The Meaning of Life & Who Is Your Infinite I?
Like the =Moonies‘ (2) in the early days, those who joined up never even called
home or checked in with their parents (perhaps today the families of Peter,
Judas and the rest would kidnap them and deliver them to a deprogrammer?).
Same for monks who divested themselves of all worldly goods and personal
attachments, to roam through the forest with =The Buddha.‘ (3)
The Jews, naturally, didn't have much choice. Following =Moses‘ (4) into the
desert for 40 years, as it seemed (in the beginning) as if it would definitely be a
step up from brutal slavery (by the Pharaohs), but soon after entering the desert
a lot of them protested about it anyway. Even they didn't always want their
freedom more than the familiarity of the less than optimal life they knew.
=Ram Dass,‘(5) the well-known teacher and author of =Be Here Now,‘ once
spoke of a picture he saw in the newspaper of an abused and battered infant
crying as it was taken out of the arms of its mother, while reaching back
desperately for its abusive mother. The message was clear: we are wired to
choose the familiar and the comfortable at any cost.
A contemporary guru =Andrew Cohen‘ (6) made it crystal clear in one of his
meetings that it was imperative, that we ?want to be free more than anything
else,? and that we needed to be ?deadly serious about it.? I've personally never
really been deadly serious about anything (except maybe writing this book) so
that put me off a bit, especially since the most =enlightened‘ people I had come
into contact with over the years always had at least one thing in common: they
laughed uproariously and often (the =Dalai Lama‘ (7) for example - actually, to
be fair, I believe Andrew Cohn does too).
I've recently finished reading =Butterflies Are Free To Fly‘ (8) by Stephen Davis
and =The Enlightenment Trilogy‘ (9) by Jed McKenna, who, like Andrew and
many others who walk among us these days, present themselves as people who
are =done,‘ in the sense that prior to enlightenment, we are all perpetually in a
state of =becoming,‘ as distinct from finally being released into the vast mystery
of =present being,‘ with no further demands of life, only curiosity and total
amazement on being =fully awake.‘
Stephen & Jed are done with all becoming. So they can naturally make
statements like, ?All that's required is an arm and a leg? That's it??(Jed
McKenna). ?The truth is, as you let go of judgment, beliefs and opinions, the
only thing you ever need and want is exactly what‘s right in front of you?
(Stephen Davis). They can't believe their good fortune to learn that waking up
is such a bargain. Living without a few limbs, Jed says, is far preferable to even
one more moment of living a lie (staying asleep).
