Wise & Shine

        

In the 2002 movie entitled Catch Me If You Can, Leo DiCaprio portrays “real life” felon Frank Abagnale, who spent several years on the run. During that period, Mr. Abagnale claims that he posed as various professionals, including a lawyer and a physician. The movie primarily focuses on his time spent posing as a pilot for Pan American airlines. He evaded police capture until finally being caught in 1969.

For the purposes of this article, I would just like to state that I (your ego) make Mr. Abagnale appear like a rank amateur. Comparatively speaking, I am the king/queen of elusive characters. To use a metaphor connected to the movie, you might say that I fly beneath the radar, all day long. The majority of persons will spend the years between birth and death without ever having discovered my real identity. Some have referred to me as the great trickster; and I smile at that description, because it’s true.

Deception is my modus operandi: One minute I will applaud an action that you believe you have taken; and the next, I will rake you over the coals for being so darned stupid. Haha, the joke’s on you! I inflate you with pride, and deflate you with shame—sometimes within hours. As long as you believe in “me,” that’s the kind of living conditions that you’re going to experience. Many of the great masters have told you that pleasure and pain go together, which is true. How can you ever know a mountain without its opposite, the valley, lurking nearby? The real “I” is beyond such apparent opposites.

The Beings who dive deeper into life know better. Let me be clear about this: This is not to say that they are better; they just know better, because they’ve seen through the illusion. They are often referred to as spiritual seekers; and the term is appropriate, because they are so darn tired of my shenanigans and their suffering that they seek a way to re-cognize (know again) the true Self, which is beyond the mind.

To catch “me” if you can, you must become still. That’s why the Bible states, “be still and know that I am God.” Most people are far too busy reacting to my commands, and living their very hectic lives, to take the time to sit down and discover the nature of the real Self. It is sometimes described as The One, and It is prior to mind.

In the well-known spiritual book entitled The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle shares: “Until my thirtieth year, I lived in a state of almost continuous anxiety interspersed with periods of suicidal depression.” That was “me” tormenting the heck out of him. He continues: “One night not longer after my twenty-ninth birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread.” Hey, I have to give him credit, because the following quote, which was repeating in his mind, is so rich in its liberating power that it deserves to be set apart. If you desire your freedom, I advise you to contemplate it deeply:

“I cannot live with myself any longer.”

 There it is, folks, the key to freedom. Can you see it? Eckhart goes on to state that the repetitive thought caused an almost immediate inner realization. He then went on to ask: “Am I one or two?” He realized that the thought implied two selves (‘I” and “myself”), and he wondered if only one of them was real. This may sound bad (and it is), but I admit that on the night that he realized the truth, I threw my hands into the air, stomped my feet real hard, and shouted a silent obscenity. I was caught.

As I end this article, I’m going to (uncharacteristically) give you a hint at how to see through me; to give you a better chance of catching me, if you can. Here’s the hint, in the form of a question: What is the primary way that I trick you? Answer: Through your inherent belief, programmed into you since childhood, that a little “i” exists independent of the mind. That’s right, the little “i” that you have long assumed to be your real identity is only a repetitive thought pattern. The real YOU, which is beyond the chatter of the mind, is the indivisible One (God, Consciousness, Source), appearing in a multiplicity and diversity of form.

Let’s end this article with a short quote, which is attributed to the original Buddha: “Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer thereof.” Yes, Buddha realized the Truth; and now you may be on your way to seeing through me. Catch me if you can; your apparent life will feel a lot lighter if/when you do.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art Russell

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