Waking Up Is Hard To Do

A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him. "Master, I wish to become your disciple," said the man. "Why?" replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment. "Because I want to find God."

The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke. "Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water." "Air!" answered the man.

"Very well," said the master. "Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air."

The above story came to my mind this morning and I retrieved it from the internet so I could share it with you. It speaks to me of the rigor it takes to remain (or return to) an awakened state of consciousness.  

Over the last few weeks it has been the best and worst of times for my personal state of awareness. I've been both lifted by moments awash in Divine realization and flattened against painful shards of self deprecation.  Quite the contrast - the still shocking disparity in the journey of a soul struggling to maintain its place in the Kingdom. It remains curious and confounding that having breathed the rarefied air and tasted the sweet nectar of Truth, that I would so easily and readily fall from grace.  Do I knowingly submit to this suffering - or is it deeply programmed autonomic response that bypasses free will?

I am seeking to stay alert more to this default process, to see if I can catch the first glimpses of separation thoughts or feelings that undermine my foothold on the sacred ground of Truth. I admit so far I've made little progress in coming up with a preemptory strategy.  So my strategy for now is ex post facto. As Buddha said, it is not how often you forget, but how soon you remember, that truly matters.

Just what are you and I supposed to remember?  In a word, Oneness.  What we forget, that causes all kinds of pain and suffering for you and I, is our oneness with God.  We are adrift in a dream of separation from the one and only true source of comfort and peace.  We seek but do not find because we seek amiss. Despite a deplorable track record, we continue to bet on outer events, circumstances, material gain, hoping that if we win on the track of life we'll be happy at last. We are done in by false promises and false identities, defining ourselves by our accomplishments, acquisitions, believing we are our bodies and minds.  In so doing we get self realization backwards.  All these externals become, as some have described, like pieces of silver offered in betrayal of the Truth. We conclude, to our great peril and pain, that we are human beings seeking a spiritual experience. We expect God to come down off of a cloud and rescue us from the world. But the Divine is within us, patiently waiting for us to come down off of a cloud of delusion and join with its unwavering Presence of love and peace.

So the journey back is to stop the madness asap - realize that the pain is not held over us by outer events but our reaction to them.  When my ego is ranting and railing, making up all kinds of stories about why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling, I must find the pause button and then I must exercise the deep intention to know the Truth once more.  This is no casual activity when you are immersed in a big drama, especially if your core emotional issue has reared its head.  This is spiritual warfare, when I must unsheathe the light saber and burn away the illusory beliefs that would separate me from my true source.  It takes great resolve, and determination, to stay this course, to go from being "held hostage by the ego to being host to God."  How simple --- learning to be good hosts to God - to simply invite and make welcome the Presence, to cohabit with the One.