Problems of Perception

When you go fishing you go with a particular type of net for a particular type of fish. When you are fishing for men, and you are fishing in honesty, you must accept the net you have been given, for that is the only honest net there can be. Fish in honesty, and you will catch what was meant to be caught. Let the others go, they are swimming into other nets.

Imagine for a moment one of your least successful favourite childhood movie actors. Maybe Steve Martin for example. See their life on that movie screen, and how many movies that they starred in without ever really "making it" like the worldwide phenomenons that still occupy popular media. Watch them move through scene after scene, from their beginning days up to their most popular when they will have felt like they were on the brink of the big time, like it was really on the up and soon to be great. See how all the shadows fall around them, and how the people they worked with will have known them. See how their relationships might have been, imagining their focus and determination on a dream that, for all they achieved, would never amount to more than notoriety in the eyes of most. This is not a condemnation of them or their "achievements", but a realistic account of what the fruit of their physical labours will have been. Now imagine all the sacrifices, all the energy and time spent upon this "great" work. All the sitting down to coffee breaks. All the makeup. All the drives to work. All the early mornings. All the late nights. All the missed parties and school games and family holidays cut short. All the conversations that were about the latest film. Imagine that. Go through them all. Be the center of every party, ever dinner, many (most) being for work purposes with cast and production crew. See how it feels to be constantly the center of everyone's universe, at least in your mind. See also how in reality, most of the people at that table are just asking because it is a topic of discussion. Empty words inspired purely because there is nothing more interesting to discuss within their mind and they don't know each other at the table well enough to feel comfortable on another, more intimate, topic. Thus Steve becomes the center of attention, day after day after day. "So, how's the new film coming Steve?". Feel how that goes, year after year. Notice how, after enough of this, you may realize what a trap it can become to live in. Notice how you may lose yourself to an idea of what you are, and other people to a similar idea. Notice how the shadow of a relationship forms with people, rather than genuine connection. How few moments in your life will thus be your own, and how many (most) will be about Steve Martin, the character. The celebrity and movie star, an idea in the mind. What you are you will never really know, because no one else wants to know and because your very living depends on your ability not to know it, but to pretend to be someone else. Is this a bad thing? Not unless Steve is unaware of all these things happening around him, or what he may be missing in life. The point is, see how the forms and games we play in themselves hardly matter. See how it is that which is within us that really makes the difference. See how, when all is said and done, when all the drinking and eating and moving from place to place, scene to scene, set to set and street to street, all we are is shadow or light. Like a thin vapour of existence floating on the mist of this world. Do we stop to take note of those others floating by, or do we ever spiral into a hurricane of our own ego and delusion. Which are we, the good ripple that touches everyone, or the wave that blindly destroys, never noticing the dance around them. I tell you now, those who spend a life in service of others will have riches far beyond that of any King of the dust. They will see people, and they will taste moments of truth. They will know how it feels to love, and they will know how it feels to love many, and they will know how it feels to become love, for their lives are service. When man comes to examine his life with absolute honesty, he will see that there was only ever one thing he wanted or needed, but the world had him pursuing something else because so few knew how to find it or where it comes from. Love is not an idea in the mind, but a feeling inside. It is the very energy of life. It IS live. Love, is what we are made from. Every man or woman that has ever suffered, has suffered from a lack of love. There is no pain a man cannot bear, if he has enough love. There is no treasure nor wine nor lustful desire or broken shadow of affection that can ever make up for what we lack in love, and yet there is an infinite and inexhaustible source. Love comes not from earthly material places or ideas in the mind. Love comes from above.

The situation of modern man on earth is like that of an ant wandering blindly through a house following his limited senses wherever they take him. After the crumbs of the floor and spillings from the dining table of the owner of that house he does chase, but in so doing he misses the honeypot which is tightly closed and which only the owner of the house can open. The ant is not troubled by this, because he is unaware that the owner of the house invited him in. Thus he acts like a thief, and is in a rush everywhere he goes looking for what he can gather before he is forced to depart (death). If only he realized that he was invited here, and rather than stealing asked what can he give his host in return. Because the ant has limited his view to only that which is immediately in front of him and to his apparent self interest, he does not see the honey that would be given freely if he would only present himself to the owner of this house and ask politely. Thus is the state of modern man. The earth is a very big house, and there are many beautiful and pleasurable items theirin, but the most beautiful of all is that which was placed inside of us. It is there we should look, to the place that only our very soul (consciousness) can perceive, beyond the physical body and the snares of this world - for there lies the true treasures, which are given only to those who seek them.

Where, is now. Where, not when. Understand this, and you understand the mind.

Do not try to be superior to those around you,  that intention could lead to death

I tried to save many people, and in trying to save them they saved me. It is through compassion for others, through trying to understand them on a deeper level, seeing their beauty through the faults, that we begin to understand the existence and complexity of a human soul. Those who never embark on that journey of compassion, of dedication to the well being of others, will never come to see themselves as any more than an idea in their mind. Their closest encounter with the spirit, is through spirits (alcohol, drugs). These may show him that he is not the ideas of his mind, but when the effect wears off he is still bound by the sickness within him. Cleanse your mind. That's where you live right now. Recover your soul, for that is what is living.

All you have to do to be rich, is to realize it.

If you dug up some roman artifacts would you consider them posessions. Would you be worried about losing them. No. Why then do you consider that which is around you your possesions. Not only will it become junk in time, but it is an artifact of human existence. It is not to be worshipped, fought for. It is to be used and let go of, just as your roman artifacts were. Imagine all the men collecting their precious riches in the times of old. Which of them lived better for it, and which lived in an idea. Would you go back in time to collect riches and sit in a castle, or to explore the earth and all of human consciousness in those times. Why then do we persist in making pretty nests today, as if our cave is where we should reside most of the time. The world is your home. Not to go there is a great tradgedy.

We were born rich. The entire earth is given to you for free. There is nothing to be owned, only experienced. Tasted. Do you enjoy the sound of a ferrari, or the man who thinks he can own that sound. Do you enjoy the beauty of a flower, or the man who thinks the garden is his. Do you enjoy the freedom of your mind, or the idea of freedom that was placed in your mind, to keep you enslaved in an idea of what it is to be, rather than to just be. If only we knew our inheritance, we would take it from those that would sell it to us

Strong criticism, delivered in a mean or heartless way, is like hitting a man on the head with a hammer. The power of love is infinitely more effective. Kind suggestions given with love and understanding, can accomplish wonders; mere fault finding accomplishes nothing. Judging oneself is the only profitable analysis

This world is abundantly beautiful and it takes no more work on your part or mine to make it so, but it takes constant work to realize it.

If the richest man in the world gets a call from his loved ones, what does he do. Does he say "that can wait, I'm enjoying my wealth right now", or does he answer the phone. If you understand what the answer to that question means, you ARE rich.

I can't convince people to do good things, but money can. This is to worship idols, instead of truth. This is why the world is as it is. Worship the truth, and we will all be set free

There are none higher than you but by realization