“ Q: What is the Buddha? A: Mind is the Buddha, while the cessation of conceptual thought is the Way.

[A seeker, not yet a sannyasin, said to Osho that he often talked about the significance of having a master, yet he had heard that Osho himself had attained without a master. How, he asked, was this possible, and did one who became enlightened without a master enter a higher level of enlightenment than one who had had a master?]

No, enlightenment has no higher or lower grades. How you enter does not make any difference: from the front door or the back, like a master or a thief, makes no difference. Once you enter, all differences are lost.

There is a possibility of entering enlightenment without a master, but then you should be ready for more struggle, more risk; have more patience and courage. One day it is going to happen, even-if you are not taking anybody's help. If you go on groping and groping and groping, though it may take many lives, one day you are going to find the door. That's how many have' found it. But once you have found it you can make it a little easier for others. It may have been difficult for you, but for others it can be made a little easier. You can give some indication, some keys, some hints. You can guide.

This has to be understood: that a master in fact does not lead you to truth. He simply helps you to avoid untruth. Truth cannot be indicated. It is not something existing out there. It is something that will come into existence through your effort. Your truth will have to be born in you. A master can help you to grope better so that many pitfalls can be avoided. He cannot indicate the truth but he can indicate what is not truth -- and there are a thousand and one untrue doors. He can show you that these are untrue doors: avoid this, avoid that. That's what they call in the Upanishads 'neti-neti' -- this is not, that is not. The master goes on negating, and only that which is, is left.

That's how a master can help. A few people struggle on their own but that is very rare. And you are not that type of person, because if you were, you would not have come to me. I never went to anybody even to ask this, because even this is taking help. Even if you go to that type of person to give him the truth, he will close his ears. He will say,'l don't want it. I will find it myself.'

This type may look in the beginning to be very egoistic, but he is not. That's the way he is; he wants to seek his own truth, he does not want to borrow it from anybody. Not that he is arrogant; he is humble. And he is not afraid of wasting time. He is not afraid of waiting for lives. He is not in a hurry; his patience is infinite. But he may look like an arrogant person. It is not that he is incapable of surrendering, no. He is surrendered, but this is his way, this fits him.

Then there are people to whom it cannot suit at all. They need someone to whom to surrender; they need someone to help them. Not that they are weak, remember; not that they are in some way inferior -- they are not. It is just that natures differ, types differ, and these are the two types.

Heyo (again) friendo!

As I said before, here’s the “enlightening” content that I didn’t put in the last post because it was really long. I hope you enjoyed - I enjoyed writing it, not so much falling over.

Here’s a couple of key things I learned today, told with the help of a guy named Dave’s stories of being a dad. They were really cute stories, his kids are the most adorable things.

#1: Mistakes are perfectly okay and are actually encouraged

Here’s the story:

Dave was teaching his son to ride a bike, by holding on to the back of the seat for balance. He didn’t want to let go - for fear of his son getting hurt, you know, logically. But he had to - the son had to learn.

His son fell off the bike - and the first thing Dave did?

“High-five! That’s the first time you’ve fallen off your bike!” The son was so confused but got back on the bike after high-fiving his dad. This happened a few times, but the kid’s got it down-pat now.

One time when Dave ran to help his son, he left his other son in one of those bikes that parents can wheel. The youngest pushed the bike over while still in it. Why? He wanted a high-five for falling off his bike too.

The lesson? Mistakes are good. Celebrate mistakes - you’re going to learn something from the,. Even if that something is just “I shouldn;’t do that again.”

#2: Where you focus is where you’re going to go

Important - again told by the story of the bikes. If you say you can’t run over someone’s foot, you focus so hard on their feet that you end up running over them.

It’s the same with life - you know when you say to yourself things, hoping that you’ll believe them? If you focus on something enough, that’s what will become the truth. For example: If you keep telling yourself that you can’t talk to people because you’re shy.

Most of the reason that you are shy in the first place, is because you keep telling yourself that you are, and therefore you feel as though you have to conform to that standard.

In conclusion

If you focus on something enough, that’s where you’re going to end up. Mistakes are good because you learn something, and mistakes are encouraged.

Hope you got something out of reading this! I’m actually supposed to be off my laptop as of an hour ago, but I wanted to write this. Remember to thank someone in your life today - an internet friend, a real life friend, say a prayer.

You cannot disclose the sublime;

Without intuiting the sublime,

You cannot experience freedom.”

As soon as it is suggested that the sublime is incapable of being adequately represented by words and images, the temptation arises to imagine it as something utterly incommensurable with the mundane unfolding of ordinary life. Nagarjuna emphatically resists this urge to reify emptiness, nirvana or freedom into something transcendent or wholly other:

“Life is no different from nirvana,

Nirvana no different than life.

Life’s horizons are nirvana’s

The two are exactly the same.”

It’s out there, so let go and trust that what is coming will find you. It’s yours. What is meant to be will not escape you.. as long as you pay attention and claim it in Divine timing. You must listen.

Wrote a book about transforming ways of thinking, among various other topics.. called it Imagine. I’ll love you for checking it out and supporting my new finished product. Your contribution may help expand to even grander works for our fellow humans.

Yes, there is a collective consciousness, and we are all connected. However, we all have our own minds, our own bodies, our own souls. We are individuals. We can be open and receptive to the advice and help of others, but we must be able to think for ourselves, and decipher between what applies to us and what doesn’t.

We are each the creators of our own dreams, our own realities. These occur through the agreements we have made with ourselves, the beliefs we hold in our minds and hearts, most importantly those about ourselves. These agreements are often made through what we hear from others. We agree to them and make it our own truth.

By learning The Four Agreements, and practicing applying them to our every day lives, soon they will become imprinted into our minds and hearts. This will allow us to recognize the false beliefs that have been planted in our minds by society. You are then free to live as your own true self.

Be impeccable with your word.

Don’t take anything personally.

Don’t make assumptions.

And always do your best. 

I highly recommend this book, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Luiz.