Days of Creation, by Bogdan Heretoiu

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Days of Creation

The Becoming of Man

Chapter One ~ The Question :

    Life…  Such a short word, though powerful and full of meaning.  A word expressing the Creation itself with its infinite forms... Somewhere contained within this Creation - like a particle of water within an ocean - there is a wonderful life form. It’s us. Small and apparently vulnerable, but nevertheless - so much alike with Creation itself. 

   Like lightning, we are passing through the Realm of forms trying to absorb as much as we possibly can learn and discover.  But what are we really looking for?  What are we trying to achieve?  We are searching all over the place; we go to see masters and teachers; we follow rules invented by others, in which we may or may not believe; we separate good and bad, according to what we like...  and all of this to find out what?  Could it all be reduced to the fact that plain and simple, we are born one day and die another?  In between ... there is love, hope, hate, fear, and all the things we know as life.  Switching back and forth from suffering to joy, we search for happiness.  Do we find it?  Not too often, and definitely, not always.  

   But who are we?  This is the crucial question, the turning point of our lives, when we start looking around ... for more.  For something different.  For answers.

   I remember myself when I was a kid, trying to make some sense out of everything around me.  I wasn’t really understanding very much, but the curiosity was obviously there.  The more I learned, the more I realized how much I still didn't know.  Like all of us, I searched for the right spiritual path for years.  I read books, took courses, bought tapes and traveled to see sacred places or special people.  I ended up with a fairly vast knowledge of spiritual culture, as well as years of confusion.

   After so many years, I am still wondering why nobody told me the whole truth.  Why everybody had just pieces of truth and pretended that "their" truth was the universal one.  Most of the time they transformed that truth into a tool that served their own interest.  If many years ago someone had told me what I am about to tell you in this book, I would have saved all those years of confusion. Wandering around, trying to put all those pieces of truth together, we become confused and puzzled.  It is a life-long process.  So, where should we start putting the puzzle together?

   The main problem during my spiritual quest was how to start.  Almost every book I read or every master I went to see gave me the same instruction: to search within myself and find out who I am.  But how? 

   Some people told me that Jesus, or Buddha, would be the way.  I was given special sounds and words called mantras to practice for hours and hours.  I was given yoga postures and specific breathing and meditation routines.  Another time I met a group of people whose method was a sort of rhythmical dance.  I was asked to abstain from everything that was pleasurable; such things being considered a sin or just a waste of energy, depending on the culture or religious beliefs.  All this training required a self-imposed discipline and in a sense, a limited existence.  Years of hard and dedicated practice were necessary. If a Master, Guru or God was involved, then undivided love and faith was the law.  Even so, too few people were able to obtain certain results that were so-called “divine”, and I wanted more.  I didn’t know what I was searching for.  It was instinctual.  A feeling of wanting cosmic freedom.  It was a hunger and thirst for knowledge, and it was a matter of NOW, not after death or for the next reincarnation.  I wasn’t ready for years of practicing
the same rituals.  I had an explosive energy called LIFE within me and I had no the intention of putting a lid on it for the sake of a Guru or even God.  I was ready to conquer the Universe with my spirit.  I was a rebel.  So I kept searching for the right way to reach the only trinity I believed in: Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience.

   There was only one thing that didn’t seem right to me: Why should I try to identify myself with a figure or a ritual - until I become one with it - in order to reach universality?  Do I need an intermediary?  Now, as you read, do you see the conflict?  I wasn’t going to do any ritual to reach the Universe, but I was trying to become the Universe.

   If billions of people have tried for thousand of years to reach the Universe, Nirvana, God ... you name it, using any form of intermediary level between themselves and the Universe, and it did not work, then why keep on doing it?  If for thousands of years people have killed, hated or even just disliked each other because this intermediary wasn’t the same for everyone, then why keep on doing it?  Just because someone said so?  For these reasons, at one point in my life I took the very risky decision of eliminating any intermediary - of any form - that could stay between the Universe and me.  It was risky because I was actually stating that everybody else is wrong but me.  I needed courage because I was going to get out of the system.  I was going to break the rules. In the coming years, on the edge of a deadlock, my confidence and strength were going to be tested more then once.  In time, I learned to go pass through hard times with fun and joy.  I understood that freedom could be achieved without escaping from a system.  I learned the paradox of controlling without controlling.  My theory has proven to be right.  Luckily, I learned an amazing alphabet of a sacred language, common maybe in any corner of the Universe.  Maybe one day, I will speak it fluently and one day - Christian, Muslim or Buddhist - all will.  I guess I was lucky.  I guess I should share it.  So, here it is - my book.  I will ask you again, as we continue.

  Don’t just analyze the words.  There is no system to follow.  There is no trust or faith involved, and once you understand my words forget me; forget my name; forget the book.  I am walking around this planet the same as you are.  We aren’t different.  I don’t follow you; you don’t follow me.  I only spoke about myself to show you that it is possible for any ordinary human being, to search and to find … and search again.  Once in a while, I will give a training seminar to share the techniques I practice and my personal experiences with other people, and they will share theirs with me.  Any donations resulting from those seminars will also benefit the children, through the projects that my friends and I are initiating.

   In each and every second - as you read this book, eat or make love, innocent eyes are closing for eternity.  Missing a cure or even food and water, they come and go silently, leaving a world too busy and tired to acknowledge their presence.  They come and go with a blink of an eye.  I guess we’re lucky for not sharing the same fate.  For thousands of years people have been dying in sickness, fear, or darkness.  For different reasons, lives were unsaved, memories were lost, histories vanished, and all along, people have been asking themselves who they are and how can they change?  Some of them misunderstood the word “change” and therefore, wars and revolutions have come.  Some people believed that they are better than others.  Religions, cults, and their followers appeared, and every time that happened, the effects of that kind of change were devastating.  A new system was born and fear was the root that supported it, carrying from the very beginning the seed of future destruction. 

   The real change, as I see it, is in the way we live our lives.  We are born one day and we will die another.  What is in between, is our right to choose, and as long as we are alive, we have this power, as well as the ability to change.  There is only one key element: Do we really feel the need for a change?

   If you desire to come to my seminars, do it after you have tried to do what I am about to share with you in this book.  In this way, you will never be exposed to the risk of becoming a follower just because it sounds good and you trust it.  You will be able to exist on your own.  You will not need a system to follow.  You will be free and you will have a power to share.

You will be a Creator.

   I cannot say that what you are about to read is about the way you should go - all I ask from you is to read it and try it before you make any judgments.

   Because of our confusing and complicated society, some people will go completely insane and some will become good citizens with bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards and careers.  The middle class - spiritually speaking - will end up of course, between the two extremes of our society.  For all of them though, the process is very uncomfortable and generates conflicts . . . Everything starts with a question.  A very simple and ancient question with an extraordinary power of creation, as well as of destruction: Who am I?

   To begin to answer this question, try this: Take off your clothes and look at yourself for awhile in a mirror, examining all the details.  That’s what you are - no more no less.  If you add a name, remember... it is a given name; if you add a title or any sort of credentials, remember... those are given qualities even if you worked hard to obtain them.  What you really are is that naked being, reflected in the mirror.  Look straight into your eyes, asking and then giving yourself an answer.  Here is the moment when everything becomes really complicated.  If you answered that basic question with a basic answer, such as “I am who I am”, then everything would be simple.  Unfortunately, we all tend to answer it in a very complicated fashion.  We define ourselves based on so many things, such as our credentials; standards and rules; beliefs and judgments; therefore, the answer to a very simple question will become quite complicated and we end up being fooled.  It wouldn’t be that bad though, if the result of this process had no effect on our lives, but it has. Being a very limited answer, given by our own brain, it generates a self-limiting program that traps us for many years, sometimes for life.

 Imagine yourself at the beach.  Can you tell how many particles of sand the beach is made of?  Your complicated answer about who you are would be just a particle of sand.  The real you is the whole beach.  The answer must be given through a process of self-realization instead of one of logical analysis. 

   In ancient times, the Old Masters believed that a process of self realization is accomplished through many years of very strict discipline.  Only the ones having the luck to be chosen by gods would be successful.  I really believe that such a self-realization or enlightenment can be accomplished in a matter of hours or days.  The only things we should change, are the long, complicated rituals that we are practicing.  These rituals could be social, religious or just self-made habits, but all with an incredible power characteristic of any ritual.  Some people smoke, others drink or play golf.  Some go to church and pray, while others play the Wall Street lottery.  We all have one thing in common though; we identify ourselves with these rituals.  Without them we would be lost and panicked.  So we create and hold on to them for safety reasons; but the side effect of this psychological process is that we loose the ability of being new and open at all times, and we become a reflection of the same set of actions - reflecting itself over and over again.  Holding on to these rituals - just because it makes us feel safe - constantly reinforces our weakness and inability to adapt to the new.

   Changing the rituals does not mean giving them up.  We would only change their value - they would not create us anymore, but we would create them.  It has been said so many times, by so many wise people that we are the perfect tool to be used in our search; we are the perfect way.

   If we are the way, then what should we do?  Why aren’t we happy and at peace?  The most logical explanation is that there must be some confusion somewhere, caused by our own concepts.

The ancient ones, the great-grandparents of our civilization and their mystical arts left us the fantastic treasure of their knowledge and experience. They expressed the idea that in order to find peace, the first thing to do is to return to the origin because there, Creation is eternal.

   It is hard and many times impossible for some of us to find a continuous peace within ourselves. We constantly seek this peace and definitely need it, but for the vast majority of us it seems an unattainable state of mind. Maybe this is so because of the rush we experience and call Life… It might be also because we were never trained to obtain this peace without tremendous help… and tremendous struggle.

   Among the many philosophies, rituals or exercises that we inherited from our history, stands a very powerful concept: simplicity. The most powerful thing that we are capable of doing is being simple. It is, according to our ancestors' wisdom, the true and only key to happiness.  It is the necessary quality of our lives that allows us to return to origin.  In our ancestors' times, simplicity was more than just a technique.  It was a way of living apart from any tendency to complicate life.

     When faced with going to work every day, dealing with mean spirited people or odd situations, taking care of a house full of kids or who knows what else, simplicity seems to become almost impossible - an unsurpassable limit.  In this state of being, the search for peace and happiness is a painful process.  This happens because we expect happiness to be the result of our way of living - a result of our conscious effort to sustain against multiple social problems. But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way. I said before that the key to happiness is simplicity. "Working" with such a concept it is more a matter of art and expression than effort. There is no living soul whose access to a happy life can be denied. A beautiful quote from Swami Beyondananda's "Guidelines for Enlightenment" says: "If you're looking to find the key to the Universe, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is - there is no key to the

Universe. The good news is - it has been left unlocked."  Everything is here - within our reach.  Simplicity is a very subtle and exciting form of art. Very private and unique, it is different for each and every one of us while at the same time it exists in all the ordinary aspects of life. To start using it, like any other form of expression, it simply requires our presence and action. Even if it might be considered common sense, simplicity as the key to happiness has little or nothing to do with our actions or their results. We are free to deal with as many or as few problems as we want. There is nothing that we have to give up or to obtain, because simplicity has no form. It is an entirely internal attitude. It is beyond desire because of its essence: immaterial and impossible to grab, hold or keep.

      If we want to obtain constant happiness, the following three conditions are a must: We first have to want it.  Then, we must understand that happiness doesn't just happen to us…we have to make it happen, and at last but not least, we must be entirely honest with ourselves. Without these three conditions, simplicity has no chance to exist because the slightest deviation from our true nature would bring along confusion and conflict.

     Try something: For one day, choose to be happy instead of unhappy. For one day, no matter what happens to you - no matter how bad or ugly - remain within yourself committed to be happy. It might take some effort at first, but someday we all have to learn how to do this. Create your desires according to their accessibility and their necessity. For one day only, you will just need some food and water - nothing else. Need - not want! 

   This is where you have to start - from what you really need in order for you to exist. For only one day it is simple, but enough to plant within your mind the seed of happiness.

   Being happy is a matter of staying silent within yourself, content with what you have and nothing more. In this way you will be very centered and your inner strength will grow second by second.  Probably this will not be easy to do the first time, but remember that everything requires your presence and intention to
change. And if somehow you are not happy this very moment, as you read… just stop and think for a second - what is missing?  As you think about, answering your question, you might end up creating an entire list of missing things. It is excellent to identify the reasons why you are not totally happy, because you will have to work with them.  When you are done with that list, write each and every "item" on a separate piece of paper, big enough so you can fold it twice. Then, just watch. Watch the little notes you wrote for awhile and start folding them. Like a magician, re-arrange their place or order - if there is one - and after you are done folding them, put them in a zipper bag.  How did you feel?

   Take this as an exercise to test your willingness (not ability!) to detach yourself from your desires or problems. Create your own happiness from the very simple act of… just being!

   Returning to the origin could be a long journey or a very short one, but YOU will always be the one to set its length. 

   Let me tell you a story I learned during my martial arts training.  It is said that somewhere in this world, in an old village, monkeys used to come and steal food from the villagers. The old ones of the village decided one day to get even with the uninvited creatures, so they placed big jars filled with coconuts all over around their houses.  The jars were very much like any other jars, except for one detail: they had their spouts much narrower than usual, though big enough for a small, empty hand to go through.  Like usual, the monkeys came to steal the food. Each one of them stuck their hands inside the jars and grabbed a coconut, but when they tried to pull their hands out . . . they were trapped!  All the villagers came out of their hiding places and started laughing.  After that - defeated and humiliated - the monkeys didn’t bother the village anymore. It seems that the basic rule for when we are trapped should be to let go.  Holding on to what we think we need just because we want it, could cause us a lot of trouble.  Holding on to what we think we know may keep us trapped for a very long time… 

        
LET GO.

   Trapped by our own concepts, memories and desires, we panic. Our true nature is to exist free.  Unconsciously, we seek freedom but being trapped, we accumulate stress.  It is just a matter of time until we become sick.  A matter of time until we die.  Eventually, we ask ourselves the question “why”.  Why me?  It isn’t just you.  Take a look around you.  All over the planet, people are fighting for their existence.  Where is their freedom?  Many of them will die of starvation or sickness.   Others kill or are killed in wars or terrorism. Meanwhile, the big majority of us holds on to a secure job, hoping that nothing wrong or bad will ever happen to us.  We hope ... from fear. 

   Trapped into a system that we create on a daily basis, we become more and more unaware of our sacred, universal origin.  Somewhere in time, humanity took a wrong turn away from the wisdom and since then, we are getting further and further away from the truth.  Can we correct the mistake of planting the seeds of greed and power?  Can we correct it without isolating ourselves from the system?  I believe so.  It will take time, patience and COURAGE.
 
   Somewhere, as part of the Sacred Knowledge* (Note: I am referring to the different old or new texts from our planetary culture as "sacred knowledge" because they belong to the entire humanity.  It is not a sign of disrespect for any particular culture or religion, but more an act of deep respect for life and its manifestations through us) of this planet, it is said: Lose life to find life.  Does that mean that we should commit suicide?  Or maybe, we should stop caring about our lives?  It could mean to surrender our lives to a Divine power?  Or maybe it is about a more profound concept - the one of detachment? 

This is the first step on our spiritual journey back to our origin and essence.  This is also the hardest one, and until you are able to say - "I took this step!" - don't bother going any further.  I consider this step essential.  Ancient history refers to it as an attribute of “enlightenment”, and it is not such a complicated or hard to experience phenomenon.

   Go to any grocery market and wait until you see a person coming out of there with his or her hands full of bags.  Watch the way that person walks.  It is different than usual.  You can see the effort, sometimes the pain, if the bags are too heavy.  Let’s say now, that the person you see is carrying his or her own life in those bags.  The more the person walks the heavier the bags become.  What do you think would happen if that person should somehow lose the bags…?  He or she would die?  Those bags are the past we all carry with us.  The past we are holding on to, and refuse to let go.  We think it's our life, and therefore, we’re holding on to it the best we can.  Let go of your bags! What would have happened if - as part of our education - someone would have told us to "let go", as an every day habit?  Instead of living free of our own shadows, we go through so much pain and anger.  So much frustration and non-fulfillment; so many memories, happy or sad, coming over and over to the surface of our consciousness, forcing us to live again and again moments and experiences that passed so long ago…What happens if we just let go?  Lose life, to find life.  Let go, to be free.  Let go, to live again.Let go of the "you - from the past", and find the "you - in the present".  It’s hard and you don’t know how?  Who said it would be easy?  Some say that the hell is here…  So is heaven - as you will see!

   Sit down with me.  Look around.  We have lived for quite a while already.  When we first came into this life we were pretty small and helpless too.  As time passed, we grew stronger accumulating technology and morals; values and rules of conduct.  We learned all of these from somebody somewhere or just from our own experiences.  All of these have become "us" or what we like to think of as "us". 

   When we first come into this life, we come so open to the world, with an amazing power, genetic power, ... and maybe more.  Our body changes and our consciousness too.  Little by little, we mirrored the world around us.  We mirror people’s habits, movements and emotions.  We learn, and when we do not understand something, someone translates it for us. Every day holds something new for us - new experiences or new people surround us.  We get burned sometimes.  We laugh and cry.  We learn to defend ourselves.  We learn to love and to distrust.  So, who are we?  Who is the one that gives the answers when asked?

  Are we just a human body, mirroring the world around, reacting from memory and sub-conscious programs?  The process of going back to the origin starts here.  We first have to become conscious about who we are and about our presence here and now.  Acknowledge your presence the way you are.  Be honest.  There is nobody to hear your thoughts - nobody to read your emotions.  If you are a criminal or a drug dealer, acknowledge it. If you are a high-school teacher or a taxi driver, acknowledge it. If you need to, say it loud: “My name is so and so.  My mother or my father gave this name to me.  I am not my name”. And do the same with everything that comes to your mind that you think is you.  It is a slow process.  Learn to go through it, without emotions.  You may be a prostitute - do not blame society.  You may be the perfect husband and father - do not swagger. 

   Acknowledgment is about who you are, not why or how.  The secret is to remain detached and free of emotions as you acknowledge everything you consider as being you.  Next, find out how you became what you are.  Don’t answer with that 20 years-of-hard-work story.  Find out who decided your career.  Was it your father who wanted you to be a doctor?  Was it an old uncle whom you admired and wanted to be like?  Was it money?  Be honest and go to the origin of what you think you are and don’t involve emotions.  If you start to feel anything as you go through this process, stop and resume it the next day.  There is time, and haste could be an enemy.

   Are you white?  Are you Chinese, or black?  Do you feel any different from the others?  Why?

   Ask yourself and then find out from where and how did you know the answers.  Be honest as you return, step by step, to your origin.  Your origin is nothing to be proud of.  It isn’t different from any other’s origin, but as you return, you will rediscover who you really are.  As you acknowledge your presence on this planet, deeper and deeper, old and maybe forgotten emotions will emerge from your subconscious.  These emotions will have their origin somewhere in the past, even if that means a minute ago.  These emotions will reflect the nature of the world around you.  Once again - not the real you.

   To overcome those feelings, just stop and remember that what you feel is just a projection of the past.  It is still strong because you haven’t dealt with it in the proper way.  Soon, you will be able to discern between who you are and who you think you are. Free of judgments… allow yourself to be.  Return to your origin, free of emotions, and let go.  There is no need to feel sorry for anything.  There is no reason to be afraid, because you are not losing anything.  You will just learn a new perspective of life.  Actually, you may learn for the first time in your life.

  Learning is a living experience generated by each individual through a very private and internal process.  All life experiences (school, marriage or jobs) are just cumulative information.  We have the choice to react to those experiences as they come.  We also have the choice to remain calm and at peace, knowing who we are.  We can flow with the wave, be thrown here and there or we can surf it and become very good at this, …but we can also be the wave.  Do you see the difference, my friend?  It is matter of choice - and that reinforces again, the full freedom of which we are capable of.

   The acknowledgment process I am talking about includes not just who you are at this moment, but all your actions.  The way you walk or run.  The way you exercise and why.  The way you eat, using your left or right hand.  All of your actions defining who you are.  Try to consider and pay attention to every detail.  Nothing about what you are doing is unimportant.  Focus your attention on yourself.  There is a time-distance between intention and action, sometimes maybe less than one second.  Identify yourself with both of them until you will be one complete living being. 

   As you start practicing you may eventually feel tired.  If that happens, slow down for just a little bit.  If you walk - do it slower.  If you eat, or talk - do it slower.  Whatever you are doing - slow down.  Between your movements or words, you’ll meet the sacred being that you are.  Between your thoughts or emotions, there is an ocean of life.

   Once you have identified yourself with who you really are, and with your intentions and actions, you will feel a different energy within you.  Acknowledging yourself is the first step toward freedom.  By going through this process with sincerity, the true nature of your own life will be revealed.  No matter what you have done in your life, now it is the time to accept it as it is.  With no more value placed on it than a meal or a simple book.  Because it belongs to the past - it is gone.  Accept yourself as you are.  Allow yourself to go on.   If you felt destroyed until now, with a life in ruin, do not worry - you are not condemned.  If your life is happy and you have achieved almost everything you planned for, or if you are somewhere in the middle... there is much, much more.  Aren’t you curious?

   Here is an example: You go to a movie, alone.  Go inside the theater and take a seat.  The movie starts and it is all about you - playing yourself.  For about two hours you are watching it, being aware of its reality.  The images and emotions are rolling in a fast forward mode, and at the end of the movie, the final scene is you, sitting in a movie theater, watching the movie of your life.  The real you, as well as the "you" from the screen, is standing up and leaving the theater.  You have re-lived your life as you thought about it, but to continue from here, you have to let yourself to be in the present moment.  Allow it to happen. 

Acknowledge and accept the creator of your life - yourself!

   You may be saying now that all this is just another philosophy or abstract concept, untouchable and far away from being practical.  I would like to take a moment to prove you are wrong if you think that way.  What I am talking about here, is a controlled - not controlling - daily process or phenomenon.  It is an existence with physical results.

   There is one category of people who are using a technique similar to what I am talking about.  The better they use this process, the more money they make, and you love them!  I suppose it is not just them doing it, but I have had the chance to learn their ways: The Actors.

   Every professional actor has to do specific work in order to play a role.  At first, after accepting a role, they learn as much as possible about the character they are going to play.  Often, even if they play a 45 year old character, and the role has no reference whatsoever to its childhood, they ask questions like: How was I (the character) at the age of 5?  If they feel they have insufficient data about the character, they will ask, or create his roots.  Once that is done, they can fulfill their job and become that character.  Mediocre actors play the character, while the very good actors become the character. 

   What does this have to do with my book?  Well, in order to play more than one role, and to return to a normal life, not fiction, the good actors have to practice the same kind of technique I advocate, otherwise you might see them always playing the same kind of roles. They have to go through a period of cleansing of identifying what came from the character, and clearing it, or in better words, separating it from whom they really are.  Sometimes, this process takes weeks, or months.  If they don’t do this, a new character and role will have the same tic, same movement and same speech pattern as an old character.

Sooner or later they may loose control of their own lives.  They reach a limit and can’t find the way to surpass it.  Great actors will always know the difference between the role they are playing and themselves. So you see, this mental “cleaning” is possible and more than that - it is real and practical.

   Often people tell me that they have actually experienced this process, several hundred times. Some say they are doing it every day.  Many times it is stressful and they become tired.  This happens because they are forcing theprocess, instead of just doing it in the most natural and simple way.  They feel the stress, the pressure.  They struggle to come out of a situation by fighting it. Action, in any form, will attract and result in reaction.  Pull one end of a rubber band.  The other end will react.  The rubber band will stretch. Action calls for reaction. 

   Then, how is it possible to do something without doing it?  The confusion is usually made between the actor and the character.  We live our life - we play our character.  The problem is that the above sentence becomes like this: we live our characters.  So many people on this planet consider their "role" as being themselves.  Mister so and so - general manager of whatever bank or Miss so and so - lawyer for whatever big time law firm, both believe that their job and careers are their lives.  Consider this: Companies go bankrupt, banks are sold or transferred to another bank - and you're not needed anymore.  Your job…what about it?!  Now you have it - now you don’t.  Have you died?  No, but it feels disastrous because it’s like your whole life is ruined. You accepted a role, my friend.  You learned and assimilated that character so well . . . and you are playing it almost perfectly.  You have even beaten Robert De Niro . . . There is only one little difference between the two of you: He is having fun and you aren’t!

   We are born with life.  We die when life within us slips away.  A role is what we learn to play.  We learn it so well that we become the character and live its role.  A role is just a role and because somewhere, very deep inside us life is pulsing and ultimately is wearing down; we struggle to get out.  Sometimes, we do not even know why we struggle, but we feel the pressure.  It’s hard to live in someone else’s skin.  So we struggle to come out of our own accepted character and we have no idea how to do it.  We feel the stress instead of fun, wondering why…

   Your life is Sacred.  Your role is just social life.  What you did,
was to surrender your sacred life to the social life.  If you believe in any God, then surrendering your sacred life to something, other than God, is a sacrilege.  If you do not believe in God, then the same surrender is just a stupid waste.  You can’t control the social life being surrendered to it.  You can’t make more money or have better sex... you cannot be happy.  It will never be enough.  I am not suggesting you quit your job, or retire in the mountains.  It would be a shocking experience for everybody, including yourself.  And it will make no sense; nothing will change.  Social life is just part of the real life, the Sacred Life.  Running away is not a solution. Life is a wave - be one with it.  Our society will go on existing as you know it.  It will change eventually, but this process will take years - generations of people working toward it.  The change should be in our way of living: Be the actor playing the social role - not becoming it.  In this way you will control your inner life, and not be controlled.

   I told you before, that I consider self-acknowledgment an essential step on this path because it is the engine that will propel you in one of the most exciting and enjoyable journeys of your life.  Here is how: Becoming aware of yourself and acknowledging the difference between you and your role is the preparatory step toward enlightenment. It is like a warm-up for any athlete and it has to be total.  Once you have started this process, somewhere along the line, you will feel the separation between you and your character.  You will feel,not just understand, that if you die, your character dies; but if your character dies, you will still be here.  This separation will allow you to feel a special strength that lives within you, and that, my friend, I promise you, is the first step toward being total and enlightened.  From here, everything is within your reach.  The concept of impossibility does not exist, because you did not set limits.  The wave has started.  You will still be a normal person, do not worry.  This separation does not mean that you are going to walk around like some kind of smiling weirdo... it only means that your Sacred life - the real you - is taking over.  You will be manifesting social life as well as anything else.  Your power will make it happen.

   As you create this separation, another feeling will occur.  You will feel more and more detached from all the issues and problems in your life.  Problems will fade when facing your inner power.  Even if this whole phenomenon looks very technical, or like a step by step procedure, it is actually a way to exist.  It is part of existence, like a re-birth.  There are no steps, even if I use these words.  Do not stop at words. Understanding me is one thing, but feeling what I am talking about, is another.  Words, as part of a form, a language, are limited.  Understanding them will offer only a limited experience.  That is why I said:     

                       Feel, instead of think.  Experience.

It is time to go on.

   Once you become aware of who you are, you find the real you, the real life.  Separated from the illusion, you realize reality.  Separated, though total.  Powerful, and yet, detached.  There is one word missing.  I will put it in, at the end of this paragraph.  After that... there is nothing.  Or everything.  No matter.  Identified and unified, you have found your roots, deep inside your own existence.  What is left to do after this?  Nothing for now.  Like an observer, aware of who you are, silent and powerful, just watch.  Watch your own thoughts.  They come and go.  Just watch and have fun.  Thoughts are passing through your mind, triggering emotions.  Just watch and they will self dissolve; remain detached and they will float, and after that, blow up like soap bubbles.  When you watch unattached, your perception grows.  It becomes wider and faster.  As you see life differently, . . . wonder and enjoy it.  Be like a child.  Somewhere, deep inside us, there is a child.  It is still there because it never grew up in the real sense.  We never became what we should have.  Lost in a social labyrinth, the child is waiting.  He cannot move, he cannot cry.  But he can wait.  The purest innocence in the Universe - the child within - is hidden, locked in and lost, but not forgotten.  This is the reason we all strive.  This is the origin. And as you find yourself, accepting what you are, a wave of freedom will rise within, and you’ll return to joy, spontaneity, and peace.  You will play again, totally involved, totally detached.  Free of fear, because there is no past or future, you will create your present here and now, with this extraordinary quality of a child who is able to wonder.  To be able to see the miracles and make them happen at the same time in a very simple and ordinary way.  To be able to just be . . .

Alive.

   Somewhere, blended in the Sacred Knowledge, there is one little piece of precious advice: always keep secret our discoveries and achievements.  For many years I wondered why.  Somewhere else, in a different culture and history, it was said that if you have the light, put it in the window.  Here we have two different opinions about our search and the results we are obtaining.  At first sight, these two are completely opposite.  However, if we consider that actually they were talking about the way of sharing, not the sharing itself, they are both saying the same thing.  It took me many years to understand this.  In fact, it was something I felt first and understood later.

   Trying to share some of my results with others put me in a very precarious situation.  I was told that basically, I was crazy.  This was said in other words of course, but that was the essence of the message.  I was told to mind my own business and do what everybody else was doing - to get a normal, ordinary life.

   Now, allow me to give you a translation as well as some advice.  Whatever you feel, no matter how excited you become about your experiences, try to avoid sharing and teaching them to others.

   Keep your achievements and powers a secret.  No matter how right you will be, people will step back and think that you’ve lost it.  There will be no hesitation to "execute" you, and a sad surprise will await you, even from the most unexpected people.  What I am saying to you here is not egocentrism.  It is reality.  I am not talking about rules, ethics or morals.  This is reality.  The hourglass of your life is turned only once, when you are born.  After that, your time is trickling down and nothing will stop it.  When you think that the people around you need help, offer them a book, or even better, be a living example for them.  But help only when you are asked, otherwise it’s just a waste of time and energy.

   Keep your light in the window.  Don’t run around in darkness screaming that you have the light to share.  If you do that, people will be disoriented and suspicious.  Stay still, and distant like a lighthouse.  Those in need will see it.  Let them come.
                                         

   If I haven’t convinced you yet to try what I am talking about here - to try it, not to understand it - then forget about this book for a while. 

   You have to be ready and willing to do the work!  Just going to the next chapter will be a waste of time for you.  You will just read it with your analytical mind - you will put together some opinions and you will label this book...  Analyzing the words, you will only use your knowledge accumulated from somewhere or somebody.  It will be an intellectual cocktail.   You will have a memory of the book, but not a living experience.  You will be able to say - "I know this", instead of - "I do this". 

   If this is the case, this book may not yet be for you, because you would be actually missing one of the components that I think is necessary to become or grow and exist as a universal being: curiosity to experience and feel more or the need for more.

   Now, close the book and when you open it again, at a later time, see if you feel any different than when you first started.  If you don’t, my message did not go through your shell and maybe it is just because of the language I use.  Being in the United States for only a little more than three years, I did not mastered yet the use of the English language.  In the back of this book you will find information about how you can find me.  I am responsible for what I wrote.  If something is not clear, then you can ask.  Anytime.

   Take your time to discover yourself.  Nothing is needed.  The expression “have to” makes no sense here.  Discovering is effortless, and fun.

   When you are bored - stop.  When you are hungry - eat.  When you are thirsty - drink.  There are no rules to follow on this path. If you want to walk - you walk.  If not - you don’t.

The simpler - the better.

Exercises

   The key to these exercises is to practice them as they are presented here, without adding any complications.  Each and every one of these exercises can be practiced individually.  If you choose to do more than one at a time, the order is irrelevant. Also, the time during the day when you practice is up to you.  My only recommendation is that because you are not familiar with them, you should practice before a meal instead of after.

• Sit down in any position that is comfortable for you while keeping your back perfectly straight.  Place one hand on your chest and one right below your navel.  Breathe normally and observe which hand moves more.  Pressing slightly with the hand positioned on your chest, breathe in pushing your abdominal area forward.  This way, the hand on your chest will not move while your hand over your novel will rise every time you breathe in.  Practice in this manner until your breathing becomes abdominal only, then remove your hands.  Repeat the technique standing and walking. When practiced daily, these exercises will have at least the following results: they will reactivate your vital force; they will improve your digestion; they will increase your awareness over your posture as well as breathing.

• Anytime you have a chance, rub your palms together until they become hot.  It is not the speed of the hands that counts but the amount of strength used in pushing one palm against the other.  Then, for a few minutes, do a complete rubbing of your scalp.  I also like to practice after I take a shower, a full body rub with a dry and rough towel.
• Because having a flexible and healthy back is imperative, practice the following rolling spine exercises - every night when you go to bed.

 
      Note:  If you have any problems with your back, ask your doctor about these exercises and how can they might affect your current condition.

• Simple roll.  Using your body weight and the movement of both arms and legs, roll back and forth allowing your body to be totally relaxed at both ends of the roll.  As you practice this exercise, allow yourself to stay longer every time on each stretch.  Breathe out at the beginning of each stretch.    

Advance level: your hands will hold the toes and your legs will be kept straight for the entire length of this exercise.

• Little boat.  Crossing your legs in an Indian position - with your hands holding your feet and your elbows on the knees, do the same roll as the one above.  At both ends of each roll you will stretch forward - touching the floor with your forehead; respectively backwards - touching the floor with your knees. 

    Advanced level: keep your balance in the middle, for a few         seconds, as illustrated below:     

       Note:  Practice these rolls on a firm mattress or on the floor, wearing at least a T-shirt to protect your skin.
 

• Cat Play.  This exercise has been and it still is part of my Martial Arts training, as well as part of the classes I teach to the kids.  It has many forms, but I will only tell you about five of them. You will need a partner, or, if you have kids is even better.  Stand up - both you and your partner - facing each other, with your feet apart (at a distance approximately equal with the distance between your shoulders).  The distance between the two of you should be an arm's length.  The purpose of the exercise is to increase awareness, reflexes and self-control.  This exercise trains you to take control over your emotions and over your body.  Stay focus on your muscular tension, mood and breath.  It is the speed and reactions that count, instead of the strength used.  Do it slower or faster, depending on what effect you want to obtain: stimulating or sedative.    

• When both of you are ready, start touching each other fast enough to make it difficult for each partner to avoid the contact.  The task for both partners at the same time is to touch the "opponent" while avoiding being touched by him/her.  Keep your hands open and relaxed - this way nobody will get hurt.  Any body movement is allowed in order to avoid the contact, except moving your feet.  Imagine or remember how cats play: fast but relaxed at the same time.  If your moves become too strong, take mental control to relax.

• Practice the same exercise sitting with your legs crossed, or in Zazen (Japanese meditation position, using a cushion while sitting on your knees and ankles) if your ankles allow it.

• Use multiple "opponents" while one stays in the middle "attacking" and "defending" at the same time.

• Go back to two partners and have one of you blind folded, then both use blindfolds.

• Practice with your eyes closed and your feet tied together in the following way: your right ankle will be tied to your partner's left ankle and your left ankle to his right ankle.

• Infinite Stretching.  I recommend this exercise to everybody for its quality of improving all the functions of your body.  Use any stretching movements you know and move as slowly as you possibly can.  For instance, if it usually takes you a few seconds to lift your arm above your head, this time go slower and make the movement last more than one minute.  Use the full range of motion of each joint in your body, while you imagine yourself reaching for the infinite.  Allow your breath to flow normally.  It will adjust and slow down by itself as you relax and slow down your movements.  At the end of each stretch, hold that position for a few seconds more every time you do it.

• Self-Postural Adjustment.  This technique is to be used at anytime and whenever you remember to do it.  It will save you from a lot of back pain and discomfort.   It has two forms and you can practice them together, separately or combined with any other techniques.

• Standing/sitting form: Imagine your body stretched by an external force, pulling you by the top of your head and by your heels simultaneously.  Take a deep breath in, compressing your abdominal area against your spine and rotating your hips forward at the same time.  You can practice this, sitting on a chair or standing, as long as you keep your back straight. The illustration below shows the movements of your body during this exercise.  Remember: they all happen at the same time.  As you exhale, you will not move anything except your head and neck that will have a backward and upward motion - something like a turtle pulling its head backwards.

• Laying down form. This form should be practiced only after you mastered the standing or sitting form.  Lay down on the floor or on your bed, with you hands under your head, right above the occipital ridge.  Take a few breaths and relax.  Take a deep breath in and at the same time, do the following movements:

-  lift your head and shoulders helping yourself with the hands;
-  relax your abdominal muscles compressing them like in the standing form and drop the entire weight of your head and shoulders in your hands;
-  roll your spine back on the floor or bed;
-  stretch your heels forward;
-  rotate your hips upward. 
  
   This complex technique will improve your posture and sleep.

  The secret of these exercises is relaxation and joy.  Practice them as if you were playing some kids' game.  Some of them will probably seem totally stupid to you or you might not see the mental benefits of it, but they do activate unused functions of your brain.  You will find additional information and techniques, as well as detailed explanations in the second volume of this trilogy - Universal Consciousness.

“If you understand, things are just as they are;
if you don’t understand, things are just as they are."

                                                                     ZEN  PROVERB