The Enemy

 In truth, humanity only has one enemy: The ego.

When we realize that we are children of the Light, we will no longer fight among ourselves. We will truly understand the meaning of the angelic words--

Glory to God in the Highest,

And on earth peace,

Good will toward Men.

Intuition

It is a common mistake to confuse true intuition with strong feeling or with an almost animal-like wariness that is evoked in the mind under certain circumstances.

Rather, an intuitive sense of what to do in any situation springs from an awareness of what Life requires of an individual at that moment. And there is only one right answer.

When our behavior is aligned with the true meaning of our lives, we can follow the Truth as it goes and we will learn to express ourselves in our daily activity. Only then we will be satisfied with all we do.

A Chinese Peasant

A Chinese peasant's best horse escaped from his barn stall and ran off. When his neighbors saw him, they told him that they were sorry that he had lost his best horse. His comment was: "I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, I only know that I have lost my best horse."

The next day, the horse returned with a bunch of wild horses running behind him, which the peasant corralled. His neighbors came to congratulate him on his good fortune. His response was: "I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, I only know that I now have several additional horses that I did not have to pay for."

The next day, the peasant's oldest son attempted to break in one of the wild horses. The horse threw him, and he broke his leg. The peasant's neighbors told him that they were sorry to hear that his oldest son had been injured. His response was: "I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, I only know that my son has broken his leg."

The next day, military officials came to conscript the young men of the village for military service. The peasant's oldest son was left behind because of his broken leg.

***

Through Zen practice we learn how to accept the circumstances of our lives whether or not they are agreeable to us. We become aware that "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Rough Seas

Most of us imagine that the meaning of life is found in doing. Actually, it is found in being.

It is existence itself that is meaningful and when we realize this fact, we have little difficulty navigating the turbulent waters of life.

Trap Door

The danger of drinking too much alcohol is that it opens the trap door to the subconscious from which Seven Devils emerge.

Shadow

If you should die beneath the shadow of your ego, your grave "would be in nothingness."

What Child Is This?

14-year-old Cassidy Goodson hid her pregnancy. Frightened and alone, with little or no support from her unaware family, Ms. Goodson gave birth in her bathroom and then immediately ended the life of her newborn because she "didn't know what to do with it."

The authorities have decided to try Ms. Goodson as an adult. State Attorney Jerry Hill justified his decision because he thinks that "the facts demand first-degree murder charges." As a result, Ms. Goodson faces life in prison.

Hear me. If this child goes to prison for life, an entire generation will be condemned. For unless the children of man rise up and denounce the cold and cruel logic of our justice system, not one among them will find happiness in their lifetime.

For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.--Matthew 7:14

Well Done

The litmus test for a well-designed product is simple: If I have to read the manual, the designer failed.

The product's use and functionality should be readily apparent.

In Our Defense

Eric Hoffer is the greatest defender of all that is truly human and worthwhile in man.

Occupation

If someone were to ask me what my occupation is, I would reply that I am a student.

I study everything.

No Escape

When we act on our self-centered desires, we end up unfulfilled and unhappy. We then try to escape our unhappiness.

However, when we run, our prison--the ego--runs with us.

In true meditation, we study how to get rid of the ego.

This is no easy task. Krishnamurti speaks of being "industrious" when observing how our minds function in our daily lives. Constant effort is required.

There is no escape.

The Good Fight

My past life can be interpreted as an expression of everything that is wrong with our culture. I did not take the straight and narrow way, but wandered down the road and took every detour that I came upon.

Like Henry David Thoreau, I have followed "the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment."

It was a voyage of discovery and once I embarked there was no turning back:

If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.—Charles Bukowski

What Can Be Done

The fraud committed on us is our own egos. The system may exacerbate the problem, but the problem is egotism.

How to get rid of our egos is what true meditation is all about.

So what are we to do?

The best way to study the problem is to study yourself. Through the study of ourselves, we discover the the true way of living.

Follower

A religious teacher, a guru, or even a self-proclaimed messiah who says “Follow me” and who does not lead you back to yourself is a false prophet.

The Preacher

My preaching days are over. The good news is that no one listened to me.

In The True Believer, Eric Hoffer quotes Michel de Montaigne and I can do no better here:

"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."

Escapism

You should not confuse true happiness with a momentary respite from misery. Escapism leads you away from happiness.

There is no escaping yourself and it is only when you discover your true self that you find happiness.

Ignorant

The word "ignorant" means "to be unaware." To become aware is to slowly awaken to the reality of who you actually are.

It does not mean to increase your awareness by gaining knowledge. Knowledge is information. Your true being cannot be comprehended in conceptual terms.

So be aware.

Beware! Danger is all around you. It is easy to lose your way on your voyage of discovery. As Thoreau writes in Walden, a man has to live by dead reckoning "if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all."

Dwell.

You are the Light.

Rely on yourself.

Do not depend on others.

Pleasure and Pain

It is a mistake to believe that the pursuit of pleasure will lead to happiness. Pleasure is ephemeral and overindulgence quickly leads to satiety.

But even more important to our understanding of what road leads to happiness is the realization that pleasure has a stronger sister--pain. And pain trumps pleasure.

How many people claim to be happy when they are in pain?

Since pain is unavoidable in life, the road to happiness does not lead to pleasure, but rather to the perception of meaning. It is only when we perceive our lives as meaningful that we can accept the transient dance of pleasure and pain.

In truth, the road itself is meaning. It is the ground of existence that is essentially meaningful. To make this discovery is to find true happiness.

Alcoholism

Alcohol releases the intellectual brakes on behavior. We need the emergency brake of meaning if we are to avoid a car crash.

It is the existential vacuum, the feeling that our lives are meaningless, that opens the door to alcohol and drug abuse.

Parables

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.--Matthew 13:13

Christian parables are similar to Zen Koans. In order to comprehend the spirit that flows between the words, you must listen with a quiet mind. Their true meaning cannot be grasped by the ego.

The True Cost of Capitalism

Those who think that Capitalism is a kind and just social system have not peeked behind the curtain at the human misery found in our prisons, hospitals, asylums, and even homes.

The Key to Freedom

Do you want to know how to attain the freedom of your being?

Learn to love your insignificance.

Opium

If in past times religion was the opium of the masses, television is the preferred drug today. It is watched by those who have despaired of ever learning how to live a full life.

Once we give up on life, only death can save us.

Weak Defense

It is often our weakness that makes us fear the future. For when we are strong, we fear no fate.

But when we are weak, and we cannot rely on our courage in the face of adversity, we can then only hope that things will turn out all right.

Such a hope is a pitiable defense against "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

True Teacher

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.--Luke 9:62

Once you decide to seek the Truth of your own being, your own existence, your own reality--there is no turning back.

Before you begin, however, it is very important to find a true teacher who will lead you back to yourself. Without a true teacher, you will easily lose your way.

Thoreau, too, emphasizes the importance of finding a true teacher in Walden:

"I have read in a Hindoo book, that "there was a king's son, who, being expelled in infancy from his native city, was brought up by a forester, and, growing up to maturity in that state, imagined himself to belong to the barbarous race with which he lived. One of his father's ministers having discovered him, revealed to him what he was, and the misconception of his character was removed, and he knew himself to be a prince.

"So soul," continues the Hindoo philosopher, "from the circumstances in which it is placed, mistakes its own character, until the truth is revealed to it by some holy teacher, and then it knows itself to be Brahme."

All human beings are born under a delusion. This false self, or ego, covers up our true nature. When we discover or realize our true being, we regain an inheritance that was once lost.

We find ourselves in Nirvana and the Kingdom of Heaven is ours.

Yardstick

In American society, we often use fame as the yardstick for personal worth.

When the road to fame is blocked, the frustrated individual will often be tempted by infamy. He may then commit violent acts in a desperate attempt to garner media attention which he imagines will fulfill his need for social recognition.

By renouncing this false measure of personal worth, we begin to lay the foundation for a more sane and secure society.

Education

Anyone who believes that education alone will save humanity is ignorant. Without true spiritual faith, it is more likely to harden our hearts and make us indifferent to those not in our social circle.

Germany, one of the most educated societies on earth, descended into barbarism during the Second World War. The learned proved to be at least as cruel and ruthless as the uneducated.

Not For Sale

The Kingdom of Heaven is not for sale. The "pearl of great price" cannot be purchased with money.

Those who insist on charging an entry fee are false prophets.

Clarity

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.--Matthew 19:14

With no ego, the human child looks at the world with the bright eyes of innocence.

To regain this clear vision is the purpose of Zen practice.

Savage Heart

The heart of a Prophet is savage for he cannot patiently endure an unjust social system.

When challenging those in power, Christ was neither meek nor fearful. He denounced the hypocritical Pharisees, attacked the money-changers, and threatened to destroy the temple. He had a tongue of fire.

It is interesting to note that after the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit they were portrayed as having tongues of fire burning brightly above their heads.

Zen Master

Practitioners of Zen study how to act without fear.

Christ, then, was a true Zen Master. He did not seek physical security and He did not fear death.

Unfortunately, much of what Christ taught has been lost to history. What we do know is that when He reprimands his disciples in the Gospels, He basically accuses them of cowardice.

From this observation, it is easy to deduce that what Christ essentially taught his followers was how to be fearless.

So pay no attention to the pious mumbo-jumbo of the preachers and ministers who claim to understand the central message of Christ. Study how to act without fear.

Children

Can there be anything more beautiful than a human child?

Indeed, as Christ said, it were better to hang a millstone around your neck and cast it into the sea than to mislead one of these.

By this measure, the advertising industry and the business interests it serves stand condemned.

It used to be relatively easy to shelter children from the media and its insane propaganda. Now it is everywhere we look.

Hell

In Christian mythology, Hell is not a place of eternal suffering. Hell is a place of meaningless suffering.

Endurance

Victor Frankl wrote that "Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death."

So it is not a question of if we will suffer or even how we will suffer, but how will we endure.

The secret to knowing how to endure suffering is to practice accepting change.

Conformity

In modern society, we are conditioned to believe that conformity to the social system leads to greater security and personal happiness.

We take our first step on the road to Truth when we question that assumption.

Sad Buddha

You may have heard that everyone has Buddha nature which is our true human nature.

In the spirit of this teaching, I told my three-year-old grandson that he was a Buddha. He replied, "No, you are a Buddha."

I agreed. "We are both Buddha."

My grandson seemed never to forget this conversation. On each subsequent visit, he would tell me that I was a Buddha and I would reaffirm our agreement. "We are both Buddha."

At the age of five, my grandson apparently had an insight: "I know why you are a Buddha."

"Why?"

"Because you are happy."

It seemed a reasonable assumption that when we are aware of our Buddha nature we are happy.

Several weeks later, however, my grandson spontaneously announced, "I cannot be a Buddha because sometimes I am mad and sometimes I am sad."

How interesting that my grandson should be aware of his emotions at such a young age! But a mad Buddha is still a Buddha. Mad or sad or glad--a Buddha is a Buddha.

Our emotions are like the waves of the sea. Zen Master Suzuki said that "to speak of waves apart from water or water apart from waves is a delusion." Waves and water are one.

With this understanding, we can practice accepting our emotions as we accept the waves of the sea. We will not be attached to one particular emotion and we will have no difficulty expressing our emotions as they arise.

When we realize that our emotions are an expression of our true nature, then a sad Buddha can be a happy Buddha.

The Power of Art

"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality."--Shunryu Suzuki

If you understand what Zen Master Suzuki is saying, then you will understand why Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas is considered a masterpiece.

Great art, perhaps more than anything else, can awaken a human soul from its slumbers.

Listen

What is meditation?

It is the act of listening with a quiet mind. It is to sit with full attention, ears open. It is to be very careful, observant, and alert.

It is to listen for the victorious answer to the question of the ultimate meaning of life.

"Yes!"

That's it. That is what mediation is. To hear one word only.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.--John 1:1

Reincarnation

Ha! So that is what it means to go out with a bang.

Science

No true Christian in his right mind would ever deny that the scientific process is the best means for discovering truth in the objective world.

Technical Difficulty

Unless we discover the true way of living, our increased mastery over nature will only result in the creation of a new hell with an advance technology.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. Look for it there.

Security

Most human beings hunger for security and we act surprised when our well-regulated lives are upended by fate.

The truth is that security is an illusion. Nature offers no guarantees except one--death.

Presumption

We often underestimate the power of our fear and overestimate the strength of our faith.

Cowardice

It is better to die at once than to consent to live in fear.

For, as Montaigne observed, what are we to do with a man who is too afraid to live and too afraid to die?

Worth

Most of us prove our worth by doing. We are then like the man who, when asked whether he was happy or not, replied that he was too busy to know.

The Hand of Fate

When listening to the self-righteous condemn those who have made a mistake in our society, it is important to remember that we are listening to the luckiest people in the world. The universal law of cause and effect has dealt lightly with them.

Fate, however, may still deal them a losing hand. By a surprising twist of events, they may someday find themselves in need of human sympathy and compassion while being crushed under the weight of a draconian legal system that knows no mercy.

Perhaps, when faced with the crimes of humanity, it is wiser to recite with humility, "There, but for the luck of fate, go I."

Human Capital

I do not claim to be an expert on child development, but there is considerable evidence that a child's mental disposition is set by the age of five.

Professor James Heckman has pointed out that society's most precious resource is its people and that economic development starts at birth. His research convinced him that intelligence and social skills are developed at an early age and that both are essential for success. An early investment in child development--in the nurturing, learning experiences, and physical health of children from the ages of zero to five--produces the greatest returns in human capital.

It should be obvious that sitting a child in front of a television is not a substitute for parental interaction and exploration. Television will stunt a child's early development. The result will be that society and the individual will have to expend greater energy later in life to undo the damage done.

The Grand Canyon

No photo could ever convey the grandeur and majesty of the Grand Canyon.

But it was the concept of "deep time" that inspired within me a feeling of sacred awe. The exposed rock is a visual record of the history of the earth. The colorful sedimentary layers span vast geologic eras.

The spectacular works of nature and the vastness of the cosmos serve as a reminder that the difficulties and challenges we face are passing phenomena.

We are condemned to death at birth, and life is a bus ride to the place of execution. All of our struggling and vying is about seats on the bus, and the ride is over before we know it.--Eric Hoffer

Fig Leaf

The ego is the fig leaf of the mind with which it covers its existential nakedness.

Nightmare

At night, the imagination settles like an incubus on the subconscious and projects crude absurdities and grotesque phantasms onto the screen of the mind.

Tricked into believing that this inane show is reality, reason adds its spinning commentary and evokes a physical and emotional response so that the sleeper soon awakens in a cold sweat from the suffocating nightmare.

It may be that our haunted sleep continues after we awaken--that the nightmare transitions to a daydream. While we are awake, the senses enforce a "reality first" policy and therefore reign in the imagination from its nocturnal wandering.

We may be sleepwalking never fully aware of the reality of the present moment.

Unjust

It is criminal that our system sends children to prison for life.

If the Kingdom of Heaven is ever to be established on earth, then this unjust practice must end or few there are who will ever find true happiness.

Mentor

If you wish to understand the human condition, there is no easier way than to read the books written by Eric Hoffer. His words are like a powerful tonic that restores clear thinking to a confused mind. His criticism exposes the charlatan and debunks the modern-day medicine man. His writing is accessible to anyone with an eighth grade education. You can probably learn more from his books that you can in four years of college. He teaches without teaching, without preaching, without insisting that he alone is right.

"What do I know?" --Montaigne

Hoffer's writing is often pithy, aphoristic, and insightful. A few examples:

Man is a luxury-loving animal. Take away play, fancies, and luxuries, and you will turn man into a dull, sluggish creature, barely energetic enough to obtain a bare subsistence.

***

Once man was tamed by the magic of priest and king, he stopped tinkering with and probing the world around him, and became a beggar--begging gods for good crops and good fortune.

***

Perhaps the devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the animal nature, the dark primordial impulses, sealed in the subconscious cellars of our mind. Until we attain total humanization we are all, to a greater or lesser degree, devils--beasts masquerading as men.

The Laws of Human Nature - Part 2

At one time or another, we have all had a paper cut. The slice always seems to occur somewhere on a finger so that we are constantly reminded of the cut by a twinge of pain.

The irritation that we feel will often lead us to comment to a friend that a paper cut is the worst annoyance imaginable.

In truth, it would not take much effort to think of a far worse fate. Why, then, at least in that moment, would we confuse the discomfort of a paper cut with that a more disagreeable experience?

The answer might be termed  The Law of the Relativity of Human Suffering:

A man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.--Viktor Frankl

In other words, the suffering of the moment completely occupies our attention. But what happens when we suffer pain and distress together? Do our mounting troubles cause us to despair of ever finding happiness?

Not exactly. As already noted in an earlier post, our minds are not overcome by misery because the cares of life temporarily distract us from our unhappiness and because we hope our troubles will soon come to an end.

And this brings us to another providential law of human nature that works in tandem with our understanding of the relativity of all human suffering called The Law of the Priority of Human Suffering:

For human nature is such that grief and pain--even simultaneously suffered--do not add up as a whole in our consciousness, but hide, the lesser behind the greater, according to a definite law of perspective....And this is the reason why so often in free life one hears it said that man is never content. In fact it is not a question of a human incapacity for a state of absolute happiness, but of an ever-insufficient knowledge of the complex nature of the state of unhappiness; so that the single name of the major cause is given to all its causes, which are composite and set out in an order of urgency. And if the most immediate cause of stress comes to an end, you are grievously amazed to see that another one lies behind; and in reality a whole series of others.--Primo Levi

It is only the greatest cause of our suffering that expands to fill our mind and occupy our attention. If we trip while opening an envelope and break our leg, it will not be the paper cut that we also received which we will recall as being the cause of our unhappiness at that time.

However, if as we tripped we flailed our arms and kept our balance, we would be "grievously amazed" that as soon as our sense of relief had passed, our new awareness of the paper cut would preclude any chance of experiencing absolute happiness.

The Laws of Human Nature - Part 1

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.--Pascal's Pensées

All may seek happiness, but few find it. Sometime fate intervenes, as when we lose our health, and sometimes we let ourselves go to the dogs. We do ourselves in.

The horrific events of the 20th century--in particular, the experiences of many in the concentration camps--ripped open the human psyche and revealed what the great poets have always known: Man is the glory and the scandal of the Universe.

It is true that misery makes man a fiend and that contented people usually do not cause trouble. Is absolute happiness, then, possible under the human condition?

The answer is no. Neither absolute happiness nor unrelenting misery is possible and here's why:

The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite. Our ever-insufficient knowledge of the future opposes it: and this is called, in the one instance, hope, and in the other, uncertainty of the following day. The certainty of death opposes it: for it places a limit on every joy, but also on every grief. The inevitable material cares oppose it: for as they poison every lasting happiness, they equally assiduously distract us from our misfortunes and make our consciousness of them intermittent and hence supportable.--Primo Levi

If absolute happiness is unattainable, then what should we aim for? The answer to this question is surprisingly simple: we should aim for a meaningful existence.

When we are conscious of an unconditional meaning in our lives, we will have less difficulty accepting things as they are. We will find our way in good times and in bad times. We will accept unavoidable suffering just as we accept the love of a child or the beauty of nature.

The Laws of Human Nature - Introduction

My interest in the evolution of man led me to study myself more closely. After all, I am an ordinary person. The laws that govern human nature, therefore, should be discoverable in me.

With the assistance of a few good books, I confirmed what most of us intuitively know: Man is a miserable wretch. Are we doomed, as Schopenhauer maintains, to oscillate between distress and boredom?

Enter into my laboratory. I am going to dissect human nature and show that the only way to happiness is to study yourself so that you become convinced of the necessity of forgetting yourself.

Social Advantage

If it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man--and I think that it is, though only the wise improve their advantages--it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; and the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.--Henry David Thoreau

Given the recent housing crisis, it appears that American society has decidedly failed Thoreau's test. Thoreau uses a measure of value that does not strictly rely on the monetary system.

If an advanced civilization requires its inhabitants to spend most of their time obtaining a subsistence, then that civilization has not solved even the rudimentary challenges of our existence. It may be that the caveman was better off. He paid no rent and still had time to paint.

It is true that there are some in our day who achieve financial independence and leisure. Thoreau warns us, however, that only the wise improve their advantages. There is a danger that having achieved economic independence, we may succumb to dissipation. We may be tempted to pay with our lives for unnecessary comforts and pleasures.

What may seem an advantage can actually be a disadvantage. A higher standard of living does not necessarily return a greater share of happiness. We may spend our capital--that is, our time--and end up morally and spiritually bankrupt.

Invest in yourself. Cultivate your talents. Discover your treasure within and jealously guard your leisure hours from a system that will steal them away.

"And, remember, that time waits for no one."

Conditioning

I must repeat an important insight that is true for every human being: The ego is the psychological imprint of the helplessness of infancy.

In order to survive, we conform to the social system. We accept its norms and values in exchange for physical security.

Add in our early experiences, our likes and dislikes, our education, our explorations of the world and our social interactions with our peers, and our minds become a conditioned response to outside stimuli.

This false personality is the social mask that psychologists refer to as the ego. It is not your true self.

I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you.

Thoreau was aware that the ego is a delusion covering our true nature.

Nobody can escape this process of socialization, but all can learn to undo it. Until we learn how to "de-institutionalize" our brains and discover the reality within us, we will never be truly happy.

Capitalism

Our social system exacerbates the problem and then attempts to sell us its products and services as the cure.

We would do well to cultivate a certain mistrust of the claims of Capitalism. After all, we do not want to have to dig ourselves out of a deeper hole than the one we were born into.

Reminder

The innocent faces of children, like great art, remind us of the truth that is within all human beings.

Ode to Incompetence

Most people want to be competent. We want to be good at something. We want to be successful professionals, talented cooks, and skillful artisans. We want to be recognized as an expert in a particular field of study.

Conversely, we fear being incompetent. We see failure as proof of our inferiority.

It is a strange truth that my early incompetence discouraged me from seeking success and social recognition.

Instead, I found myself searching for something more, for a different way home, for a happiness that up to that point in my life had completely escaped me.

It may have been my incompetence that saved me.

Happiness

"Misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."--Frankenstein's Creature

Unlike the Hollywood movie version, the story of Frankenstein is a literary classic that sheds much light on the human condition.

Truly happy individuals never mistreat those around them while those who are miserable cannot for long stand the sight of others enjoying a full and satisfactory existence.

It is in humanity's best interest that every man, woman, and child be instructed on how to find happiness.

Such an education would be religious in the true sense of the word:

Good will toward all beings is the true religion--Buddha

The Will of God

In many people's mind, to do the will of God means to surrender your personal initiative and to slavishly worship an all-powerful Tyrant. Nothing can be further from the truth.

What God wills is your freedom. But this idea of freedom is too easily confused with licentiousness--a kind of do-as-you-please attitude with little or no regard for the consequences of your behavior.

To do the will of God means to learn how to act without fear and with full responsibility for your actions. It does not mean to suppress fear. It means to awaken to the fact that you are not separate from reality. When we act as part of one reality, we have no fear.

In an ancient Chinese story, there was a person who liked dragons very much. He talked about dragons, he painted dragons, and he bought various kinds of dragons.

So there was a dragon who thought, "If a real dragon like me visited him, he would be very happy."

One day the real dragon sneaked into his room, and the man didn't know what to do!

As Shunryu Suzuki points out, "we should not just be the dragon's friend or admirer; we should be the dragon itself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon."

Fame

The desire for fame is the bastardized offspring of the desire for glory.