TurquoiseB wrote:
>Yesterday I got up early and drove to Sommières, a
>village about 30 kilometers away, because they were
>having a medieval festival, and I'm a real sucker
>for those kind of things. They always make me higher
>than a kite.
>
>This one was no exception. I was sitting there at a
>cafe in the town square, drinking hypocras and eating
>lamb brochettes while watching the townspeople walking
>by in their costumes, and this huge smile began to
>form on my face and this almost-irresistable urge
>came upon me to say "Yes" and just Wake Up.
>
>But it was tough getting to "Yes." There was a part
>of me that was still locked into the dealing-with-the-
>pissant-parts-of-life mindstate, and that wanted to
>respond to the wonderful day and the cubic centimeter
>of chance it had offered me with the standard safe
>answer, "Yes, but..." You know...stuff like:
>
>* Yes, I'm having fun here, but I haven't really done
> everything I wanted to do with my life yet, have I?
>
>* Yes, that stunningly beautiful woman who just walked
> by and smiled at me *is* wonderful, and just the
> *sight* of her should make me shout "Yes!" to the
> universe, but I'm probably too old for her.
>
>* Yes, this town and this festival and all these
> people dressed up in their medieval finery are all
> cool, but I did read BBC News this morning, and the
> outside world still sucks.
>
>Yes, but. Icky phrase, one we repeat to ourselves in
>our heads to keep us from fully relaxing into the
>experience of Now, and thus from realizing that the
>thing we're relaxing into is not just some emphemeral
>moment but the eternality of our Self.
>
>The proper answer to life when it presents us with one
>of those cusp moments is "Yes," not "Yes, but..."
>
>IMO, far too much of spiritual teaching is about
>training people to respond to life with "Yes, but..."
>You all know what I mean. How many times have you,
>like most seekers, thought to yourself, "Yes, I'd
>like to be enlightened but...?"
>
>It really doesn't *matter* what you put after the
>"but...," does it? Whether you think it's "stress"
>that keeps you from being enlightened or some skanky
>samskara you've never managed to get past, or that
>incident from ten lifetimes ago that still has you
>convinced that karmically you are lower than the
>lint in a snake's navel. *Whatever* it is, it's
>just an excuse, a rationalization that allows your
>self to say "No" to the Self.
>
>Each of us is already enlightened. The proper answer
>when the universe presents us with a cool moment and
>that moment asks us whether we remember our own
>enlightenment, is, "Yes."
>
>By changing your answer into "Yes, but...," you are
>pushing away the Self and saying, in effect, "I'm
>not ready to accept that you are me yet, so I'm
>going to make up some excuse for why you can't be
>me." Then you put that excuse right behind the
>"but" in "Yes, but..." and you say it. And as a
>result, you create it as a seeming "reality" in
>your life. Sigh. Big fuckin' rut. No fun.
>
>There in that cafe in Sommières yesterday, I managed
>to get beyond "Yes, but..."
>
>I sat there trying to not have as much fun with the
>day as I knew I was capable of having, and then I
>caught myself doing it. The moment I did, I was
>able to laugh at myself. And through my laughter,
>I found my body saying "Yes." Out loud. Weirdest
>damned thing.
>
>Everything changed. Background flipflopped into
>foreground and the witnessing, a moment before
>unnoticed, moved front and center and reasserted
>its Self again. And all it took was getting to
>"Yes."
>
>I'm sure it'll pass...all things do...but it's
>neat while it lasts. Life's cool sometimes, yes?
>
>
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>
>
>
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