The Simple Way to Live!

The Simple Way to Live!
One evening I received four email questions that had to do with the same ‘problem’ which was -- How to incorporate the simple teaching into daily life. Then this morning I felt inspired to write the following…

Please listen carefully because words by themselves are tricky unless we fully grasp their true meaning. It all comes down to CHOICE. Many advaita enthusiasts will say, “but we have no choice” which is true. And, it is this very truth that gives us this choice. Confused? Let’s see if I can make it a little clearer.

The word ‘choice’ is a paradoxical term because it is when we realize that there’s only one Truth, One Essence, One Reality or Oneness that we have the choiceless choice. In other words, Truth is choiceless because it is the truth. Since Truth is true and it is One, then we have no choice but to choose it. It is in this recognition that we start living by conscious choice.

Another interesting facet of this is – the ego mind really believes it has choice and therefore makes up its mind; actually chooses through its conditioned perceptions to decide or not to live the truth. This is, of course, absurd. Therefore NOT living the truth is ego’s way to establish its individual separation. However, what it ends up doing is suffering. Then it attempts to get out of its suffering mode by making more choices and decisions how it should act or be exacerbating the whole situation. In other words, suffering leads to more suffering. This is the ego’s way to deal with its own illusions. For instance, it gets guilty for feeling guilty and gets depressed and frustrated over its own depression and frustration. It gets very angry when it can’t deal with its own anger and reacts violently when all it wants is peace. In other words, the ego is a contradictory bastard. There is no way to deal with the ego because of one simple fact --- it doesn’t exist except in one’s imagination!

Since we believe there’s an ego that we must get rid of then we are stuck trying to get rid of a shadow when it chases you. You ran fast to avoid the shadow but it keeps up with you in perfect attachment. Then you get confused and frustrated because there’s nothing you can do. Thus, instead of learning to see that there’s nothing you can do, you try even harder thinking there’s something you are missing. The struggle goes on and on until exhaustion sets in and that’s where depression, deep sadness and even apathy or indifference may take over and we are ‘dead’ on our feet.

The ego is simply our conditioned beliefs about who we think we are. It is easy to see who we are and find there’s nothing there, but it’s a hell of a shock we are not willing to take. This shock we are not willing to take again leads us to different forms of seeking, which we can’t help. We want to be ‘something’ or ‘someone’ blinding us from seeing the obvious. The fear says, “but I have to be a person because I know I am here.” If we just ‘looked at what is obvious’ and accepted it fully we’ll see two things – the fact that you have always been here and knowing it plus also having all you ever really wanted as always being here.

So, how do we live simply? There are two steps which I have learned since my experience in the year 2000. You are a human being. The human forgets the Being because they oppose each other on the surface. Therefore let’s see it this way…
We have two LIFE-SCRIPTS and they are already written just like a movie already made. Thus it seems that these two scripts are what we can choose. Ordinarily we choose (unconsciously) the ego script. This ego script is based on the belief in ‘wrong.’ In other words, it judges, condemns and often entertains grievances. It can’t help it because that’s the structure of the false self known as fear. If you were to tell this ego script that there’s no ‘wrong’ it will probably break out in laughter and goes about proving it to you by pointing out all the mess we have created in the world – wars, crimes, violence, corruption and man’s inhumanity to man. It never occurs to the ego system that such ‘evil’ (opposite of ‘live’) was created because of the belief in ‘wrong’ in the first place. When the ego chooses the ‘wrong’ beliefs it is not conscious of such choosing, therefore it is called ‘unconscious choice.’

Then we have the Being-Script, which is also already-made and we can call this script ‘The Holy Spirit.’ This, incidentally, is the One Truth…it is who you really are. This Holy Spirit knows no ‘wrong’ and therefore sees no ‘wrong’ ever. Its true nature is innocence. It contains the highest good and also what we love the most – joy, aliveness, happiness, peace, inner fulfillment and unbridled freedom. The ego can’t conceive of such a heaveny state but here’s a fact – once we take conscious choice to live by the Holy Spirit and its guidance, our life becomes such a blessing we will wonder how we had missed something so simple. It makes our work effortless because it is done through love and creativity; it makes us open and loving without inhibition or fear; it enhances every facet of our life without doing anything except choosing the Holy Spirit every time we find ourselves ‘caught’ in our shadow self of judgment, condemnation
and fear.

When we do not listen to the Holy Spirit then our life becomes sheer suffering and we are placed in a position to learn lessons we didn’t yet resolve. These ‘lessons’ keep repeating until we actually start hearing what we are unconsciously choosing. If we don’t hear what we are choosing then we keep repeating the lessons whether they come in the form of accidents, or sickness or just emotional dysfunction. We may go to doctors or psychiatrists for help and take drugs but treating the symptoms without knowing their cause becomes a chiku-brigu (vicious circle). There’s no healing from unlearned lessons except through forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not just saying “I forgive this thought…” but it means seeing the Holy Spirit as the Truth of Being and therefore you are innocent. Thus forgiveness is seeing the innocence of all acts.
Here’s another fact -- we don’t hate or hurt or punish ourselves and others because we like it, it happens because we are ignorant of our true nature as Holy Spirit.

Now it comes to knowing our choice. When we feel miserable, sad, lonely, and unhappy, depressed or whatever -- we can’t help it. It was our unconscious choice. Unconscious means we didn’t deliberately choose to feel this way. Yes, it was still our unconscious choice. The trouble is that when depressed we don’t want to choose our innocence because we want to punish ourselves for being that way and so it continues on its merry-go-crazy cycle. It is imperative to remember that whenever we feel guilty (which is the nature of the ego) we also feel that we do not deserve the best and so end up sabotaging even our own efforts at choosing the Holy Spirit. In other words, we actually choose suffering rather than end it because we do not believe we are good enough to deserve happiness and love. This is the nutty, crazy, ghastly, monstrous way of the ego. And yet, it is all one big huge illusion. We have played it for so long that we do not know any other way than to live in fear.

The Holy Spirit is real, very real but it is something that I cannot prove to you unless you start choosing IT! This does not mean that you deny yourself anything…in fact by choosing the Holy Spirit you live freely and unencumbered by struggle or decision-making. Everything will flow so easily that you’ll wonder how you could have lived otherwise without having gone insane. By the way, the ego is insane!! There I said it! You will see this when you start Consciously choosing the Holy Spirit.

So, how do I start? First thing in the morning just before rising say something like this, “Holy Spirit today is your day. Take over my decisions and actions and thought and you are the manager. Thank you.”
Then simply go about your daily business as usual. The moment you start judging yourself or others; condemn anyone or yourself; or feel that you are holding on to a grievance against anyone then simply forgive it by saying, “I am Spirit, whole and innocent.” For a moment recall your true innocent nature.

What starts to happen then? You may not notice any changes happening but you might find that things move more smoothly. You will feel moments of creative energy or inspiration. You might even find expression becoming easier as weeks go by. In retrospect you will find that life has become more enjoyable and loving. You will feel freer even in your sexual expression, in laughing, in enjoying and knowing that you are not limited to just a body or age or economic conditions. You JUST ARE!!
Someone might say, “This sounds too simple.” And, I will reply, “Yes it is!” because that’s how life was meant to be.
Another wonderful thing will happen also – your life script which is being lived in linear time might go through shifts and time changes to avert ‘unresolved lessons.’ Life will flow more easily and your understanding of your true state that lives in holographic essence becomes clearer in ways that words can NEVER explain.