight.
As they say in the East, “Thou Art That.” And they say That, because you can’t describe it. It’s too beautiful, it’s too wonderful, it’s too expanded. You can’t describe it! It’s an incredible state. And every single person – and that includes you – IS that state. Not part of it, you ARE that state. YOU. The one listening to this, now, you ARE that state. Thou Art That, The Kingdom of God, The Dao, The Hidden Harmony, The Source, The Brilliant Darkness, The Unformed – that’s who you are. And you’ve come here for … I don’t know … maybe to experience this dimension because it’ll help you to see yourself, and thus The Whole, more clearly.
We’re here. Whatever we came for, wherever we’re going, we are here. We’re having experiences, and as I see it, we’re here to experience our experiences. But not to identify with them, because you’re more than that. You’re more than can be described. You – the one I’m talking to now. You’re not PART of The Whole, you ARE The Whole.
Sit sometime each day, and take it as a hypothesis. Don’t believe me. Don’t agree with me. Take it as a hypothesis, and just sit. And if you sit, the mind will get even more busy – it’s wanting your attention – carry on sitting, listening, feeling, sensing, and you will probably find – because if you are listening to this, you are an evolved being – you will probably find, inside there, you’re tingling. It isn’t quite the right description, but let’s say tingling, you’re tingling inside. And if you stay with it, you’ll find it’s not just your hands, it starts to tingle all over. You’re tingling. It’s as though every single cell is vibrating – listen – at its own unique frequency. It’s a miracle, it’s wonderful, it’s marvelous! And then, as you stay with this tingling, you’ll find, it doesn’t end at the skin. What we call “space” is also tingling. Everything is tingling. Everything is vibrating. Every single thing, not just everybody, but every thing!
Mahaveer used to wear a mask, and he used to have a stick, to get everything out of his way. He didn’t even want to breathe a microbe because he would kill it. Now of course, we can’t live like that because we have all sorts of little things going on inside us, but the principle is there. Everything is That. Every single thing! Your table! … has an awareness, has a consciousness. Everything. There isn’t anything that isn’t That.
So you find that that tingling … is in the air, and it’s connected to your table, your tree, your insect, your beloved. We ARE one. There is only One. And we’re all – every single one, every single leaf on a tree – is different. It’s unique! We’re all unique – delightfully unique.
So the suggestion is: don’t take your behaviour seriously. In fact don’t take anything seriously. This is a game. That’s what they say in the East – Maya, Illusion, a Game.
If you want to check on these things, there are plenty of sources. Oh, I say plenty – comparatively few – and there are sources. We have writings that have come down from the ancient … wisdoms from the East. We have people who have near death experiences – all sorts of levels of near death experiences – but they’re not beyond, and they’re now indisputable. Scientists who have had a stroke, they’ve had instruments on their brain to show it is totally dead – their brain is dead – and they’re conscious.
There’s so much more – as Shakespeare said, “There’s more to Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy.” There’s more! There’s more! There’s … not only is there more to everything, there’s more to YOU! You are…ah! You are unexplainable! You! I’m talking to YOU. Thou Art That!
So sometime each day, stop … and sit … and feel … and feel the love that you are – not the love that we call love that has an opposite. This love doesn’t have an opposite. It’s just all encompassing, and it includes … you.