Success and Education

Could it be that the more "successful" you are, the crazier you are? Could it be that the children of the driven and well-off parents are unhappier than the children of the poorer, yet more relaxed parents? Could it be true what the Bible says, that "the last ones will be first and the first will be last?"

Su Zhen grew up in an Asian school system, determined to crank out driven students. Students were bombarded with daily tests. Learning was fact based, so if you wanted to succeed in this system, you had to give up pretty much all extracurricular activities and devoted all your energy to your study and tests instead. Schools didn’t encourage personal exploration, no "life skill" learning and no personal relationship or emotional management were ever taught. So you learn how to succeed in such a system, you become one- dimensional in your approach and start neglecting your true passions. At the time of her college entry exam she found herself totally crippled, mentally and physically. All the energy was spent and the fire and zest for life was gone at that stage of her life.

China, like other developing countries, is poorer than the West, so people and students are driven to move out of poverty by getting a good education. In the US, the intellectual race may be a little bit more subtle, but it is pretty much the same. The "successful" people have figured out that if their children can become successful as they are, they have to become multi-dimensional, they have to stimulate the right brain as well as the left brain, they have to be artist as much as scientist. In short, they have to be all-around talents just as Harvard University wants them to be. So all week parents hover over their children and scurry them from math to music, from soccer to theater class. And when they are in their teens, they better get started on writing a book, or launching some cultural classes because that is what the leaders at Harvard expect these days.

All pressure, whether it is desperately cramming information into your head or by practicing all day and night how to become a well-groomed all-around talent who has a shot at making it into the Ivy-League implies that you are at risk of deviating from your true potential. You are a Daughter of God, all you have to do is to know that you are. Life makes you the master you are born to be. You can relax, everything you will ever need to discover who you truly are you already have in hand. That is, it is true if you believe that it is.Tell your Tiger mom that the Tao already takes good care of you and as long as she truly loves you, life is perfect already. Let's leave the pressure cooker for lentils, the children of God need none.

Su Zhen went back to visit her family the other day and was reminded that all her siblings had mastered life without an Ivy-league education. It was life, the demands of making a living, that taught them the necessary skills how to succeed in real life. It took them a while to get there, but each and everyone has now mastered their professions. Life takes good care of you if you let it, life cooperates if you always put your best foot forward. The Tao will make you the person you were born to be.

So where does this leave us? All parents want the best for their children. All educators want to make their students succeed. Harvard will always have a vision for success and people will always scheme to get their children - out of millions of other applicants - admitted. The art of life is to understand that there is only one thing your child truly needs and that is your love and your attention. Success is doing everything with enthusiasm, success is about igniting that fire inside, success is to find out for yourself that there is only one true emotion inside of you and that is love. The Tao will teach you how to be successful. Open up to life moment by moment and you will be a master at whatever it is that your heart desires. Yes, you will be first like all your other soul siblings. Before God everyone is special.

By Christian and Su Zhen

On Gurus and Angels

You probably have read about the handful of spiritual giants who have been blessing the earth. If you are really lucky you may even have had the chance to meet one of these beacon of light yourself. When you listen to them, when you read what they write, when you just sit silently in their presence you can feel that everything they are is true. Perhaps they can be compared with a fueling station. You go to your personal Mecca to get some new direction, some new hope. These masters are able to connect with the Source whenever they like. They are God’s messengers. They can heal like God. They also radiate God's energy. Just sitting in their vicinity charges you up.They give you an appetizer for what life on earth can be about, but after experience you are still left on your own to find the path for yourself. You leave your Mecca with a full tank and you try your journey once again.

The Tao is about realizing that you don't need to seek your personal Mecca, you can find it in your own home yard. When you are ready to launch your spiritual path, angels will come to assist you on your Home coming journey. It takes some skills to recognize these angels, but when you truly trust your heart you will find them. When we start our journey, most of us will experience a period of chaos. The ego is theatrical as you will find out for yourself, so we need to stage a few theatrical near-death experiences to help you stepping out of this movie plot. No "enlightened master" can help you with that otherwise your ego would just design a new idol, one with holy clothes this time around. But you are not alone in your journey. The angels are still with you. They are the people who challenge you, the friends who need your help, your children who look up to you. Everyone helps you discovering who you truly are.

Once you open up to your environment, once you walk the Tao the guidance will be just around the corner. God's grace and miracles show up just when you need them. Just like Moses you find that the sea parts in the nick of time. As you have more and more lucid moments it dawns on you that you can experience God all the time. As you are merging with Her you can feel how you are being transformed. At that moment, it is time to walk completely on you own. You don’t need any masters any more because you are your own Daughter of God. You are God's co-creator and in fact always have been but at this holy moment you realize your birthright.

If you are on a spiritual path an angel must already be in your vicinity. Reflect for a moment, do you have a hunch who it could be?

By Christian and Su Zhen