What Is It Really Like To Awaken From Slumber?

In the classic film, Wall Street, Charlie Sheen says, “I never knew how poor I was until I started to make some real money.”

Please don’t worry. I won’t try to awaken you from your slumber. Scout’s honor.

You can remain asleep as you read this discourse. Please . . . turn to the other side, pull up the covers, and find a comfortable neck position on your pillow.

For it’s not really YOU that I’m speaking to. I’m speaking to something deep inside of you. And this something will hear me whether you are facing me or your back is turned. It will feel my words whether you are listening or you are fast asleep.

I’m going to now make a few statements and they are not meant to encourage or mobilize you. Please relax. I’m simply stating points of fact. They will serve as a springboard for the remainder of this discussion.

Please relax. No need to do anything. Not even listen. As I said, it’s not you I’m speaking to.

Since the moment you woke this morning, life has sped by you like a bullet train.

You didn’t notice it. You didn’t hear it. Because your back was turned when it passed you.

While you were reading about ways to become “happy” it was passing you to your left.

While you were trying to tie the loose ends which keep coming untied . . . darn those loose ends. They just don’t stay tied do they. Life was passing you to your right.

And while you were busy reciting scripture, chanting slokas, and meditating, it passed right before your closed eyes.

No, no, no . . . please relax. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have done those things. I’m not telling you to keep your eyes open. Frankly, even if you did, life would pass behind your back.

Please relax. You’ve done nothing wrong. Turn around and go back to sleep.

Remember, it’s not you I’m speaking to.

The events of your life are ridiculously powerful. The stream of interpersonal episodes of drama are sitting two inches from your nose, begging to be “fixed.”

Tomorrow is a constant source of anxiety.

Acquiring even more success than you already have is a whirring motor which hums in your ear.

There are so many Ongoing and Unresolved issues.

And it stands to reason why they make you act. It is completely logical that you want to satisfy the urges, fix the problems, and mend the conflicts. Totally logical.

But when logic gives way to understanding, a man begins to truly see.

This is where I must be careful not to give you a fact that requires you to believe me. The last thing I want you to do is to subscribe to belief.

Let’s see, how shall I say it . . .

You see, all of these problems, aspirations, conflicts, and issues that you have are like a school of fish. They surround each of us. And when you try to fix one part of the school of fish, the school immediately shifts. And when you try to mend a different part, the school of fish shifts again.

Now, the man who is given to logic and brute determination will keep trying to fix different parts of the school of fish, convinced that One Day he will catch hold of it.

The man of understanding will allow himself to at least entertain the possibility that the school of fish is not fixable. That it is an exercise in complete futility, no matter how much in his grasp it seems to be.

You see, my friend, it is extraordinarily enticing to believe that these schools of fish are your life. But, in actuality, they are not. They are just schools of fish.

And for as long as they catch your eye, life will pass behind you.

Life is not the school of fish.

Life is everything but the school of fish.

Life is the water in which they swim. Life is the single ray of sunlight that penetrates the ocean.

Life is what existed before you decided to create the school of fish.

And life is what passes you by as you remain mesmerized by your own creation.

Life is what passes you by as you sleep through each and every moment of your day.

I will not ask what it “means” to be awake. For meaning has no meaning.

Rather, I will ask you what it is Like to be awake.

You will say that you don’t know. And I will accept your honest reply.

But when you are tired of running after the school of fish. And they don’t hold as much promise for you as they once did, you will begin to ask what life is.

But beware! For at this juncture is where man falls off the “razors edge.”

For he often begins to ask not what life IS, but what the Purpose and the Meaning of life is.

Oh no . . . the poor man has just traded one school of fish for another.

Listen, dear friend, when your mind can’t explain it, you’re on the right track.

If words become inadequate, you’re on the right track.

When you awaken, awaken not to a surrogate or a middle man . . .

Awaken not to a theory or a promise . . .

Awaken not to an aphorism or a sloka . . .

Awaken to Life Itself.

Where will you find it?

You will find it anywhere where there are no schools of fish.