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A visitor asked the master, “if I meditate ten hours a day, how long till I get enlightened?”
“10 years,” the master replied.
“That’s ages! What if I meditate twelve hours a day?”
“20 years,” the master replied.
In worldly pursuits, you get rewarded for effort. But when it comes to Awakening, the inverse is true. Because in Awakening, if you’re pursuing anything at all, you’re going in the wrong direction.
In fact, you must give up going in any direction at all.
But the problem is, since you’re someone who’s achieved a lot by applying effort, you can’t even remember what it’s like to stop.
Any time you try, that voice shows up.
“You’re not enough.”
“You should be trying harder.”
“You should have achieved more by now.”
People have won Olympic gold and built huge businesses on this kind of fuel. But it’s a dirty fuel, and running on it comes at a cost.
Have you seen the Netflix documentary on the Chicago Bulls, The Last Dance? Michael Jordan seems, by his own admission, to not be the happiest guy in retirement. Being driven enough to win 6 NBA championships is a blessing if you’re in the NBA. But no-one is in the NBA forever.
I’m not critiquing the way this legendary figure chose to live his life.
But if you’re here, that’s not the life for you.
You’re here because sacrificing happiness for worldly pursuits is a deal you don’t want to make.
You’re here because you’ve realized you aspire to balance.
You’re here because you wonder, sometimes, if you might be more capable of reach your goals when stress is out of the picture.
And I’m here to tell you that you are.
Like my student Eric, who stayed calm through a year of barely breaking even in his new business, then brought in two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars in seventy-five days.
Like my student Adam, who overcame depression to take leadership of a one-million dollar sales team.
High-achievers like you don’t have to stop achieving things to be at peace.
And abandoning that voice that tells you that you’re not good enough doesn’t make you less effective; it makes you more effective. Now, instead of running on the dirty fuels of shame, guilt and anxiety, they run on the clean fuels of wisdom, inspiration and compassion.
This can take some adjustment, but it is so, so worth it.
Not just for you, but for everyone you’ll ever encounter. There’ll be more of them, and you’ll serve them more deeply. Your worldly goals become secondary to the impact you make. But actually, the impact you make is the way to achieve your goals.
This voice telling you you’re not enough is lying to you.
But how do I know?
Because it’s based on an assumption: the assumption that you were born broken in some way, and need fixing. This is a very common disease in our culture. Governments depend on it; capitalism runs on it; religions preach it. And it kept our ancestors alive. But it’s no longer appropriate. In fact, it’s a terrible hindrance and—more importantly—it’s simply untrue.
What you really are is beyond flaws and faults. What you really are is the space in which flaws and faults come and go: awareness. Intrinsically pure, wide open, and unaffected by anything that occupies it.
Indeed, the “you” that you take yourself to be—your body, mind, emotions—comes and goes within this effortlessly clear space.
Has being sad ever affected your ability to be aware of the next thing that occurs? Has being angry? Stressed? Impatient? It may seem that these things affect your ability to be aware, but this is only due to subconscious preferences you hold regarding what you “should” be aware of!
You have an image in mind of what it must be like to be clear, wise, awakened. You think that there is some special state you’ve yet to reach in which only good thoughts, feelings, memories can occur. But it is this very preference, this very distinction between what is “good” and “bad”, that is obscuring your already-enlightened, inherently peaceful state!
When you drop that preference; when you recognize your nature as awareness, which does not judge—flaws and faults dissolve naturally, leaving no trace.
Why?
Because what you really are: nondual basic space, is naturally beneficial.
I know, this sounds too good to be true.
You’ve struggled all your life to be “good”.
And here I am telling you that you don’t have to lift a finger to make it so.
Just look at the millions of genuine spiritual practitioners before us. The quieter they get, the more peaceful, kind and loving they are! But of course, you must confirm this in your own direct experience.
Don’t take my word for it!
Rest naturally, without trying to rest in this way or that, as the space in which all occurs.
Don’t interpret it, judge it, label it, nor describe it.
When interpretations do occur, rest as the space in which they occur.
Allow all to be as it is, coming and going naturally, without any need on your part to accept or reject.
Rest like this for just a brief moment.
Then another…
Then another…
And now consider: is this more or less peaceful than before?
If you can’t tell, just keep coming back here.
And if you want some personal guidance, take my 1-minute quiz. I’ll tell you what’s blocking you from living as this effortlessly peaceful nature, and how to dissolve it.
You are enough.
In fact, you are, by your nature, greatly beneficial.
If you don’t believe me, just keep investigating what I have to say, and prove it for yourself.
With love from my sofa,
Dan 💙
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