the path:

of supreme knowledge.


by jonathan francois douglas ohaly

CHAPTER 1 - A NEW BEGINNING

part 1 - the setting

philosophy begins when one learns to doubt - particularly to doubt one's cherished
beliefs, one's dogmas and one's axioms.
will durant

common sense is not so common.
voltaire


nothing makes any sense anymore.
nothings supposed to.
people who think they know things about spirituality usually dont.
everybody has issues.

what makes you tick?
everybodys got something.
you gotta.

can someone really turn the light switch on and have it left there?
probably not.
you cant be positive all the time.
sooner or later someones going to piss you off.

everythings relative.
someone may have had an experience that they read into too much
thinking that they have somehow pierced through into some magical
understanding that most others havent.
for that particular person their special experience may have truly
transformed them on one level or another propelling them to a higher state
of being and thought.
or at least one would like to think so.

the human ego has an infinite capacity for fooling itself.
we can all agree on that.

people can tell themselves almost anything.
people can lie to themselves.
most people probably do.
because what is reality?
everything is relative.
i dont live inside your head so maybe i cant really say.

whats your interpretation of it all?
we all know that life is infinitely diverse.
whats true for me may not mean anything for you.
life is a journey.

sometimes people obviously dont know what theyre talking about.
i saw this thing about a guru in india and they call him the grumpy guru.
i cant remember his name but hes got thousands and thousands of
followers because hes probably part of a succession of enlightened
masters who have passed down the great secret of enlightenment to each
other.
but hes always grumpy and yelling at people.
i mean its pretty obvious to me that thats not enlightenment.
but to other people they are convinced that serving this man will be fruitful
for them spiritually.

sometimes people have fooled themselves to such a great degree that it
is so painfully obvious to everyone else that they are dwelling completely
under a dark cloud of their own choosing and no one can figure out how to
reach that person.
you cant shake that person and wake them up, you cant talk to them and
if you do you will probably make them angry and just have them distance
themselves off from you even further.
somehow you have to hope that whatever knot they have gotten
themselves into will just unravel itself.

i believe in enlightenment.

i believe that inside everyone is a great knot, that everyone in fact is a knot,
or better yet a great series of knots totalling a huge knot, that people are
totally defined on every level by their ignorance, by their opposition to god,
by god as an energy force, not as a fable but by the cosmic energy that
comprises everything in this universe.

and if you look at someone you can see and read their energy matrix and
you can see the various knots combining to prevent that person from letting
go and flowing with cosmic energy totally and freely.

i believe that people who are so knotted up inside their own heads are
unable to truly see reality.

we shouldnt think that we can somehow magically unwind someone else
or even help them to unwind themselves.

people have their own destiny and people forge their own paths through life
and the universe.

maybe you are helping the universe.

by being positive. and thats all you can really do.



part 2 - the art

what is the first business of one who studies...
to part with self conceit.
for it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.
epictetus (55-135)

for man, the unexamined life is not worth living.
socrates


what if you can accomplish more by doing nothing?
what if god is trying to talk to you, trying to nudge you in the right direction
constantly but you are just too loud to see the signs?
what if you, as an individual, dont have the necessary information available
to you to make the correct choices all of the time?

you cant see the big picture.
and you could be making wrong decisions because of it.
the universe can see what you cant.
but youre not listening.
youre screaming loudly, NO. THIS IS WHAT I WANT!
trying to drown out the constant background noise you cant harmonize
yourself with.

what if you just laid down your arms and surrendered?
thinking of doing this might make you become fearful.
we have forged our own identities and we are scared of losing them.
really its a form of dying.

we need to peel off the outer layers of ourselves and see what remains.

its not about what you have become but instead about who you are.

we have an eternal identity that we really only ever run from.



part 3 - a higher destiny

happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness
chuang tzu

philosophy subverts man's satisfaction with himself,
exposes custom as a questionable dream,
and offers not so much solutions as a different life.
walter kaufmann


so we are knotted up in our own selfish false ideas about ourselves and the
world and we cant therefore harmonize ourselves with universal energy
and intelligence because of it.

we are not thinking with the great mind letting the universe and fate guide
us to true purpose, destiny, and contentment.

even as spiritual beings we remain in disharmony not grasping a true
understanding of things.

we overexert ourselves and things by trying too hard still to accomplish
things that either arent meant to be accomplished or else have absolutely
no reason to.

the point being that there is a higher calling.

there is a higher mind.

one day you will have to surrender because there is no choice.
some people have had to surrender themselves to the forces of fate and
circumstance.
some of us usually because of sickness and illness have lost ourselves so
to speak only to find ourselves despite it all in a new and improved spiritual
state of thinking and being.

however with all experiences even transcendental ones the effects, the
feelings, the understandings are not of an eternal nature.
the experience of enlightenment may transform someone, may effect
someone until they die, but the true secret of enlightenment is that it is a
practice.

the moment of enlightenment which is the eternal moment of union with all
things is the moment that we should seek to always exist in.
and we can enter this idea only by constantly surrendering to things, to the
true current of life.

many people have experienced enlightenment but few are actually
experiencing it.



part 4 - the inclination

do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
ralph waldo emerson

if we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall
never begin.
ivan turgenev


it all can get awfully complicated.
surrendering.

obviously we can do nothing for awhile but sooner or later we must do
something.
one question is do we utilize our gifts and talents or do we seek to
accomplish to things that we perhaps arent best suited to?
what if we are all equally gifted and capable but only some have been
fortunate enough to follow and grow into their own inherent ability?

what if you have a natural inclination towards growing into your own
capabilities?
life is trying to pull you into that direction.
doing nothing, practicing surrender then in this light is giving into your own
destiny, is growing into your true self.
most of us have been too busy throughout our lives to ever have really
spent time listening.

when we practice surrendering then we keep bringing ourselves back to the
beginning point.
we let things happen for us more than we try to force things to.
its a completely different perspective.
you will accomplish way more by surrendering and letting yourself flow with
life.
lifes current will gently nudge you downstream to heaven and true
enlightenment.

we wait for things and paths to open up for us.
we know if one is right even if later on down the road we would think no it
wasnt.
we learn through trial and error to correctly make the best and most
enlightened choices in life.
its like surfing or writing, sooner or later we can get ourselves into the
groove where everything is just flowing on an almost super conscious level.

connecting to your true self on a fundamental level is a practice and an art
form.
at first it sounds difficult if not impossible but sooner or later you will realize
and see the true beauty of things.



part 5 - composure

it is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
ursula le guin

talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you.
malcolm cowley


consider this, a life without expectation.
imagine being happy with almost whatever happens in life.
this is the path.

since i have put more focus into following life instead of trying to push my
way through it, trying to wish that things would happen how i thought i
wanted them to, my life has improved a hundred fold.

you may think that, oh if i relax and try to experiment with this kind of
thinking, everything in my life could fall apart, i could lose my job, my kids
could be out on the street, etc., etc.

more likely life and the universe is trying to reveal something to you that
may improve your life in a small way leading to more and more comfort and
security for you and your family not the opposite.
there is nothing that life wants more then to see children healthy, well taken
care of, and ready (educated) to make their own way in the world.

if you have no dependents, if you have an extremely stressful or unhealthy
job or lifestyle then you may indeed feel the forces of life wanting to uproot
you and plant you somewhere else.
this is probably something you feel already even without considering the
philosophy set out in this book.

god, life, nature, the mighty universe, however you may picture the energy
of creation that encompasses everything is a force of pure love and wishes
that same thing upon you.
if your thinking that making money means more then knowledge and
contentment, more than knowledge which is the love of understanding what
love has created and why, well?
youre wrong.
you dont need to adhere to the principles that i have set forth.
that most philosophy has set forth.
but its still going to buzz around in your head and trying to force yourself to
ignore it is just going to continue to make your life difficult.

if we were had to hand over ownership of the world to someone who would
we choose?
most likely someone who not only had the ability to assume such a large
responsibility with skill and compassion but also someone who could
handle such a task un egotistically.
someone who could remain humble and speak to and treat all people as
equals.

this is what the universe is telling you.
it can hand over the keys to you, the powers of divinity, even of wealth,
fame, and power, but you arent ready because you will probably crash the
car.
you need to follow life in all instances through joy and hardship knowing
that life is tempering your soul and teaching you to finally attain to the
humility and knowledge that will ultimately lead you to true inner peace.

and maybe even wealth.
when you have absolutely no desire for something you can be potentially
on the verge of uncovering it for yourself.
inner peace trumps everything else.
because when you have gained inner peace then you realize that you
would really be no happier whether you were living in a mansion or a tent
trailer.
and when you reach that point life may start bestowing things upon you.



part 6 - the transition point

know yourself and you will win all battles.
sun tzu

the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
nelson mandela


sometimes we may feel like we already have a calling in life and we have
spent so much time and put so much energy into our goals and aspirations
that just giving up on those things would seem to be extremely sad,
pointless and even insane.

maybe you do have a calling to achieve to something?
maybe, as well, you have allowed your ego to become completely
intertwined and infused in your goals and aspirations.
in the rewards, in the pride, in fear, in doubt, in short, in the imagination
which is the domain of the ego.

consider this as well, in any artform, and well refer to almost anything in life
as being an artform, one must eventually transition from becoming to being.
people get so wrapped up in trying to achieve to some great skill or ability
that they miss the jumping off point or they dont see it off in the horizon in
the first place.

to truly be one with art is to do so effortlessly.

the human ego will turn everything into an effort.
it will make one over confident when one shouldnt be and under confident
when one conversely should be.

the human ego is imagination.
it is not reality.
the human ego is such an amazing tool that it is no wonder that spirits who
enter this world unknowing become so absolutely lost in its faculties for
endless pondering and bewilderment.

you will never truly achieve to true greatness without giving into life and the
path it has laid out before you.

many people obviously who do not walk this path become very successful.
are any of these people inherently happier than most of us.
no.
because inner peace is ultimately more important than anything else and
inner peace is not dependent on external conditions.
if life is throwing you out on a roller coaster ride it is only trying to teach you
to be strong in this truth.

if you find enjoyment in the skills and abilities that you have developed
before walking this path after attaining to it then maybe you truly are called
to it and are a true master.

in short you can not become a master of an art, of a skill, of a set of skills,
until you can completely forget about it all, until you can completely let
those things go.

its like if you were a seed and you are ready to germinate now on the great
path of life.
the time to ponder over and fantasize about what kind of tree you could
become how tall you would grow to or how delightful your fruits would be is
over.

now you must just sprout and let life guide you without any expectation.



part 7 - being

if you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to... there is nothing you cannot achieve.
lao tzu

we must never cease from exploration.
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place
for the first time
t s eliot


in the last section we talked a bit about the difference between being and
becoming.
having true confidence in yourself is knowing.

when you have mastered something you proceed to excel in that field of
thought or being without doubt.
there is not even a minute amount of under confidence or over confidence
involved.
there is really just knowing and being one with your art.
whether your art is one the outside world would notice or appreciate is
besides the point.

there is just balance.

your art may progress, it may change, it may even evolve but it never really
gets any better.
it just is.
you find joy knowing and watching others develop themselves to the same
capacity.
there is never jealousy.

commercial success means absolutely nothing.
its almost a bother really.
you almost feel like you messed up and made something too accessible.
this is being.

becoming is different.
when you are still blooming into something then you invariably still have
doubts about yourself.
you may measure yourself and your pursuit of excellence by the amount of
success you have attained to.
you may feel a bit jealous when confronted with others who are attaining to
more notice then you are.

unless you are becoming something from a state of being.
which is slightly different but can still be challenging.

becoming a master of an art takes effort.
being a master means that there is none at all, at no time, de nada.

someone wanting to become a master must train and study.
this person must push themselves through everything against all odds
especially past the public at larges disbelief in their own and almost
everyone elses inherent genius.

you are not one of the greats! you are like us, average! the world of man
screams at all times.
mediocrity assaults one from all angles.
it starts when we are first born and is drilled into our heads constantly.

becoming a master is not where our ego tricks itself into being way too over
confident about itself and its capabilities.
its knowing.
and its silence.

mastery is a natural process that progresses from first becoming to
overcoming becoming something.
from first progressing upon a path to reaching the end of that path knowing
that one has traversed the entirety.

being meaning that one has mastered the human ego.

the final roadblock that rests between you and truly mastering anything.

the human ego is a tool, it is a reality, it is an amazing thing but it is not you
at the most innermost level, you have a separate identity.
you are simply awareness.

imagine that the human ego is like your faithful companion maybe your
horse.
youre unconscious, blindfolded, and tied to your horse.
your horse is probably, well it is, just running around in circles feeding itself
on grass wondering if youre ok.
not quite the same because you are the horse in a sense.

your imagination is running you around in circles or what ifs and if onlys.
and you may be totally lost inside of it.
you must become the master of your imagination.
and this is why in the pursuit of mastering any art mastering yourself
becomes a necessary and most often the final step.

being versus becoming in this light means surrender.
mastering surrendering or remaining present.
as a master.
of your self.

mastering an art which is admirable but means nothing next to mastering
yourself.
and in the end we see that pursuing excellence in one field or another was
simply just a metaphor preparing us for what we really must confront in life
eventually.

in the aftermath of it all we see art as a tool to reach people on one level or
another.
as a way to try to bring people up out of the doldrums of their own
perceived paralyzed state and self removal from, stemming ultimately from
fear, from their fear of, reality.
see this is what we are capable of.

when one has mastered the ego then almost anything is possible.
one can begin to approach life from a state of being which is opposite to
that which we have called, becoming.
we begin to learn how to flow with life more and more effectively.



part 8 - here and there

what I dream of is an art of balance,
of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter -
a soothing, calming influence on the mind,
rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
henri matisse

treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is.
treat him as he could be, and he will become what he should be.
jimmy johnson


mastering an art can be like the dress rehearsal before the big show.
in the end it brings us face to face with the hugest obstacle involved in our
long journey, ourselves.
we now must master the forces that forge our own identity.

we must fight to find a balance in life.
between being and non being.
between listening and talking.
balance is essential in all areas of living.

people who can find balance can excel effortlessly through life almost
coasting downhill with their hands waving in the air.
people who cant find balance.
well we know how hard life is for some people.

the question of balance enters every single human equation and is most
often overlooked.
whether between oneself and the inanimate world, between two individuals
or large groups of people such as nation states there is always a balancing
point, a meeting point, a point of equilibrium.
the great scales of justice will be satisfied in the end.

nature is the perfect example of balance in action.
life and death.
night and day.
male and female.
opposite things acting in unison create perfection.

humans have trouble finding balance because they are selfish.
being selfish in life will send you spinning out of equilibrium.

in the end when you pass away and face yourself you will judge your life
from a point of supreme balance.
you will either choose to see your self, your mind and your memories
burned out of your self back to a point of purity so you can enter life again
or you will glide effortlessly across the great river of life to heaven itself.

depending on the guilt you feel about being selfish in life and causing
disharmony in the world.
being balanced is everything.
if we wish to be enlightened, if we seek to be one with life, nature, god, the
great universe, etc. then we must first and foremost embrace balance.

there is nothing worse in the world then not being able to find harmony in
life.
eventually imbalance causes disease.
being balanced mentally means more to being healthy than any other
single factor.
you know that you are balanced when you are content and happy.

physically there are many things you can do to be healthy and they are all
vital and important for yourself and the outside world.
and all of those things can also weigh in on your mental health.
however it does not matter how healthy you are physically, how much you
exercise or how much organic food you eat, if you are not content spiritually
then you are probably not really that healthy.

contentment, balance, and the mental attitude of positivity that seeking
balance produces are the true keys to a long and meaningful life.



part 9 - the current

our greatest battles are with our own minds.
jameson frank

right is right, even if everyone is against it;
and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
william penn


inner peace, inner balance.
enlightenment, self mastery.
so far we have touched upon some pretty big concepts.

we have talked about surrendering, letting go, letting ourselves be guided
by life instead of trying to push our way through it selfishly.
this means having trust in the forces of life and creation, in god.

imagine that life is a river.
imagine just floating downstream rather than wailing around trying to swim
upstream until you get exhausted then losing ground downstream being
angry that you did finding the journey difficult and tiring at almost all times.
this is the perfect metaphor for the journey that we all are forced to
participate in, life, being alive.

life can be easy or hard and sometimes it is just a matter of perspective.
sometimes obviously we know this but we get ourselves stuck in an
emotional rut and we have a hard time climbing our way out of it.

for people who first begin upon the spiritual journey life can become hard.
for most people emotional difficulty is externalized.
maybe they shouldnt of gotten mad or angry but someone or something
caused them to be, its not really a big deal, it happens to everyone, yada,
yada, yada.
most people dont really think about it all.
peoples brains can circle around meaningless issues for hours causing
them turmoil and thats just the way it is.

for the spiritual seeker however the emotional problems that can grip any of
us so tightly start to become more and more internalized as they continue
to embrace spirituality.
the spiritual seeker confronts the great figures of the past.
people like the buddha.
the spiritual seeker confronts enlightenment.
and perfection.

as seekers we know that anger is always self defeating and unnecessary
and the fact that we continue to get angry can cause us so much pain.
as our time on the spiritual path lengthens we start to feel like we should of
defeated some of these inner demons that continue to haunt us.
we may feel like weve finally found something inside of ourselves because
weve been peaceful for awhile and then something like an outburst of
anger will make us feel like weve learned nothing, that we are incapable
and unworthy, that things are pointless.

often times i think that the confusion rests in philosophical
misunderstanding.
think about it this way.

we are visitors to this planet.
your physical body is nothing more than a vehicle.
it is an animal.
think of it as a horse.

imagine that you r on a moody, very poorly trained horse that keeps trying
to buck you off because it feels that you are a bit of a bother and youve
never taken the time to introduce yourself properly.
and on top of that you are always saying grumpy, hateful things to it.
sure your horse doesnt speak english but it knows what youre getting at
by your tone of voice.

your physical body wants you to be firm, patient, loving.
it wants you to explain things to it.
it wants you to take charge of things, it doesnt want to be told to run off on
its own and then berated because it didnt know where it was going!
or because it went where it felt at home, where it was used to going, where
you asked it to go but then hate yourself later on because you went there
again.

the physical universe is one of rhythm, of seasons, of cycles.
people are creatures of habit.

if you are training an animal you must be patient, loving, and firm with it.
you must gently bring it back over and over again until it has learned to
develop new habits.
when it cooperates then you reward it so it knows on an intuitive level what
is expected of it.

you must develop better habits.
you must learn to communicate with yourself on a physical level.
you must step forth and announce yourself to the planet.
you physical self longs for you to take the reins of this situation.
it is a creation created to fully facilitate this journey!

when you understand this philosophical point then things start to become
easier.
and patience is obviously key.



part 10 - the mood

shoot for the moon.
even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
les brown

we need men who can dream of things that never were.
john f kennedy


if we can train ourselves to develop better habits and cultivate healthy
living.
the thing that people fail to understand, the main stumbling block, is that
were not stepping up to tell ourselves, to convincingly reassure ourselves
that, hey! everything is going to be alright.
sounds overly simplistic.
but how much time do we spend stressing over things that we either know
will sort themselves out, 90 percent of the time, or that we are completely
powerless over anyways.

as we all know the world can be a crazy place.
the only logical step when confronted with the multitude of possible
scenarios, with all of the variables of life is to stand up to it all.
we must take the mass of unknowns, place it all before us, as one giant
monster united, existing only to cause us fear and teach us strength and
look directly into its eyes without quivering.
i dont care anymore, im not going to keep being stressed out, i can
handle whatever life is going to throw at me.

we must desire sanity.
how do we seek it if we dont believe it.
people have told me, how can i believe in that, how can i believe in
enlightenment when ive never experienced it.
good question.

who wants to spend the next ten, twenty years chasing something that may
or may not exist?

most people dont believe in things that cant be scientifically explained.
(unless corporations tell them that things have been scientifically explained,
even when they havent.)
and when people do let their minds wander over to the spiritual side of
things they usually go way overboard and embrace either something
so incredibly out there or else something that has become so overly
complicated making one wonder how they will benefit themselves in any
measure.

the method laid out in this writing is incredibly simple.
spirituality is incredibly simple.
the processes of being, of becoming enlightened are ditto, not complicated
at all.

the main ingredient, bravery, is however, apparently, the hardest thing for
people at large to consider.

some people enjoy puzzling over things.
everything in life is extremely complicated.
especially the most simple things.
being healthy is complicated!
people like this who embrace spirituality like to think of it as it must be the
most complicated thing in the world.
higher consciousness is this huge rubiks cube that they will figure out.

obviously some people do figure it out.
usually it involves years of trying to figure it all out until finally your brain
totally gives up on itself and you are left free to take that leap into the great
ocean of all consciousness.

some people seem to just get spirituality.
im not entirely sure.
i was one of those i can figure anything out, im going to figure out
enlightenment people.
maybe everyone has to figure it out, in one way or another.
were all born into physical thought and we all have to re pattern ourselves
to think and exist on a different, higher level of functioning.

spirituality in this light is like a chess game that the ego and the soul play
with each other.
and like any monumental game of strategy patience is key.
and focus.
we must come to seriously PLAY.
we cant make a half thought out move and then leave the game for a
couple of weeks.

eventually in the end the ego bows out gracefully, congratulations you
have won monsieur and are rightly crowned champion!
spiritual thinking in this light entails no pressure, no anguish, no frustration.
the game will take as long as the game will take and any one who has
seriously walked the path to higher consciousness would wholeheartedly
agree.
like i said before you need to really play the game though.
you must participate in it.

it takes time and this is why many people wait until they have a good bit of
free time in their lives before they start to fully dedicate themselves to the
path.



part 11 - function

we cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it.
yet our opinions have no permanence;
like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
zhuangzi

the creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
ralph waldo emerson


spirituality of course is in the world often, like everything else, seriously
misunderstood.
spiritual terms as well, well name any, god, enlightenment, higher
consciousness, being, ditto.

the term enlightenment causes so much confusion and many people
seem to have a serious opinion about it all without even claiming to have
experienced anything like it.
most people of course equate the idea of enlightenment with being perfect.
other people, unfamiliar with spiritual philosophy generally ie. buddhist,
would equate it more with some form of social awakening.
i am not like the sheeple, i am enlightened, i can see through what
confuses them.

being enlightened does involve social awakening on a very fundamental
level but i feel it goes deeper than what a lot of people would realize.
because people dont realize how deep the conditioning is.
how deeply mortal thought covers us.
enlightenment is a total revolution of thinking and thought on the very
deepest level of your innermost self.
it is reconnecting to your eternal existence before you die.
the enlightened are effectively reborn.
enlightenment is so foreign to the average mind that there is absolutely no
way, until you have experienced it, for you to form an opinion about it.

people are herd animals.
think about herd mentality.
think about collective or shared consciousness.
a lot of people cant accept that the herd may be fundamentally headed in
the wrong direction.
many people have awakened to one degree or another and the insight they
have gained because of it forms a large part of their social identity.

basically there is a cloud that covers us all at all times and this can be
called, herd mentality.
most people whether they like it or not are completely bound by the forces
of time.
it doesnt matter what the herd thought before, who knows anyway?
the herd is headed in this direction and i am too.
sure there are grumpy cattle running near the back of the herd thinking, im
depressed, none of this makes any sense, maybe i should be in charge,
hey were going the wrong way!

some people have doubts and may think of themselves as being smarter
than most but for all intents and purposes they still fully exist within the
framework of the herd.
because the herd doesnt just encompass republicans, and democrats,
but people who dont vote, anarchists, commies, christians and muslims,
africans, canadians, basically everyone.

how do we escape from this all encompassing cloud?
i mean it does exist and influence us on every level.
people think the same things often at the same time.
i will be thinking about ice cream and the guy im working with will be
like, hey i could use an ice cream.
people dont really see the big picture.
you only see and converse with your own little pack of cows running along
in the midst of the mass exodus of humanity.
we think these things, were unique, this is our little clique!

many people when confronted with the spiritual journey will seek absolute
removal from humanity and society so that they may pierce through the
cloud that they have been formed under.
to finally see clearly and escape from the madness that they see all around
them.

people are called to spirituality, they always have been.
it is so easy to belittle something that you dont understand.
to put down people who are going through something you havent.

other people who have not experienced the journey but still may harbour
more of an open mind towards things, or else may know on some level that
they are destined to take that journey someday, but just not yet.
can we fully walk the path of spiritual insight and enlightenment while still
performing our daily duties, still doing what is necessary, things like taking
care of our dependents?

obviously this is a question that many great spiritual thinkers, including the
buddha himself have struggled with.
most of the stories we have concerning the great spiritual minds makes it
crystal clear that they involved themselves in a definite and definitive period
of solitary existence.
study shamanic lore and history and we are faced with the exact same
thing.

great spiritual minds are solitary creatures, maybe not always, but they
were for long periods of time, and that fact defines them more than
anything else.

its almost as if we have to climb to the mountain top ourselves not quite
being absolutely sure that any have really survived this climb.
we need to sit for awhile and watch the herd, have time to think for
ourselves for once, we need to remove ourselves completely from the
opinions of the day and confront eternity.

enlightenment is not perfection.
perfection does not exist.
being enlightened is not always easy.
it has its own challenges.
learning always continues.
trying to help people in the world when many would react with anger, even
those closest to you, for even addressing the topic of enlightenment.
people want to react like, hey look at this guy he thinks hes better than us
lets say bad things about him!

i dont think that im better than anyone.
the thought has never crossed my mind.
we each have our own journey in life.
this is mine.
i have been lucky but at the same time i dedicated my life to this
wholeheartedly when others dedicated their lives to other things.

the spiritual journey can be difficult.
there is a lot of misinformation in the world.
i, unfortunately for the haters, do know what i am talking about.
i am not perfect and i dont think you should worry too much about being
perfect either.

the worst thing that one can do is to pretend that theyre perfect when
theyre not.
thinking youre perfect will bring you bad karma.

maybe perfection is like jumping as high as you can.
you can always jump higher.
you can always train and continue to push the bar.
of course we always need to do the best we can and become better and
better people.

in short enlightenment is about as different from normal thinking, from
thinking defined by time and circumstance, by physical existence, by herd
consciousness, as sleeping is from being awake.
and thats all you need to really understand.



part 12 - the mural

in the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.
buddha

all who have accomplished great things have had a great aim,
have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high,
one which sometimes seemed impossible.
orison swett marden


there must be answers out there.
of course its easier to think that there arent.
or to place our faith in a person or a philosophy.
someone else has figured this all out, ill just do what they say.

its almost like choosing which clothes to wear.
what we believe when it comes to spirituality becomes an extension of
ourselves and our chosen identities.
almost like accessorising our personality.
im reading the torah, the bible is like so last year

theres probably some spiritual extension or other maybe floating around
your social circle and that will probably be the one you hook onto.

im not going to go to put down what you believe in or what you feel helps
you sort through things.

think about this though.
when we think about creation, when we think about god, then we are
thinking about something that is not finite.
with rational things you can sort through them and make rational decisions
about what you believe.
with spiritual philosophy its much harder.
for example you may find someone who is saying, what you feel is, the
opposite of what i am saying.
but what you might not realize is that we are saying the same thing.

spirituality is like art, say like painting.
there are millions of ways to paint a picture.
art like spirituality is not finite.
theres no right way to paint a picture.
you shouldnt just be into only looking at picassos.
its better to appreciate art in its never ending multitude of timeless
expression.

religion, spiritual philosophy, the myriad forms of worship and thought that
we find around the world should be seen in the exact same light.
the great founders of the great spiritual disciplines thought this way.
we seek to create an art form to try to explain and show people the divine
principle that exists in all of us.

(like every snowflake is completely different so is everyones spirituality.)

consider this as well.
to reach to higher consciousness, to enlightenment, then you too must
become a painter, or an artist of spirituality.
staring at what someone else did with the canvas of infinite possibility is
only going to get you so far.
you must seek to present your own version of it all.

because we must teach people to paint not just stare at paintings.



part 13 - the background music

to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting
myself and now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,
while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
sir isaac newton

i never saw a pessimistic general win a battle
e e cummings


we must learn to paint our own pictures, we must paint our own journey on
the empty infinite canvasses of our own souls.
who really knows who got what in the past.
it doesnt really matter.
it doesnt really matter what i get or dont get.
the intent is to make you think about these things.

from your perspective the buddha wasnt any more right than the christ.
because you must be right in your own heart.
nothing means anything to you now.
its all background music.



part 14 - the power

when you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
wayne dyer

a person does not have to be behind bars to be a prisoner.
people can be prisoners of their own concepts and ideas.
they can be slaves to their own selves.
maharaji


how beautiful is life really?
how do people get so absolutely confused by it all finding things difficult at
almost all times?

people become lost inside of illusions of their own design.
people unable to tap into their own inherent force and finally find true
solace look outside of themselves for comfort and purpose.

people are always externalizing everything.
if i had this or that in my life.
if i didnt have this or that in my life, then everything would be fine.

sometimes life throws things at us that are so difficult to deal with that even
the most enlightened amongst us would quiver at the force of it all.

we may have someone that we are forced to deal with and no matter how
hard we try to be harmonious with that person we finally begin to feel like
harmony will never exist.
lets be honest sometimes it just isnt possible to reach an agreement with
someone.
it doesnt matter how spiritual, forgiving, loving and balanced we can
become in many instances it will still be impossible for us to interact with
some people as equals.

in fact unfortunately many times the exact opposite is more true.
the more loving and forgiving we are with some people the more these
people will think that they can take advantage of us and use us for their
own selfish purposes.
however vain, extremely insane, and simplistic those selfish purposes
seem to us.

often times just the simple act of becoming spiritual will set us up to be
taken advantage of by more materialistic minded people.
some people find spirituality extremely hilarious.
people like this in your life may feel like you have just entered a saturday
night live like scripted screenplay of life or something.
hes doing what? meditating? hahahaha.

obviously as we talked about earlier, in walking the spiritual path it is best
to ultimately distance ourselves, if we can, from people who bring negativity
into our lives.
a little bit of humour or well meant criticism can be extremely useful to us
as spiritual beings.
however there is a line that people cross and we know when people are
regularly crossing this line.

people are habitual creatures and the people who occupy our lives whether
they are negative or positive people can be just as hard for us to dismiss,
or harder, as other habitual patterns that grip people like, drugs.

we feel, correctly or incorrectly, maybe time will tell, that the wisdom and
insight that is infusing our lives should be shared with the people who are
closest to us.
that they will benefit and want to elevate themselves as well.
sometimes you cant help somebody change because they are stuck in
some sort of a rut and being in a rut, well its pretty dark in a rut, they cant
see that sad fact.

obviously we must find inner peace and if there are people in our lives
that we must deal with who aim, who really knows why, to bring forth
disharmony then we must be at peace with that.

we must remain true to the ideals of spirituality and our true selves namely
love and compassion.

we must truly realize that inner peace comes from within and that no
outside force should really be capable of disrupting that force if we are truly
walking the path of higher thought and enlightenment.

in short we must forgive people as well even if they dont deserve it.
we must find strength in being right and righteous and not worry whether
other people are ever able to see that in ourselves.



part 15 - harmony

all living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or
pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.
george santayana

soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and
abstractions.
simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego.
not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been
withdrawn.
the sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and
strange pain, like a memory of paradise.
after that day, we become seekers.
peter matthiessen


we must find strength in ourselves.
even when surrounded by doubt and suspicion we need to be strong about
who we are.
of course provided we have reason to be, sure of ourselves, righteous.

true enlightenment is an impregnable fortress of inner peace.
you should truly be able to sit with someone who thinks that everything
you think is completely delusional and you should be able to be completely
peaceful and friendly to that person at all times.

there must be understanding.
people cant really completely believe in what youve been through because
they havent been through it themselves.

there must be respect.
people are limited in all ways by what they have been allowed to or, by the
same token, allowed themselves to experience in life.
you can not let yourself be affected, mentally and spiritually, by other
peoples ignorance.

sometimes speaking strongly to someone with great conviction might
indeed help them open up a little and consider a point of view that they had
hitherto been close off towards.
however there is a huge difference between speaking with conviction and
being angry.
some people of course are very defensive and like to feel that you are
virtually assaulting them if you speak to them in any manner, pointing out
anything that they may choose to perceive as being different to how they
think.

we need to be firm with our children for example but never angry.
some parents do not guide there children through life, to have good habits,
but instead get angry at them continuously after the fact even though their
children have only been demonstrating the habits that they have been led
to develop, in essence by not being led.

life is balance, the secret to being able to find balance constantly even after
being thrown down is in the rhythm.
ultimately people without rhythm arent our enemies unless we start treating
them as such.
yes people without rhythm can be very dangerous.
being enlightened means being at peace with the world so first and
foremost it is our job to harmonize our lives with our surroundings.

if your surroundings, if the person you are in a relationship with, if your
family or friends are, you feel, making it nearly impossible for you to find
harmony in the world, well then, what do you want me to say, you may
need to move on.
being alone, being in a new environment, being by yourself may be difficult
at first but you will get used to it.
later when you have found harmony in yourself by all means return to the
places you have been and look at things from your new, more conscious
perspective on life.


part 16 - confronting comfort (to find comfort)

the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.
marcel proust

behold the turtle. he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
james conant



we must continue to look at life.
the journey never really ends.
we must continue to rise and rise again.

life is good or bad, easy or difficult and its often times all just a matter of
perspective.
you may hate your job for instance but someone else would be like, wow,
this job is awesome!

sometimes things are fun because there new and youre learning but then
after a while the things you must do everyday start to become repetitive.
and boring.

maybe some people crave order more than others.
they want their lives to be totally predictable.

other people need, at least a little, chaos in their lives.
people may get sick of the constant uncertainty in their lives but they
almost unconsciously keep creating it for themselves because it is the
environment that they thrive in.

some people need to be challenged and when life isnt challenging enough
for them then they start to begin to feel stifled and imprisoned by it all.
people can lash out at the things in their life that they, fairly or often
unfairly, feel to be holding them back.

people can ruin their relationships, careers, families, their own lives in the
process.

sometimes we need order in our lives, sometimes we need the opposite.

what is the purpose of social organization except to promote order?
what if we feel for example that one of the apparatuses of social
organization is essentially flawed in its design and implementation?

when really looking at life its really hard to not feel this way.
lets face it: people are starving, the economy is collapsing, we cant afford
healthcare, children are killing each other, divorce rates continue to rise.
is this the best that we can do as people?

look at healthcare and how we are increasing just really slaves to
corporate, pharmaceutical, propaganda.
theres a war going on out there that most are unaware of and almost all of
us have lost loved ones in the struggle.

look at people.
the average person is overweight and unhealthy.

look at relationships.
the number one way that human beings attempt to inject order into their
lives.
people have decided that owning someone else while at the same time
being owned by someone else must be the most advantageous way to live
their lives.

when in rome do as the romans.
and in that light maybe it is the best way to live.
some peoples lives depend entirely on how society would view them.
public image is everything.
your promotion, getting elected into office, everything could depend on
having a wife or husband.

for most people however being in a relationship is just another way they
seek to shield themselves from the all encompassing chaos and impending
doom that keeps knocking on their doors.

like in healthcare, people, even if it kills them, find comfort in believing that
they can have complete faith in the medical system as is.
you could tell them about something new that will soon be embraced by
healthcare professionals, like the importance of vitamin d, and people will
pretend to be mildly interested.

they will invariably look up health canadas vitamin d recommendations.
and even though it is 1/20 th. of what scientists who are studying the effect
of the sun on our skins say we need to maintain critical living systems they
feel 100% secure in their suspicions of it all.
health canada is actively promoting disease and cancer in canada and how
many people bat an eye at it all?
not many.

essentially were getting back into thinking about herd mentality.
were confronting the sheeple once more.
how absolutely blind are people?
and all of it is tied to peoples true spiritual status.

progressing along the spiritual path involves always confronting the
unknown.

mentally people have become habituated with themselves and their
thinking patterns, their ideas and illusions about who they are, how they
fit in the grand framework of it all and they find comfort in thinking that
everyone essentially is in the same boat.
habituated not usually having much to do with how efficiently they are
operating in life.
the ego will justify it all, it has to just to keep the human being sane.
at this level the ego is acting as a survival mechanism while the spirit
sleeps.

how will we truly find ourselves if we dont make the commitment to truly
challenge everything that we can?
everything that we think, everything that we think we know about life on this
planet.

if you are not ready to start to begin to walk in a different direction than the
masses of humanity would then by all means dont.

most people will just completely write off the spiritual path in their own
minds as being a hoax and a product of delusional thinking in order to
justify mediocrity.

maybe find comfort in being on the cutting edge of thinking and living.
this is true comfort.



part 17 - interlude 1

better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
chinese proverb

some complain that roses have thorns others rejoice that thorns have roses!
author unknown



what truly challenges us in life?
the simple things?
the difficult ones?

growing can be hard.
but is it better to grow or is it better instead to feel as if youre almost
wasting away so firmly locked up like you might be in the idea of not
growing, in stagnating?

none of us really want life to be too hard.
it would be nice to not wonder whether you were going to be able to pay
your rent or mortgage next month and have a place to live.

we know that if you dont use your muscles then they can start to waste
away and you will be restless.
people can think, that sounds like such hard work, i would rather do
something more relaxing!
but unless you work yourself then you wont relax.
you will be stressed out, your heart will almost be trying to exercise itself
without your participation.

one of the most vital questions in human activity of course is that of
balance.
and as in the above example, which is the perfect example, the balancing
point is found in between work and rest.
if we work hard we can really let go and relax.
too much of one or the other and life becomes imbalanced and difficult.

just as vital to ourselves and our health as physical health is, is mental
health.
and really the brain is a physical instrument in the same way your legs are.
if you dont exercise your legs then as you get older especially they will
become brittle, break easily, and not cooperate with you very well.

keeping your brain in shape is maybe even more important.
essentially you need to keep learning.
if you dont love learning, if you dont love growing then you are essentially
dying.

many people reach a certain age and make the decision to retire, if they
can.
youve been doing the same thing maybe for a long time and who can
blame you for wanting to do something else.
sometimes however retirement can kill a person.

work although maybe somewhat repetitive could be keeping a person
mentally and physically active to a degree that they are unable to match in
retirement.
its not just the work you do, its all the other things combined as well like
interacting with people, or co workers which can provide other challenges.
even for some its just the simple fact that they actually had something that
they needed to do.
the inactivity creeps in and people are thrown so far off balance that many
have neither the will or wisdom to realign themselves.

dont get me wrong not working can be awesome.
the key though is to continue working.
physically and mentally we must push ourselves to stay in shape.



part 18 - blowing in the wind

to be satisfied with a little, is the greatest wisdom;
and he that increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares;
but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not.
akhenaton

when written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters.
one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
john f. kennedy



happiness indeed stems from spiritual health.
spiritual health isnt referring to something abstract that most people
have serious doubts as to whether it should be referred to at all
because spiritually we may not exist.
spiritual health encompasses the totality of ourselves physically and
mentally.
to think that you are spiritual but at the same time you allow your physical
vehicle to continue to be run into the ground would suggest that you are at
least a little confused.

things weigh in on other things when were considering the living totality of
what the human being is.
if we wish to be, by and large, happy and content, then there are a lot of
things we must consider and think about and this book will obviously not be
able to touch on all of them.

also consider that unlocking higher consciousness in each of us is like
assembling a huge jigsaw puzzle that will sometimes reset itself forcing you
to try to quickly put a new puzzle together.
each us has a different puzzle.
i cant even really see yours.
i cant be like move that piece over there!

the first time is the hardest.
after that it gets easier.
remember the first time you reach towards higher being you are not
completely 100% sure you are attempting to attain to something that even
exists.

you must learn to be balanced in life so eventually you can help others.
life will keep testing you and pushing you to keep you strong just like trees
become stronger by being forced to withstand wind.
we learn if we are willing to become stronger and stronger in our thoughts
and abilities which serves to push ourselves to constantly become better
representatives of the spiritual path.

just like in the last chapter where we discussed using our muscles or losing
them, essentially growing or doing the opposite, withering, here we present
spiritual progress in the same light.

being truly enlightened, being a spiritual master doesnt entail being beyond
this process.
it simply means that one has become so unified with it, by practice and
understanding, that the process itself has become essentially, though never
guaranteed, one with them.

first becoming enlightened is a singular point that some experience in their
lives.
the reality is that there is a journey to that point and then a journey from
that point.
and like in any journey you must actively participate in it or you will
probably not be getting too far.
like life, you must participate in it or you will start to feel yourself fading out
of it all.

sometimes the spiritual journey will entail not growing, or stagnating,
essentially not journeying.
remember we learn from our mistakes and sometimes if were not making
mistakes were not learning much.
or we are making mistakes but we dont think we are.



part 19 - the final frontier

happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.
democritus

health is the greatest possession. contentment is the greatest treasure. confidence is
the greatest friend. non-being is the greatest joy.
lao tzu

ideas shape the course of history.
john maynard keynes



from physical balance to having balance on the spiritual journey, on what
we refer to as simply as the title of this book suggests, the path.

there is only one path that we may travel on in life and when we speak of
actively taking part in this journey we speak about consciously participating
in it.

imagine a giant road if you will with the entire race of human beings
existing upon it.
imagine people going here and there back and forth along this road
believing like everyone else does, like the herd of humanity does that the
road doesn't really go anywhere.

some people have just plopped themselves down on the side of the road
somewhere and said: this is where I am staying it's as good as where
anyone else is, I'm tired of thinking about things, this is what I believe and I
don't want to be bothered.

maybe there's a group of people there already, maybe there's small towns
here and there where people retire content to be around people who think
as they do and don't challenge them.

it's not a road that people travel along physically but mentally and to
continue to walk down the road can be called evolving.

the further you walk down the path the less populated it becomes, it
becomes lonely, it can sound dangerous, you know that people who exist
back where you come from think you're crazy and don't want much to do
with you.

after awhile you haven't seen anyone for days, you're scared lonely hungry
it's dark you can even reach the point where you don't even know if you
could find your way back if you wanted.

you thought someone was traveling with you but you don't know where
they are and are hoping they are alright.

there's no footsteps to follow at a certain point, there's old stories, fables,
your journey is being fueled by myth.

you are being led entirely by instinct.
you are supposedly traveling to nirvana but rightfully you have your have
serious doubts.
becoming spiritual is supposed to lead you to happiness and you are
definitely not experiencing that.
most turn back at this point.

if you were going the right way you would be feeling better about your
journey not more afraid and unsure about it then you ever have before.

this is the final mountain before one enters the promised land.

spirituality is most often presented along with flowery terms making us
believe that everything will be happy and joyous.

it's all love baby.

those of us who have walked this path are more like wild noble animals.
we have thrown off the chains of domestication.
we know true solitude, we have known what it is like to be naked against
the full onslaught of nature.
we have essentially found ourselves in nature not outside of it.

the masses of humanity have not taken the path of life to it's logical
conclusion, awakening.
they are not brave enough too but they are also miseducated.
they are supposedly secure in their comforts that are never truly
comforting.

some people don't allow themselves to truly be challenged and they
whither away from a young age never truly tasting life.

people are herd animals and until the herd walks it's way towards the final
gateway the mass of humanity will not either.
when we speak about truth then we are doing our part however small it
may be to influence that herd, to spread bigger thoughts and ideas out into
the collective.
by being balanced spiritually and growing into enlightenment once
we discover it we increase the chances that others may search within
themselves as we have.
there is nothing more important than sharing our stories even when others
would laugh at us or wish we would shut up.

maybe the herd will make it to the promised land one day.
maybe they will have to finally come face to face with the insanity of their
own removal from and inherent attitude of opposition to, nature.
maybe someday people will listen.
maybe people are already starting to like some say.

maybe it just is like it always is.
maybe all this thinking and writing will only help one person ever push on
and be brave and strong enough to make it over that final mountain.
if only one person is helped, if no one is, it doesn't matter.

the enlightened blow their horns from the promised land hoping that you
hear them on the very hardest part of your journey so that you find the
strength when you need it the most to finally find your way home.
why should criticism silence them?













CHAPTER 2: THE NEXT STEP

part 1 - back at the beginning

nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of god
cicero

the nature of God is a circle of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference is
nowhere
anonymous



where are we headed from here?
straight into the promised land?
lets be optimistic.
everyone has their own version of it all.

nothing is the exact same for any two people.
buddha for instance or any other spiritual or religious figure.
if there are two of us searching for spiritual enlightenment we both would
probably have at least a slightly different opinion on what exactly were
looking for.

likewise if were confronted with someone who has claimed to be
enlightened we both would most likely use a different set of criteria when
judging that person.

obviously its important to remember that just like any journey into the
unknown we dont really know what to expect.
spiritual progress is completely and entirely a personal experience and
none of us can really sanely say one way or another.
you dont really know if anyone else truly knows what theyre really talking
about.
you dont.

and you must fully face this reality to continue to progress into the all
encompassing embrace of truth and supreme knowledge.
you must.

maybe you wont find the strength to, or see the need to now but eventually
you must as it is definitely such an integral part of the spiritual path.

im not saying: stop reading, stop listening to lectures, dont go to your
meditation group meetings or church service, etc.
im not really telling you to do ever stop doing these things.
the point is that you must learn to completely think for yourself.

the whole purpose of the spiritual path is to turn you into an empty vessel
so that the light of the universe may start to fill your mind.

like climbing that last mountain before entering nirvana.
we must climb that high above the ideas and opinions of humanity to truly
finally find ourselves.
and when we have finally, exclamation mark, reached so high up above the
clouds eventually, little by little, we stumble onto the very summit of it all, of
thinking and thought.
and then we are empty.
and we are free.

from there we journey on back down the other side of the mountain to the
very gates of nirvana, the journey is one of thought and experience at all
times.
the purpose of this is to not just have experienced freedom but to learn how
to master it so as to experience it always.

mentally we are now home, in the mind of the all knowing, the great veil
has been pierced and we now dwell on the same plane that the others who
have travelled this far exist upon.



part 2 - karma and harmony

it is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be
dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals.
life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing.
d. h. lawrence (1885 - 1930)

the vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart, this
you will build your life by, and this you will become.
james allen



let us stand squarely in the face of the all encompassing totality of it all.

look at the pressures we put upon each other by refusing to see how truly
interconnected life is.
if we all truly seek inner peace then we must realize that consciousness is
something that we all share in.
of course you may think, many things are conscious.

this is not what im trying to get at.

we all share consciousness.
people try to shut their mind out of the larger field of thinking and thought
and shelter themselves in individuality.
this sad fact accounts for hardship in the world at all levels.

yes you are an individual.
an enlightened person is no more, or less of an individual then you are.

and yes you have your own mind.
but your mind is part of a greater mind and to find peace in this life then you
must find peace within that larger framework.

people share thoughts and the totality of human thought i call collective
consciousness.
other life adds in to general consciousness as well.

this is basically where the concept of karma comes in.

good karma creates peace while building bad karma destroys it.

people who think and do selfish things knowing that it will be to the
detriment of others naturally create disturbances in their own field of
thought making harmony impossible.

the true root of all harmony and balance rests is in our ability to open our
minds up to consciousness.
yes we have separate physical vehicles but your thoughts, good or bad, are
not exactly your own in the way that they are reflections of the energy that
you create in this life by your actions.

we must be aware of all of the energies that interplay within our own minds.
our physical bodies as well are conscious, in their own way, and demand
us to take care of them.

you may have disharmony in your life because of many reasons.
harmony in this way is something that none of us will ever own de facto.
however those who have found harmony will probably seek to find more of
it.

realize this is not a concept that i am presenting as anything abstract.
this is your reality totally and fully in each and every passing moment and
you will never escape it even for an instant.
how peaceful, how harmonious, how good you feel right now, how much
you are enjoying life is all entirely dependent on your karma.

karma is real and you exist within its almighty clutches at all times.

in all religions people are advised to perform good actions.
there is an immediate, concrete reason for this.
and if you think about it all a little more i am sure you will get what i am
talking about

we create our own unhappiness.
and conversely we can find freedom.

look at your self right now and think about how you are thinking.
we may be separated by physical distance but on a mental plane we are all
one.