Journey to Enlightenment Part 01

Author(s): Chitrabhanu, Chetana Catherine Florida, Nirmala Hanke, Raksha Penni Helsene
Publisher: Create Space

Page 88

June 1992: Life is Liberation
Dear Friends. When we meditate we ask: What is the purpose of being human? What do we accomplish by being human? What is the ultimate aim of being human? We can get an answer from examples as well as from our own experiences. All the great masters have given examples from their lives. They distanced themselves from their environment, from their conditioning, from the place where they were born. Their names were different, but for all the differences they had one thing in common: they were all seekers. They were trying to find their real self, their home, and their essence. The masters may be in this time or past times because time is eternal. We are only putting limitations on time, with the clock and with our own minds. Such limitations are all mentally made blocks that keep us from finding the answers from our experiences in life.
In the same way, we have made physical blocks of our flame, our spirit. We say, "She is woman; he is man; he is old; she is young" But the energy, the consciousness, the soul, the spirit is not old or young, he or she, that or this- it is a flame. The flame can be in the body of "he" or can be in the body of "she." He and she are made by forms. But the flame is not made by anybody. Flame was. Flame is. Flame will be. That is called life. How you look at life makes the difference to you. So, what we have to learn from meditation is how to look at life!
For some, life can be a tragedy, life can be a comedy, life can be a journey, and life can be liberation. Somewhere I read that life is tragedy for those who feel. Because the emotions are always mixed up, we go up and down like a yo-yo. Emotions swing up and down according to the moods, according to the environment, according to our interrelationship with others. We see life through the lens of emotions. And the emotions sometimes become thick, sometimes thin, sometimes transparent, and sometimes opaque. And the person loses the vision because of the lens. So, life is a tragedy for those who feel.
Life is a comedy for those who think, for minds have all kinds of crazy desires. We don't know what we want to be. Sometimes we want to be this, and sometimes we want to be that. We can't fulfill all our desires. So, it is good to take a break sometimes, to step back, to think, and to see the humor in our situations. So, if you think, life is a comedy.
I know one man in New York, a thinker, who was walking one evening near Central Park. It was late. A mugger came and held a gun to his head and said, "Give me your money or I'll blow you're brains out". The thinker answered, "I'm a philosopher and I live in New York. You know that living in New York is very difficult. You can live without brains, but not without money. So, you want to blow out my brains? It's all right. But I'm not going to give up all my money." In a split second, he saw that the situation was funny. He said "You want money? Let's be fair. I don't have a lot of money but I'll give you $20. Then I'll feel safe and you will feel gain. But if you try to kill me, who knows, the cops may catch you and put you in prison. So, instead of having a good dinner, you'll be in prison. So be fair. Take this $20 and go." He saw that life is a comedy and you have to play with it. You have to learn to make it lighter.
On the Wings of Light and Love - 89