Thursday, March 29, 2018

Never Mind the Carrot in front of Us

When you strive for anything in the belief that it will bring you peace, you are belittling yourself.
(A Course in Miracles)

We can be here and now, or we shall be nowhere, as the spiritual saying goes. Let the future take care of itself, and let’s put our convoluted past to rest. It is fine, and often even important, to strive when we need to get something accomplished. Yet, it is an illusion to think that we will be any happier because of it. We can be at peace here and now, or we perhaps never will.


Our ego is nothing but a program that has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde problem embedded inside. We think that we will be happy when we accomplish this or that, but the carrot will keep on moving along. Did you know that the perceived happiness of lottery winners and people with a spinal cord injury goes back to its original level after a transition period of a year or so? Hard to imagine, isn’t it, but that’s the power of the ego at work.



There is a way out of the dilemma. There is a chance to leave the ego behind. It is an insight really; an awareness of the self-imposed oxymoron. We can understand the program that runs us. We need to be one with the sadness and dissatisfaction of the present moment, and watch it dissolve like the clouds on the sky that are penetrated by the incoming sun. Never mind the carrot in front of us. With this awareness we are finally free!

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