“You’re sure quiet, what are you thinking about?”
“What you said. Things we humans focus on, molehills we turn into mountains…”
“While your lives…”
Editor’s Note – Enjoy Part 1 here: The Greatest Teacher Who Never Lived
“Run out, yes. It must be a flaw of some kind or a virus we pass around to each other.”
“It’s not all of you. There are human societies that value every single day, every hour. Most of those have a life expectancy of 40, 50 years max, but still…”
“They don’t know when to expect you, either so they make every day….”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“Better late than never, I guess.”
“We have a few minutes before…”
“Before I’m a scrap of history to maybe four people?”
“Any advice for those to follow? I’m happy to take notes.”
“Of course. Here’s what I’d tell them: That high electric bill? Pay it and be grateful. That guy in front of you doing ten-under on the freeway? Use the time to meditate, or really hear Secret Garden on the car radio, or just practice being patient!”
“Go on, you’re doing fine.”
“When your brother-in-law keeps forgetting the hundred bucks he borrowed? Drop it. Better yet, ask if he needs more money and watch his jaw drop. Your parents divorced thirty years ago and it’s still churning inside you? They’re both gone, give it up! Plus, it wasn’t about you, don’t be so arrogant. That time you cheated on your spouse and beat yourself up for years, just let it go. They have! When you were laid off and wrote a rotten review of your company’s product out of spite? Nobody reads reviews anyway, forget it!”
“Feel better?”
“I would if I’d done this several hours ago. Do you really share this stuff?”
“No need. Here’s the thing. You humans know this stuff already. It’s called the knowing-doing gap. You keep badgering yourself with it because you think you ARE your thoughts. You’re not. You’re the consciousness that oversees your thoughts. Too often, when your thoughts go into the ditch you go with them. If your preferences aren’t met, your thoughts rebel, and take over the show.”
“You lost me.”
“It all comes down to this. From the time you’re born you humans try to be okay. It’s really all you want. Professor Maslow should have added another level to his pyramid and called it ‘I’m okay.’ This is where preferences come in. You live a when—then life. When I find the right mate, then I’ll be okay. When I get that job, then I’ll be okay. When the rings of Saturn disappear, then I’ll be okay.”
“We can’t possibly rearrange the rings of Saturn.”
“You can’t rearrange anything once it happens. It might as well be the rings of Saturn, or the atmosphere on Mars. Your preferences don’t match reality, that’s the point.”
“How do we give them up? It’s just human to prefer one thing over another.”
“Yes, it is. But tying your happiness to those preferences is destructive and delusional. You have as much control over them as you do…”
“The atmosphere on Mars, I get it.”
“The great sages were human, too. One of them was asked don’t you ever get angry? He said, yes! But it’s like writing on water. If I write your name on water can you read it?”
“No, unless I hold the image in my head.”
“Exactly. Like you hold on to anger, disappointment, insults, and rude behavior. They’re written in water. Purify your mind. Let them go! Think about this expression: The purified mind is no different than the Self.”
“The purified mind? What are you saying?”
“Your mind is the entity that… It’s like a person in your head watching the crazy 24-hour movie titled Your Thoughts, and listening to the jabber and disruption that film creates day in and day out. If it helps, give this movie watcher a name. Call it Gus. Gus watches as your thoughts muddy up your life, creating chaos and disruption with all kinds of dumb, useless, fear-based crap, making you miserable. You humans seem to enjoy misery, too, which is a mystery to me since you were born to be happy, and and content. But you insist on wallowing in misery and uncertainty!”
“We do default to that. I never understood it either.”
“The purified mind is like… Think of it like a duck on a pond. The water’s smooth as glass, not a ripple. That little duck is as content as it can be. It wouldn’t dream of flapping its wings or thrashing its feet to stir things up. If a leaf floats down onto the water’s surface, the duck watches it, sees it create a tiny ripple, and enjoys seeing it dissipate as the pond grows calm again.”
“Instead of creating more disruption like…”
“Like humans commonly do, yes. That desire to seek calm is to purify your mind, and to return to your true Self, the happy person you were born to be.”
“So, the purified mind…”
“Is no different than the true Self. Hey, good timing. Here we are.”
“What in the world are you jabbering about? Purified what? True self? Wake up, you’re having a nightmare. I never heard you talk in your sleep before, this is weird!”
“Wow, weird is right. You know that guy on the freeway yesterday?”
“The one you yelled at to get off the road? What about him?”
“I forgive him. And I forgive myself for yelling at him. What a waste of time and energy. And the morons…excuse me, the people at the PTA meeting? Good folks, they just see seventh-grade reading material differently, that’s all. I need to track your brother down, too.”
“Buddy’s been avoiding you since you gave him 100…”
“I’m gonna ask him if he needs more money.”
“Wait…what? Are you still asleep? Wake up, I don’t recognize you.”
“I’m more awake than I’ve ever been.”
“What happened in that dream?”
“I met the greatest teacher who never lived. I’ll tell you all about him.”
