You did it

You were the one

Who separated the world

Into pieces

Into colors

People

Races

Countries

Good and bad

OK, Sure…

School

Parents

Culture

Did their part

Helped foster

The illusion

But they won’t help you

Undo it

That’s your job

Your job alone

You can’t cobble together

Separate pieces

Back into One

Spare yourself the trouble

The impossible task

You only have to remember

That the pieces

Are not separate

And never were

Don’t you remember?

Go back to

Square One

Before thought

Just a blank slate

That mythical place

Before you tolerated

Even the idea

Of separation

That one tiny thought

That broke the world

That teensy lie upon which

All the rest

Was built

Watch as

Separation

Simply

Disappears

Watch as

The illusion

Shatters

Then

And only then

Will you have

Done your part

Dear friend

To riunite

The “whole”

Entire

World

The one that was

Never separate

Especially…

From

You!

A talented gardener friend showed me how to prune an olive tree last year. And it was amazing. You see, gardeners see trees differently from the rest of us. While we see a tree as it is, they see it as it could be. They decide the shape and function they want a tree to take… and then intervene to make it become a reality. They don’t have to move the tree, or change it (into an apple tree, say)… they work with the tree as it is, then simply prune the branches that don’t support their objective. Obviously they want the tree to grow more fruit (in this case, olives). They want to stop the tree from growing fast shoots, which drain the tree of light. They know that if the branches overlap, their shadows will block out sunlight. In Umbria, they want the tree to grow into a bowl, with lots of sun reaching inside. They want to keep them short, so they can harvest the olives without a ladder.

It looks like they’re only making small cuts, but over time… these small interventions make a huge difference in the way the tree develops. It’s like watching a slow-motion magician, changing a tree’s destiny.

This is because, in the end, a gardener sees a tree not as a material thing, but as an energy field. His job is not to make it grow – he has no such delusions of grandeur – but to work with its energy. As my friend wisely said, “The life force is always moving upwards. It will not be stopped; it can only be directed.”

And this reminded me of the spiritual path, in which we deliberately prune away certain habits that don’t bear fruit. Often we move away from large cities, in order to lose our tendency to seek constant pleasure. We prune that part away. We start to take charge of our tree.

We might start meditating, pruning away our tendency to let the world tell us how to grow. We try to get in touch with that energy, and learn to respect it.

We begin to see how certain of our tendencies interfere with our long-term goals – throwing shade on them, so to speak.

And we no longer see the “fruits” as just short-term moments of happiness – which quickly become bitter. We seek out, instead, long-term relationships and that sense of inner joy which make the fruit so much sweeter. In a sense, my friend was developing the quality of the olive, and not just the quantity.

It’s like we’re a general in charge of an army. The soldiers in our keep, the cells inside our bodies, the thoughts in our minds, are waiting to be guided. Will they be guided by desire, left to grow willy-nilly? Or will they be guided by higher ideals? We are the gardeners of our lives, the life-force is always there… it’s up to us to decide which form our tree will take.

So let’s get out those hedge clippers!

Pain, if not called

Suffering

If not labeled

Wrong

Unfair

Unnecessary

If just allowed

Doesn’t hurt

Doesn’t distract

It’s just

A teacher

A readjustment

A correction to

Outdated thinking

Conditioned nonsense

Limited beliefs

It’s just

Your way of

Awakening

Evolving

By accepting pain

As part of your path

You are finally

Opening

The

Door

To a

Blessed

New

State

Of

Fearless

Living!

We’re all aware that there are people who try to manipulate us… for their own ends. They may be our government, our boss, our spouse, our families; anyone who seems to say, “”What’s going on inside of you… and how can I use it to my advantage?” “They” take your hard work, your money, your time… and it becomes obvious that “they” don’t really care about you, do they?

But watch out, friends. Our egos do the same thing to us… every day! Our old conditioning is constantly trying to figure out how to leverage our talents, our looks, our money… for its own gain, not ours. It’s desperate to stay alive!

In reality, You don’t need the ego at all; it needs You. It lives off of Your energy, Your attention, Your consent. You are the Supreme Consciousness. You don’t need to be babysat all day. You don’t need the ego to constantly keep you down, make You feel like a puppet, make You feel inferior, helpless and small. You’ve believed that all Your life. Isn’t it time to stop accepting what it tells You?

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

Once we see its manipulation clearly, it will be game over for the ego… and it knows that. That’s why it keeps us battling the wrong enemies. As long as the ego keeps us tethered to the idea that – without it – we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can accomplish nothing… it has total control of us. Which is exactly what our manipulating boss, parent, or government would have us believe. Does that ring a bell?

The small-time manipulators in our lives are only here to show us what we are doing to ourselves. And our revolt against “them” is only here to pave the way for the much bigger (and difficult) inner revolt… against the ego itself.

You are not limited, dear one. Stand up for Yourself. Reclaim Your throne.

And once you stop letting the ego tell You otherwise, You won’t have to rebel against the world anymore. You’ll have eliminated the real enemy. Your life will become easy, without struggles, without hurry or anxiety… the way it always was…

Before the ego came along and started using You!