In Yoke

The wine of life is oozing drop by drop, The leaves of life are falling one by one.   – Omar Khayyam Easwaran muses: Like leaves, we come into this life, are here for a few days, and then are gone. Nobody remembers us, and nobody misses us. As long as we believe that we are separate, we inevitably have to die. Our immortality is in the whole, which never dies. In living just for personal profit and pleasure, no matter under what philosophical name we may call it, our real personality withers away. It cannot be otherwise. When you become aware that you are not a leaf but the tree , something amazing happens in your life: you are able to act spontaneously, almost effortlessly, for the good of all. This is the proof of your awareness that you are the tree: everywhere it will motivate you, everywhere you will see what contribution you can make. You won’t have to deliberate the pros and cons. You won’t need a computer to provide you with a plan of action. You will kn...

A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within. -Eudora Welty I am sitting in my chair at home in my study, looking out on the ancient live oak trees in the forest that has become my neighborhood. There is everything right here in my hometown, Waco to satisfy me: birds, flowers, trees, reasonable comfort, loyal companions, and the precious opportunity of selfless service. Right here is everything I need for complete happiness always. But as I look out of my study window I see a man with a camper-trailer driving down my street heading for the open road. Somewhere in my mind is the uneasy stirring of a wanderlust, a pent up desire to jump into that camper and go out chasing rainbows to find the pot of gold at the end. This belief that somewhere out there is the land of joy dogs my footsteps wherever I am. Contentment is the ego search of my short life. The truth is that as long as I look upon happiness as something outside of me, I shall never be...