Long ago, there was a famous Kung Fu master in a far off village who was challenged by the sensei of a karate school in the city. The Kung Fu master sent word to accept the challenge, but that it would take several days on horseback to make the journey. The karate sensei used the time to double his training efforts, calling upon some of the most advanced Kung Fu experts in the area to advise him about his famous opponent.

To a man, each of the experts told the sensei that this master was “unbeatable”, and unsurpassed in strength and cunning. The sensei scoffed at the experts, pointing to the many years of skillful training he had undergone, and the belief in his own mastery of the art.

As the days passed in preparation for the contest, word spread across the land that the ultimate martial arts show was about to take place. The hype and reputation of the Kung Fu master grew and grew, until the sensei began to question his motives in confronting such a force of nature. He was surely to be defeated and humiliated in front of the whole city. Still, he grimly continued his training, forcing a winning state of mind, and pushing aside any thoughts to the contrary.

Finally, the day of the match arrived, and a huge crowd gathered around the staging place for the match. The sensei fought to control his nerves and calm his emotions. At last, the crowd parted, revealing the arrival of the Kung Fu master, a handsome man, dressed in orange garb and riding a beautiful horse. The master dismounted his steed, and stood motionless, calmly surveying the hushed audience until his gaze fell upon the sensei several yards away.

The sensei froze, immediately recognizing the master, but unable to place the face and countenance. The master strode up to the sensei, smiled and outstretched his hand. The sensei tentatively took the master’s hand, and at that moment was drawn into a loving hug from the master. The sensei was taken aback by this show of affection and respect, with all of his combat preparations quickly leaving his heart and mind.

In a sweet and level voice, the master spoke: “Let us break bread together in celebration of this great event!” A few in the crowd began to laugh, and soon the entire audience was giggling. The sensei felt a huge wave of relief and love for the master, and suddenly the stage for the fight became the stage for a great feast of hundreds of delectable treats and gourmet courses, with master and sensei arm-in-arm like a reunion of long-lost friends. One of the kung fu experts slapped the sensei on the back and exclaimed, “Surely there is no opponent greater than love!”

The ego bravado of the sensei was no match for the embrace of infinite love from the master, and points to the crux of human ego identification. The ego is the defensive system of identity, protecting the image of who we have decided we are, which is not much more than a rag-tag collection of choices, judgments and conclusions randomly constructed from the infinite possibilities of our being. The ego maintains the border between identity and infinite being, where it is surely lost within the light of Source.

The ego declares our separation from the Creator, as if it is something real and necessary. After all, without that separation, there can be no victim or savior. Thus, we experience our existence as happening to us instead of as the result of us. This allows us the pretense of “becoming” that which we always were, and sets up the illusion of learning rather than the truth of remembering.

You have always been and will always be. But, we allowed ourselves to be convinced of our mortality so as to “learn” our life lessons, when all along we were indestructible and all-knowing. We invited ourselves into the master-slave game, and began defining ourselves accordingly, participating in such humiliations as aging, disease, pain, suffering and limitation.

At the heart of Quantum Living is the embrace of infinite possibility, and the grand potentials all of us possess for defeating the shallow ego constructs of identity, slavery and death. It is a giving up–a surrendering–of limitation that puts us squarely on the path to the infinite, or at the very least, something greater.

Question anything that limits or demeans. Become the champion of freedom and the emissaries of love we are at our core. The possibilities are truly limitless should we choose them to be.