The Beauty of Small Things
The Beauty of Small Things
Kala Ka La
Reprinted with permission
Let's face it: by far the vast majority of our time is spent on mundane, boring, demoralizing tasks, which when we reflect upon them, usually lead us to the dreaded feeling of dissociation from the great stream of sparkling consciousness that enlivens the universe.
It is as if we sat in some distant and long forgotten cave, far away from the breathing center of creation. This feeling is dull but not dead, alive but demoralized, and can lead you to believe that you are ignored - which may even create a super-inflated ego driven to seek the attention you feel you are not receiving.
Isn't it funny how we all carry images of how our well-evolved spirits will be greeted by the universe? Somehow that last shred of self-aggrandizement and importance occupies itself with the thought that we cannot possibly be overlooked by whatever it is that places the signposts on the path for us.
The reward must come soon, and then everything will be magical, just like the lives of those who write the many books we read to fill up our ordinary lives. How is it that we are ignored? It must be because we are not living the life we should, we are not good enough, we are not important enough, we must do more work.
But then we become panicked with the thought that we haven't enough spare time to do "the work" - to concentrate, to adapt, to learn, to integrate. If only we didn't have to work in mundane jobs. Why weren't we born into a culture that supported our endeavors? Why haven't we enough money to support ourselves? Why aren't magical and fantastic beings hovering over our heads with instructions to guide and support our journey?
As I'm sure you know, this is not how the path really is. It is an inch by inch walk into the magnificent manifestation of the truth of your creation, surprisingly facilitated by these small, seemingly insignificant irritations of life, but only if you use them correctly.
Do you really expect that the whole of the rest of your life will be spent healing magnificently, inspiring others with well-chosen words, altering consciousness, manifesting your absolute magnificence, and that every day will be like that when you finally enter the supreme state?
Let's get back to the nitty gritty of our everyday lives and the pursuit of our evolution as human beings. To do that, we must control our fantasies just a little bit. So how to begin?
Well, no matter how very important our position or our status, each of our lives is filled to the brim with ordinary, everyday acts. What are you actually doing with your consciousness during these ordinary acts? Are you aware while you brush your amazing teeth in the morning, or is this an absent-minded act born not of respect, but of necessity?
Are you aware of your body at all as you rise from a chair, walk to work, sit at your workstation? Is there somewhere, small but still a light, which is conscious of the wind, and the clouds, and the earth, the massive fire radiance of the sun, the plants, all those secret and never to be discovered asteroids and comets flying around our galaxy?
Can you be conscious of these while sitting at your desk? Can you keep in mind the massive and the small at the same time? While you stand at the photocopier, are you absentmindedly looking into space or becoming aware of your posture, of how you are holding your neck and head, how firmly your feet are planted on the earth?
Are you aware of the different trance states you move in and out of all the time? Is there some conscious decision-making about how you express your self when it comes to arguments and points you want to make to your colleagues? How true are you to that unique and sparkling song that is your very own? Can you sing it simply sitting there, without a word? How many times during a day do you lose awareness of any or all of this?
Am I being obsessive? Do you think for one minute that your ultimate integration only depends on the 20 minutes each day you spend meditating? In the world we live in today, it is a very difficult task to live as we should, and we have to take the teachings that would naturally have been taught to us path walkers in forests and mountains into the city, into our daily rituals at the office, the workplace, the bank, and the shops from which we buy our food. It is very, very hard to do this.
If anyone tells you different, then they are not true path walkers. It is really hard work, but it is with these seemingly small and insignificant aspects of life that we can practice, practice and practice, and make our knowledge real. All the time, we have available to us many hard, practical life lessons, and if our knowledge is at all viable and relevant, we must apply it to these situations. If it cannot be applied here, then it is irrelevant to our continued growth.
Make no mistake about it: being a path walker involves a daily perpetual struggle against sleep. You are in the midst of a battle between consciousness and unconsciousness, between those who would have humans stay as they are, and those who wish humans to own and manifest our true magnificent potential.
You are in the midst of that battle. You are a foot soldier, right in the thick of it. Maybe you will always be here, but that is absolutely irrelevant. Your part is significant, even if no one else notices or acknowledges it. But if you want to prevent yourself from going to sleep - from forgetting the battle and all the possibilities that are available to you, all the evolution, growth, and consciousness - then you must try your best to practice in the everyday world.
It contains and encourages a secret strength, much as a musician's daily practice refines and coordinates aspects of his/her physical being, (which are undeveloped in other people) until they are second nature.
This is the beauty of the small things in your life. They are the arenas within where you can test out your skills and your consciousness, and they will all too readily point out where more attention and practice is required.
However, they can also become the strong roots that support the immortal tree; they are the raindrops that create the rainbow; they are the mirror that truly reflects the state of your consciousness.
Instead of feeling demoralized and defeated by their ordinariness, use them for the benefit of your development. In this way, your onward evolution can continue apace, and you will in no way be disadvantaged. Press on.
Kala Ka La
Reprinted with permission
Let's face it: by far the vast majority of our time is spent on mundane, boring, demoralizing tasks, which when we reflect upon them, usually lead us to the dreaded feeling of dissociation from the great stream of sparkling consciousness that enlivens the universe.
It is as if we sat in some distant and long forgotten cave, far away from the breathing center of creation. This feeling is dull but not dead, alive but demoralized, and can lead you to believe that you are ignored - which may even create a super-inflated ego driven to seek the attention you feel you are not receiving.
Isn't it funny how we all carry images of how our well-evolved spirits will be greeted by the universe? Somehow that last shred of self-aggrandizement and importance occupies itself with the thought that we cannot possibly be overlooked by whatever it is that places the signposts on the path for us.
The reward must come soon, and then everything will be magical, just like the lives of those who write the many books we read to fill up our ordinary lives. How is it that we are ignored? It must be because we are not living the life we should, we are not good enough, we are not important enough, we must do more work.
But then we become panicked with the thought that we haven't enough spare time to do "the work" - to concentrate, to adapt, to learn, to integrate. If only we didn't have to work in mundane jobs. Why weren't we born into a culture that supported our endeavors? Why haven't we enough money to support ourselves? Why aren't magical and fantastic beings hovering over our heads with instructions to guide and support our journey?
As I'm sure you know, this is not how the path really is. It is an inch by inch walk into the magnificent manifestation of the truth of your creation, surprisingly facilitated by these small, seemingly insignificant irritations of life, but only if you use them correctly.
Do you really expect that the whole of the rest of your life will be spent healing magnificently, inspiring others with well-chosen words, altering consciousness, manifesting your absolute magnificence, and that every day will be like that when you finally enter the supreme state?
Let's get back to the nitty gritty of our everyday lives and the pursuit of our evolution as human beings. To do that, we must control our fantasies just a little bit. So how to begin?
Well, no matter how very important our position or our status, each of our lives is filled to the brim with ordinary, everyday acts. What are you actually doing with your consciousness during these ordinary acts? Are you aware while you brush your amazing teeth in the morning, or is this an absent-minded act born not of respect, but of necessity?
Are you aware of your body at all as you rise from a chair, walk to work, sit at your workstation? Is there somewhere, small but still a light, which is conscious of the wind, and the clouds, and the earth, the massive fire radiance of the sun, the plants, all those secret and never to be discovered asteroids and comets flying around our galaxy?
Can you be conscious of these while sitting at your desk? Can you keep in mind the massive and the small at the same time? While you stand at the photocopier, are you absentmindedly looking into space or becoming aware of your posture, of how you are holding your neck and head, how firmly your feet are planted on the earth?
Are you aware of the different trance states you move in and out of all the time? Is there some conscious decision-making about how you express your self when it comes to arguments and points you want to make to your colleagues? How true are you to that unique and sparkling song that is your very own? Can you sing it simply sitting there, without a word? How many times during a day do you lose awareness of any or all of this?
Am I being obsessive? Do you think for one minute that your ultimate integration only depends on the 20 minutes each day you spend meditating? In the world we live in today, it is a very difficult task to live as we should, and we have to take the teachings that would naturally have been taught to us path walkers in forests and mountains into the city, into our daily rituals at the office, the workplace, the bank, and the shops from which we buy our food. It is very, very hard to do this.
If anyone tells you different, then they are not true path walkers. It is really hard work, but it is with these seemingly small and insignificant aspects of life that we can practice, practice and practice, and make our knowledge real. All the time, we have available to us many hard, practical life lessons, and if our knowledge is at all viable and relevant, we must apply it to these situations. If it cannot be applied here, then it is irrelevant to our continued growth.
Make no mistake about it: being a path walker involves a daily perpetual struggle against sleep. You are in the midst of a battle between consciousness and unconsciousness, between those who would have humans stay as they are, and those who wish humans to own and manifest our true magnificent potential.
You are in the midst of that battle. You are a foot soldier, right in the thick of it. Maybe you will always be here, but that is absolutely irrelevant. Your part is significant, even if no one else notices or acknowledges it. But if you want to prevent yourself from going to sleep - from forgetting the battle and all the possibilities that are available to you, all the evolution, growth, and consciousness - then you must try your best to practice in the everyday world.
It contains and encourages a secret strength, much as a musician's daily practice refines and coordinates aspects of his/her physical being, (which are undeveloped in other people) until they are second nature.
This is the beauty of the small things in your life. They are the arenas within where you can test out your skills and your consciousness, and they will all too readily point out where more attention and practice is required.
However, they can also become the strong roots that support the immortal tree; they are the raindrops that create the rainbow; they are the mirror that truly reflects the state of your consciousness.
Instead of feeling demoralized and defeated by their ordinariness, use them for the benefit of your development. In this way, your onward evolution can continue apace, and you will in no way be disadvantaged. Press on.