Words

"... The concept of love would not be there if we did not lack love. People make a big deal about love because it is missing, because it is rare in human societies. But imagine all human beings, from the beginning of all time, always feeling loving and always feeling loved. Do you think there would be an idea of love? Nobody would ever have thought of it. It’s just like air - people only think about it when it is missing, or polluted. If love is there all the time, people wouldn't even have the notion that anything like love exists.

People have the notion about love because it is lost, because we get separated from it. But when love is completely realized, the person who loves does not feel she is loving, the person who gives does not feel she is giving. They do it and they don't think of it. There is no need for these ideas. We need these ideas because we are still not complete. We are still ignorant about reality, about the truth. We need these concepts because we are immature and incomplete.

Sometimes I find myself using simple language, straightforward and down to earth. I think it is much better than using language like enlightenment, God, divine guidance—all these big concepts that actually scare the hell out of us. They are words that somebody created to correspond with certain experiences, but if you use these words, you unconsciously attach all sorts of ideas and feelings to them. You hate them, you like them, you love them, you are confused by them, you are bored with them, you are conflicted about them, you judge yourself with them, you judge others with them, you do not really know what they refer to, you do not know for yourself whether they refer to anything at all.

Much of your history with these words has to do with your relationship with your father, your mother, your church, your teachers, the books you read, the experiences you had in the past, and so on. The original meaning of these words is most likely completely lost to you. So I think it is better not to use them. Instead, go simply, tread lightly. Find out what is the truth, what is really here beyond teachings, beyond concepts. Find out who you are."

~ A.H. Almaas, Sinking Your Boats from Diamond Heart Book V

 "If we are to mature into real human beings, we need to recognize and to come to grips with the extent to which we ordinarily do not want to be fully responsible for our perceptions, our truths, or our life... we constantly seek some kind of view, some kind of school, some kind of teaching, some kind of belief to follow. We search for something to support ourselves. This is not bad; it is simply our normal condition.

It took thirty years for the first of Buddha’s disciples to be enlightened. When the disciple finally saw and realized the truth, saw and understood true nature, he felt a little disconcerted. The disciple avoided Buddha because he was feeling ashamed and guilty. Finally, Buddha asked him what was going on with him. The disciple said it was hard to talk about but finally told the Buddha: “Now that I see the truth and I realize it, I see that all that you have been saying is bullshit. It is not necessary.” Buddha asked him not to tell anyone. He said: “I'm glad you know the truth, but people need to think that what I say is true so that they can find out what you found out.” In effect, Buddha was saying, “Don't tell anybody, they'll kill you and me and then they will have no chance of finding out what you found out.” The point is more frequently referred to in the Zen koan, “When you meet the Buddha on the road kill him.”

But it is not easy to abandon our beliefs. It is not easy to be completely responsible and to stand absolutely on our own, to forget all that anybody has ever said and to find out directly what we are and what reality is. We will at some point need to find out for ourselves whether there is enlightenment or not. And if there is, what is it? Is there God?

And if there is, what kind of truth is it? Is there such a thing as self-realization, ego death, rebirth, and so on? We hear about them. We read many books written about them. But what do we actually know about them? And do we really need all these ideas? If so, when do we need them and for how long?
I am not saying that these ideas are not true. The formulations of spiritual teachings are ways to say what we are all about. My own experience has shown me the reality of the concepts of enlightenment, self-realization, freedom, rebirth, God, love, and so on. All of this exists. However, I also know that we come to see that they are not important. Truth does not end there.

The jig is up when you realize that even though your notions about reality may be true, you haven’t discovered them for yourself. Maybe you deeply believe all or some of these things. But what does it matter that Buddha said something or Christ said something? That in itself does not give you the certainty, let alone the real knowing, that it is true. You believe because you need to believe, not because the beliefs are true. You are scared and helpless and need to believe in something. You don't know yourself well enough to live without beliefs. When I say that we don't know ourselves well enough, I don't mean only in terms of our realization; I also mean in terms of beliefs about who we are, what we are supposed to do or to be, whether we are good or bad.

In actuality, all beliefs are in the same bag: whether they are about God and enlightenment, or about whether you are good or bad; whether about timelessness and eternity or about your being a person who was born at a certain date, the son or daughter of such and such parents. Beliefs are all in the same category. In your mind they are the same thing; they probably come physiologically from the same part of your brain. There is no difference, ultimately, between one belief and another.

Of course, it is terrifying to think, let alone accept, that these beliefs exist only in our minds. They may not be true or completely true, or true the way we believe they are true. What if after all these years we find out that Buddha is wrong about emptiness? Or that Moses never spoke to God in the burning bush? We read the stories and we believe them. Maybe the stories are not true, or maybe they were true but things changed. Maybe reality does not stay static and changes even its nature and structure. How do we know that this is not the case? Who says that things don't change? Who says that what Buddha said then should be true now? Do we have any proof that it should be so? We don’t; nobody does.

The stories we have been told may be true or not. We cannot be certain until we find out the truth for ourselves and, ultimately, until the truth is relevant for us.

To have a free mind is to be a universal heretic. You don’t believe in the ultimate reality of any concept. You can assume any belief you find useful and attractive, but you don’t need to hold on to any of it. Without being captured by your beliefs, you are strong enough and confident enough to throw away any and all beliefs and perspectives, each and every philosophy and story. You can stand totally alone, completely independent of all that comes through the mind, through time and space. This station of realization is difficult and rare. Most of us don’t have the nerve to lose our minds. Although terrifying, it is necessary for true freedom." ~ A. H. Almaas