Lesson 4 - Ask yourself. What do I really want?
The question becomes what do I want out of life?
So when I ask I go right down to the source, what do I want?
And the honest answer is ... I don’t know.
When Bodhi Dahrma was asked who are you? (which is another form of the question) he said I don’t know. Planting flowers for which the butterflies come, Bodhi Dahrma says “I know not”.
I don’t know what I want, and when you don’t know, you’ve really reached the state of desireless-ness.
When you really don’t know, for you see there is a beginning stage of not knowing and an ending stage of not knowing. In the beginning stage you don’t know what you want because you haven’t thought about it, or only thought superficially.
Then when somebody forces you to think about it and to go beyond that, you say I’d like this, that or the other (homes, cars, status) that’s the middle stage. Then you get beyond that and say is that what I really want. And in the end you say “no I don’t think that’s it”. I might be satisfied with it for a while and I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it but it’s not really what I want?
Why don’t you really know what you want?
There are 2 reasons that you don’t really know what you want.
#1 You have it.
#2 You don’t know yourself …because you never can.
A knife doesn’t cut itself, fire doesn’t burn itself, light doesn’t illume on itself. It’s always a constant mystery to itself.
I don’t know.
And this "I don’t know", echoed into the infinite interior of the spirit. This "I don’t know" is the same thing as I love, I let go, I don’t try to force or control. It’s the same thing as humility.
Many of you know the principles of karma, give it away and it will come back to you.
As above, so below, you will reap what you sow.
And the principle is that any time you voluntarily give up control, in other words cease to cling to yourself, you have an access of power. Because you are wasting energy all the time in self defense. Wearing a mask, trying to manage things, trying to force things to conform to your will. Once you stop doing that you that wasted energy is available to you. Therefore you are one with the divine principle. You have the energy to achieve anything.
When you are trying however, to act as if you are God, that is to say you are the dictator and you don’t trust anybody and you have to keep them in line. You lose the energy. Because what your are doing is defending some vision of yourself you wish to project.
So the principle is the more you give it away the more it comes back to you.
Too many of us feel we can't share anything until it is perfect, or we have it all figured out.
Stop.
Vulnerably share your authentic self with others, especially imperfect.
Then others will reflect your true self back to you, giving you the proper direction for your life.
If any of these resonate with you and your journey: