Cold Water

Pain is real. "Suffering" is the story we make up about it. Remorse is real. "Sin" is the story we make up about it.

"Sin" and "suffering" are not experiences. They are not even feelings. They are stories we tell about our passing sensations when we superimpose thoughts onto the taste of life.

Pain is real. Sorrow is real. Anger is real. They are part of our rich palette. Pain, sorrow and anger arise and dissolve as appropriate and immediate tastes of energy. They are as valid as pleasure, laughter or compassion. All these delectable tastes arise in the empty space of awareness, which remains vast and still, just as the sky remains the sky in the midst of clouds.

We don't say that pleasure or laughter are problems when they arise: why should we say that sorrow or anger are problems? It is our mind that makes them problems when we insist on turning passable sensations into a story, a story about "me."

This "me" is quite special, with unique problems and a remarkable fate. This "me" has a venerable pedigree and a glorious future. This "me" contends heroically against terrifying enemies who try to undermine its calling and destiny. This "me" gravitates to ancient stories about super-heroes and god-like saints, because these stories seem to confirm the drama of "me."

In fact, you have no genealogy. Forget about it. You are never one moment old. The birth you take this moment is far more crucial than the birth you took from your mother's womb. Why must you make up a story about that baby and connect it to this Now? Is there really a "me" whose passport you have to validate for every stop along that journey? Are you sure there really was a journey?

You have no destiny. You show no promise. So don't promise anything, just be. Why keep disappointing yourself by failing to become the one who was prophesied by your ancient story? There is no story.

Right now, you are who you are supposed to be. Otherwise you would not exist. That is all the prophecy you need. I throw cold water in your face to make you free, even if it stings.