Rediscovering Life: Awaken to Reality

Maturity is when you no longer blame anyone. You don’t blame others, you don’t blame yourself. You see what’s wrong, and you set about remedying it. That’s one pretty good sign of maturity.

Do I need to upset myself in order to swing into action and do something about it? You know, there’s an assumption that if you don’t upset yourself, if you don’t train people to upset themselves, they’re not going to do anything. But look: Here’s someone who doesn’t have enough to eat, and that’s a calamity. Now, you’ve gone and upset yourself. We’

Why don’t we learn? Because we’ve got to live in illusions. It feels good. It gives us a kick, doesn’t it? It certainly gives me a kick. We want kicks; we don’t want happiness. We want thrills. And wherever you’ve got a thrill, you’ve got an anxiety, because you might lose that thrill, or you may not get it. And then you’ve got depression following

This has been stamped into you. You’ve been programmed with this. You’ve been conditioned this way. But this is what you’ve got to understand. You see, you don’t have to do anything for enlightenment. You don’t have to do anything for liberation and for spirituality. All you have to do is see something, understand something. If you would understand

So, second major step: Recognize that you don’t want to get out of it. You want comfort. You want your little possessions. You want the little things that society has falsely taught you are essential for happiness. You want that. You don’t want to get out of the mess. Those are the things that are creating the mess.

So, the first thing: Admit that your life is in a mess. And, second—this is a bit tougher, okay? You ready? Here it is: You don’t want to get out of it. You do not want to get out of the mess. Talk to any psychologist who’s worth his name and he’ll confirm that. The last thing a client wants is a cure. He doesn’t want to get cured, he wants relief.

“For peace of heart, resign as general manager of the universe.” I’m not the general manager; I do what I can. I plunge in, and the result is left to God, to life, to destiny.

Plunge into the heat of battle and keep your heart at the lotus feet of the Lord.

Are you getting some inkling of what it would mean if you really grasped this? You’d be above it all. That’s one nice definition of spirituality. Spirituality means no longer being at the mercy of an event, or a person, or anything else. I didn’t say not to love people. I said, You’re not at their mercy anymore. You’re no longer at the mercy of an