Looking Under the Lamp

"In an old Sufi story about the wise-fool Mullah Nasrudin, the Mulllah is seen searching for a key under a street lamp. Helpful passersby join in the search but to no avail. They ask the Mullah if he is sure about that he lost the key there. The Mullah replies that he lost it yards away under a tree but since its dark there he thought of looking under the street lamp."

The lesson? People don't want to do real work! Most of us just want to look like we are doing real inner work. Look busy so we feel better about where we are and going. We are trying to "Figure Out" the truth, read it in a book, or receive it from others!

Why? Because the light is brighter there! The work is, therefore, easier!

To find our way, towards enlightenment, we must do it alone, most of the time. It might seem dark initially, but as our eyes adjust, it becomes brighter. Eventually we will see everything. We learn to use our own light, our own language, and our own intelligence. What we find is a truth beyond what an individual can "figure out". We become greater than any self image, and wiser than any fixed dogma frozen in language. We discover a field of knowing, a bliss where all thinking ends, all separation ends, all suffering ends.

We can now see clearly that it has never been otherwise. The only difference is that now everything has its own meaning, and we don't have to carry anything again! Most of us pay a big price by looking under the street lamp! Most just read another book.

Be a lamp to yourself.
Be your own confidence.
Hold the truth within yourself, as to
the only truth. - Buddha

Bill Savoie - The Bridge to One