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The Middle Way.
Transcript:
When people hear ‘nothing will do it’, the mind which works in duality then goes to, “Oh, nothing will do it, so I won’t do anything!”
Now there was a pretty smart fellow called Buddha who came up with a very good idea. And that was called “The Middle Way’. So as we have said often, the mind works in opposites. It’s the only way it can work. It can’t see white unless it can compare it with black. It can’t see good unless it compares it with bad. And so this is what the mind does, “Oh, so I can’t do it, so I won’t do anything!” The Middle Way! The Middle Way says something like, “It doesn’t seem as though anything I do actually has an effect!” Let’s stop there!
Are you the same person as you were 20 years ago? Hasn’t something evolved in you? The answer is yes. We are all evolving, no matter how unconscious we try to be. We are all evolving. So things do evolve and often we work against them. But if we get out of the way and say, “Alright, I accept the concept that nothing works! And what is my reality in this moment? What do I feel? What do I sense?” We could even say, what would be fun? But if that’s too big of a jump, let’s say, what would be less painful for me now?
And I want to bring in this again to you. Not that you should do it. Because if you do it, because you think it will work, you won’t do it. But stop and look at what you’ve got. Of the people you know that would benefit from your experience up to now, don’t you have something to share? If you do it in order to get something, you won’t get anything. But if you connect with it, “Yes, I have things to share. I can see people who are in pain that don’t need to be in the pain. I’ve got, no matter how little, I’ve got something to share!”
Now, in that process you will have several benefits. One is you will learn. You do learn when you teach. Let’s not use the word ‘teach’, when you share, something comes back to you. Also, energy comes back to you. Gratitude comes back to you. These things are nourishing. They nourish you to help you to go into that dark, bare place you hit sometimes.
So to say, “Nothing works, so I won’t do anything!” That’s one side, the other side is: I am going to do everything that I possibly can! Doing! That doesn’t work.
“I am available. I sit, I sense. What is appropriate?”
Even if it’s not going to work: what’s appropriate? Or even bring a little relief. See nothing is wrong. The whole idea of wrong is just your mind putting it opposite something that it says is right. They don’t actually exist.
And then check this out: Nothing works! What comes up? Resentment? Anger? As though something is supposed to work. It’s somebody’s job. ‘Job’ …to take care of us! Well actually it is. It is all our jobs to take care of each other. But it’s not a job, it’s a sharing. And if we have an expectation, it won’t seep into us and nourish us.
Another thing that’s a little difficult to understand. In one way, we are all absolutely, completely, utterly, alone. Nobody can do anything for us. And in another way, there is no such thing as aloneness. We are all one. We are all flowing. We are all feeding and nourishing off each other. They both exist. It’s up to us.
Complaint: we are utterly alone. Gratitude: we are being nourished. And it’s nothing you can do. You can’t make your mind think that but you can keep spotting whenever your mind goes to complaint.
Spot it! And you can’t change it! Just leave it! Just see it! Just leave it!
The Middle Way! No, nothing works and, and see what you have to share. And if you don’t feel as though you have anything to share, you don’t want to share, fine. You just be with yourself as you are and experience yourself as you are.