Knowing

There are steps to knowing,

To becoming aware of what lies beyond all of this.

The first step is a longing — for another time,

Another place and another condition,

That is more perfect and free.

 

The second step is the search for the method

Of becoming free.

This is the fun part!

You must find out how to meditate and

What to meditate upon.

You must search for your teacher

And find a way to be accepted by him.

To do this you must be inventive, creative

And attached to nothing at all except these goals.

 

If you must travel the world over in search — you must;

If you must read every book about meditation until you

Have read and reread them all many times — you must;

If you must listen to hundreds of pompous teachers

Who are filled up only with their own egos — you must.

You must listen to them,

Until you find the one that glows with the

Golden light of enlightenment.

 

The third part is what I call the discipline of

Enlightenment. It is really the best part.

You must overcome your ego and finally put it to rest.

You must practice your meditation until it is perfect.

You must listen to your teacher until you can hear

Nothing else: Not what you want to hear, not

Your version of what he is saying,

But exactly what he has said!

 

The last part is to be alone.

This is the test.

You can meditate perfectly.

You have overcome ego.

You have become a reflection of your teacher’s mind,

The mind and the heart of enlightenment.

Now you must face aloneness,

The immensity of all being,

Because you have learned that emptiness and fullness

Are as transient as the spring flowers,

As youth, and as promises

Made in the heat of passion.

 

My personal advice,

When you reach this stage,

Is to face the immensity of life,

All of the teeming

Worlds of brightness

That stretch out into infinity,

With a smile.