A journey through the known into the unknown regions of the soul is similar to the quest told in fairy tales. The ignorant hero or heroine sets out from the familiar, everyday world because of a longing to find a greater life than the ordinary routine of a limited existence. Frightening encounters, tests of all kinds follow. If you pass the tests, you find happiness. The reward is wealth and a life partner; you become king or queen: a fulfilled adult.
The inner quest, if taken seriously, also takes courage, also traverses dark regions, and also leads to maturity - and the treasure is also always found. Just as in the fairy tales the hero doesn't sneak around the dragon but fights him, and doesn't run away from the old witch but befriends her, you, too, must meet the destructive forces within yourself and deal with them. In this lecture the Guide shows how to follow the longing and liberate the dormant powers within yourself, so that you come upon the treasure of your wise, loving, inner Godself.
Longing for a Larger and More Fulfilling State of Consciousness
Greetings and welcome, my friends. Blessings for every one of you. In this lecture I would like to discuss the path to the fulfillment of your deepest longings. Every human being senses an inner longing that goes deeper than the longings for emotional and creative fulfillment, although these are, of course, part of the deeper and more essential desire. This longing comes from sensing that another, more fulfilling state of consciousness and a larger capacity to experience life must exist. As you translate this longing into conscious terms, you may become involved in confusion and contradiction. Confusions and apparent contradictions come from the dualistic consciousness of the human mind. The dualism is always present, for humans perceive reality in terms of either/or, good or bad, right or wrong, black or white. This way of perceiving life is at best only half true: one can perceive only fragments of reality; the full truth can never be found. Truth always comprises more than what the dualistic way of seeing reality can grasp.
One confusion might be: "Am I longing for something unreal? Would it be perhaps more realistic and more mature to give up this longing and accept that life is just this flat, dismal, gray place? Do we not hear over and over that acceptance is necessary in order to be at peace with oneself and life? Therefore I should really abandon this longing."The way out of your confusion can only be found when you take a step beyond the dualism implicit in this dilemma. It is true that you must accept your present state. It is true that life, as it manifests, cannot be perfect. Yet this fact is not what truly makes you unhappy, rather it is your demand that life should be perfect and be handed to you in its perfection that creates a problem. If you go deeply enough, you will inevitably discover that there is a part of you which denies pain and frustration; a place where you are angry and spiteful because there is no loving authority who will eliminate undesirable experiences for you. Thus it is true that your longing for this utopian kind of happier state is unrealistic and should be abandoned. More What is the Path
