There I sat, cross-legged on a pillow in the living room of a new friend, with a dozen or so other ‘new friends’ talking about A Course in Miracles. He asked us what we wanted. A woman near me told us all that that was a hard question. He laughed and asked again.
The answers started coming at him fast and furiously… love, connection, peace, joy, spirituality, purpose… With each response people smiled and nodded and added more. Having heard most of the things on my list already mentioned, I said ‘a peanut butter and jelly sandwich’. People laughed… he smiled gently at me and asked, “What will that get you?” Ah ha! I wasn’t trying to be a smart ass and he sensed that, so he asked me to say more. It didn’t take me long to realize that it gave me comfort and security. Heads nodded furiously… they wanted comfort and security, too.
Interesting, he said, that we all know exactly what we want and we all want the same things. He went on. “Where can you get all those things?” Without any hesitation we simultaneously pointed to ourselves. “Oh, so you even know where to get what you want. And when can you get it?” The word NOW resounded like a chorus – as if we’d been rehearsing that answer for years.
“You all want the same things. You know where to get them and you even know the best time to grab them. So what’s stopping you? Why aren’t you living a life with all of what you want right now?”
Simple. We were ‘seeking’. I know for myself, that I was still scurrying around looking for evidence that those things even existed. Maybe, if I could prove to myself that they were real and available, THEN I could reach out and grab some. For many of us the seeking is the best part of the game. Personally, I love being a detective. Besides, if I found all I was looking for, the game would be over, wouldn’t it? Then what?
Finders don’t need to collect evidence; no proof necessary. Finders have no doubt about whom they are, why they are here or what is available. And here’s the cosmic joke: When we transform from seeker to finder we will finally be available to participate, consciously and wholeheartedly, in the greatest gift we’ve been given (get ready, joke coming)… which is the life we are already living right now!
Try this on: Give up looking! Pay attention (I mean REALLY notice!) all that stuff that’s all around you – right here; right now. You don’t have to become a spiritual sage (unless that floats your boat), but imagine a life free of the seeking; a life of natural knowing. (Cuz, hey, if I understand it correctly – and I think I do – all that good stuff is true, anyway!).
What if you gave up the struggle and insecurity of trying to ‘find’ and ‘become’ and just let yourself lean back into the universe and ‘be’, instead. Can you imagine being the best you possible, living your highest potential for the good of all (pimples, warts and all), just because you’re in love with life and committed to sharing the joy?
Seek and ye shall find? Find and you can stop seeking!