by Katie Davis
In a way, life is like beachcombing, as we search for seashells to find happiness. Seeking love, we carefully gather the treasures that we cherish most and when happiness wanes, we move on to collect others. We seem to forget that their abundant source is the inner Ocean; the only spring of true happiness.
Love surrounds us and it originates from within you. We do not need to seek love for living, in the same manner that the spinner dolphin does not cry for water while swimming. The mind has its idea of perfection and what it needs to be happy. All the while, we are the very joy that we are seeking. The separate self is the time-based mind’s attempt to divide and it will prove to be futile, since separation is unattainable. Its sense of lack is its own demise. Whereas Self-realization is an ease, since it is already complete. Fulfillment means completion, not a fractional part, and love’s completion is the discovery of who you really are. After all, a drop of water does not separate to be a part of the ocean, but rather dissolves its partiality.
Desire inherently contains its opposite, which is fear. So while we are creating our personal desires, we are also creating poverty, greed, sexual obsession, power over others in the herd, and every form of lack. In other words, when we desire, we are also saying that we lack. Consequently, both seem to be created. If we are acquiring in order to be happier at a future time, ever-present joy will elude us, since it is not a future endeavor. It is here now, uncaused, and free of every-thing. The dual mind will prove to be ravenous for its desires, as it runs from its fears. Its bottom line will always be “more!” When it finally discovers that its treasures only provide a fleeting happiness, it discovers the root of its longing, which is the realization of the Heart.
Before awakening, I discovered what I thought was the mind’s ability to create in the seventies. I taught my students and later my children this miracle of creation and they attained their goals as well. Yet, the things and attainments simply came and went. In the end, something always seemed to be missing, so there was always something more to create. I did not realize that the something missing was innate in my uninvestigated assumption of being a fraction of Totality; a separate self wandering through life for meaning. Eventually, only “I” remained and its assumption of separation was its lack and longing. In the miracle of mind-creating, I thought that I was the finger pointing to the moon. In fact, I was neither finger, nor moon. In retrospect, observing was the power. It revealed thought’s mechanisms and its images for a deeper self-understanding. Ultimately, only the overwhelming fulfillment of joy sustained. The Heart is ceaselessly outpouring love. Are you looking from the Heart or from the mind?
The space around “I” is joy’s way. You are welcome to continue collecting things to try to fill that space, as some sort of future compensation, but things and circumstances within time is not where joy resides. In the meantime, you needlessly suffer, while hoping for personal empowerment that at best can only be partial. Sooner or later, it will be recognized that the space around all of your accumulations is the direction and that it originates within. Essence is deeper than “you and your thoughts” and more profound than “your attention.” It is the pure attention of the loving Heart; the only omnipotent power of the universe: Love.
So now, or later, it does not really matter, as long as you do not mind suffering and world hostility. I understand that you may still choose to cruise in a yacht on the surface of the ocean and remain oblivious to the charm of an undersea world that is brilliantly colored with tropical fish. However, the silence of the ocean’s depth would be overlooked. You would not become acquainted with the beauty of the coral reefs and the underwater song of the humpback whales, whining in the distance. You also have the option of diving in to explore the unfathomable depth of the inner Ocean. Yachts are fun, but that fun fades and becomes no more than a past mental image. It pales in the joy of your ineffable beauty.
Wisdom’s invitation is to dissolve like a sugar cube in a hot cup of tea. You may fear that “sugar” will no longer exist. Nonetheless, take your first sip, and see that sweetness remains. If you have realized that now is the only possible time in the universe, then as Rumi so poetically wrote, “Don’t wait any longer. Dive in the Ocean. Leave and let the sea be you.” The Ocean is the calling and it is your passionate magnificence!
Katie Davis is author of Awake Living Joy: A Guide to the Heart of Enlightenment and will be offering “JOY Right NOW!”with the blessings of Eckhart Tolle, Power of NOW, at the Spiritual Fitness Center in the Dallas area during MLK Jr. Holiday Weekend January 17-21 with her husband, Sundance Burke, author of “Free Spirit: A Guide to Enlightened Being.” Katie spontaneously awakened 21 years ago and Sundance 25 years ago. For more information, go to www.katiedavis.org and www.sundanceburke.org. Register now at www.CompassionWorks.com. Contact jshafer@CompassionWorks.com.
About Tony Cecala
Tony is a business strategist. He publishes the Holistic Networker and produces the Wellness Expo. In his spare time he reads about technology and the mind.
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