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?
>
Sounds good. Even better is the Self asserting its dominion
permanently. I always find the phrase that we are already
Enlightened to be slightly off. True that each of us, and indeed
each physical manifestation possesses within it the seed, the living
genesis for its existence. True, absolutely true. And for humans we
call that the Self.
And yet, it takes time for the marriage between our individual
identities and this Enlightenment, this Self, to become perfect and
permanent. For those of us with such long practice of transcendental
meditation (no capitalization; descriptive vs. specific...), this
alternation of deep silence with activity helps alternate our
identification with our daily illusion with our true Selves, our
transcendent nature, much more quickly than if left to random
events. So that, over time, we will eventually find ourselves in the
midst of Enlightenment, permanently.
At first, the experience may come and go, the transitional dynamics
remarkable to us, so that we are aware of 'witnessing', that we
notice the break with our daily illusion, and instead live a natural
reality, where the world appears turned inside out. The inner state
during this 'teaser' period is one of emancipation, of percolating
bliss. It is a huge reward and satisfaction to break through during
these times. It must be. It serves as a strong imprint, and impetus
to carry the marriage of the Self forward.
So that, as the experience of witnessing fades away, the memory
remains, as a strong spur to continue our spiritual journey, our
near overwhelming desire for the marriage of the Self to occur.
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