“Realization is to get rid of the delusion that you have not realized…

Liberation is our very nature. We are that. The very fact that we wish for liberation shows that freedom from all bondage is our real nature. It is not to be freshly acquired. All that is necessary is to get rid of the false notion that we are bound. When we achieve that, there will be no desire or thought of any sort. So long as one desires liberation, so long, you may take it, one is in bondage… Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” ~Sri Ramana Maharshi

What if nothing is wrong? Almost instinctively you respond, “Well of course there are problems—life isn’t perfect!” We are, all the time, trying to earn happiness or get back into the garden, but what if we never left?

We look at life as if it were some thing that we have to get out of bed and go do…every God-damn day!

What if life is not a thing? What if life is a verb? What if life is living?

Life is a process, and we are a dimension of this process. So, when we try to beat life into submission—force it to conform to our ideas about how it should and shouldn’t be—we are beating ourselves into submission. We have transformed life into a prison, and we are both the captive and jailer.

The point of life is to flow…to live.  In order to flow, we must remain empty. In doing so, we discover sanity or reflect truth; we become an expression of the intelligence embedded in the present moment. And some would say, that the fullest expression of human potential is discovering the innate capacity to reflect truth, to such a degree, that you and truth are of “one substance.” ~from Life As Meaning by Ben Riggs

In truth everything and everyone

Is a shadow of the Beloved,

And our seeking is His seeking

And our words are His words…

We search for Him here and there,

while looking right at Him.

Sitting by His side, we ask:

“O Beloved, where is the Beloved?”

~poem by Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, or perhaps better known as, Rumi.

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Elephant 365 is an example of Elephant Journal’s commitment to the Mindful Life. Everyday we will offer a new reading regarding meditation practice and the spiritual path, all infused with a fresh perspective on traditional spirituality. If you would like to follow Elephant 365 on FaceBook click here and become a fan of Elephant Meditation by clicking the “Like” tab at the top of the page.