A New Perception

We met at a small out of the way bookstore and coffee shop.  It smelled of incense and had a very Bohemian atmosphere.  The clerk was a small lady with a ready smile and an air of intelligence about her.  She directed my friend to a section of the bookstore that contained "New Age" books.  "Z" said to me,  "I want to find that new translation of the Diamond Sutra that you had mentioned.  "Ah! Here it is "L"."

We decided to stay and found a secluded table in the corner. "Z" was anxious to talk to me about a realization that had come to her last week.  We ordered some Tea and then she smiled broadly as if she might burst out laughing any second.  "L", "I had this most wonderful experience last week, which really brought into perspective my life and my grapples with various problems."  "Z" went on to say,  "As you know "L" I have been strung out over my relationship with my "Ex" and it has been a very rocky road, with all the emotional highs and lows."  "But after hearing you talk in the discussion group a few weeks ago about the fact that there are no problems except the ones we create, I began to seriously think on it." "It struck a cord with me, but I did not at the time fully understand what you were saying." "Then last week I was in the depths of despair and suddenly I realized there was really no solution to be found."  "That I am the problem and the solution as one movement."  " I mean it was so obvious and so simple." "I had this incredible moment of clarity that became a totally new way of looking and perceiving."  "It was as if my problems just ceased to exist."  "They no longer controlled me." "It was that Freedom that you often talk about, but you just can't put it into words."

I smiled at "Z" and felt her joy and her light.  In that moment I was also consumed with a feeling of freedom, it seemed to fill the room with a peace that was without any attachment or causation.  I said to her, truly your life has had a major transformation.  It is important that you not cling to it as something to be captured and repeated.  She said, " I know, I know,  but I just want to somehow tell everyone."  Tell people by living it in the moment.   People will see that you have changed.  Impart it to them by living the joy that is within.  Now you can live without conditions.  You will find that it is now possible to love without expectation or conditional advantage. 

Allow an acute awareness to overtake your thoughts.  Be passive in that awareness so that everything you see and touch reflects the oneness that you feel at your new found freedom.  Your mind will no longer be fragmented and subject to emotional speculation.  Allow every thought and feeling to flower independent of the one who observes and defines.  Live without seeking an end or goal.  Most important of all you have within your grasp to live totally without fear.  Because the emotionally charged problems that have brought you to this end are all based in fear.  So it is possible for you to understand the whole problem of fear its self.  And to this end the truth of love that is totally selfless.

"Z" said to me, "L" you have helped me to realize."  "You came along at just the right time, I am really speechless, I don't know how to express what I am feeling for you."  "How is it that you can speak to me, to the center of my being and cause such a powerful change?"  It has nothing to do with me, its all understanding that is within you, I have just pointed it out to you.  We laughed, hugged and parted.