"To be, or not to be, that is the question!" (Hamlet: Act 3, Scene 1)
We know Shakespeare had wonderfully open inner hearing and was extremely advanced in the service of scribing the Holy Spirit's words. We know when we read Shakespeare we cannot help but tune in to tremendous spiritual awareness and spiritual energy. We know when we let Shakespeare work inside us it is the Holy Spirit taking us to the core of our being, cleansing and purifying our soul in preparation for total enlightenment.
There is probably no way to state a spiritual principle as concisely and poetically as Shakespeare would state it, but maybe a modern playwright would pen the words: "To experience oneself as radiating light, or as a struggling spark, that is the question!"
Maybe another soul, less poetic, would rephrase the timeless question: "To stay open to an out-of-this-world heavenly experience, or to close down in order to have the earthly experience of intellectualism and self-identity, that is the question!"
Maybe a country singer would intone: "Do I surrender to a Rocky Mountain high?" or "Am I Looking for love in all the wrong places?"
There is no one who does not have the inkling deep inside that there is an experience which he or she really, really, really wants. But where is the experience to be looked for?
To look inside oneself for the experience, or to look "out there?"
To be, or not to be? That is the question.
Perhaps nowhere is this principle more evident than in the realm of love relationships. The country song reminds us that it's common to see people looking for love everywhere but where it can really be found. Many single women are always looking for the perfect man and just as many single men are looking for the right woman. Gays, casting glances here and there outside themselves, thereby lose their gaiety. Those who are in partnership sometimes find themselves subtly tempted to peek elsewhere just to see if the grass might not be greener. Is the entire world nothing more than looking outside for love?
What if looking outside for love is a mechanism which everyone is using to avoid the choice of having the true and full experience of love, which is really right inside themselves? What if everyone is sabotaging the experience of love by not looking for it in the right place?
On the other hand, what if someone could really see that what is seemingly outside is a direct reflection of one's state of mind, so that it would now be impossible to not understand that only by first opening to the experience of love inside oneself can anyone ever have the kind of love they hoped they would get from some outer relationship? Would such a person never again be tempted to seek love first "out there?"
How did Jesus say it? "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matt. 6:33)
We all have counseled friends or others who seem incapable of breaking the habit of seeking "out there" for love. We've lovingly suggested to these dear ones that they have it backwards, that they first must pray for their hearts to open and allow the opening of their hearts before true love will come. Maybe the reason these dear ones cannot seem to break the habit is they cannot see that by seeking outside they are rendering impossible the real satisfaction of their desires, by seeking outside they are actually sabotaging themselves.
Brothers who have used A Course in Miracles usually eventually see this principle of self-sabotage at work in love relationships. But it works in all areas of life.
Since it's an election season in the United States, maybe we can teach ourselves this principle of self-sabotage by looking at the movement for political liberty known loosely as the "libertarian movement."
Certainly our deepest, truest inner desire is for an experience which could be called "total enlightenment," but which could also be called "total freedom." Since our outer world is nothing more than a reflection of our inner state of being, if we are in touch with our deeper desires we cannot help but crave political freedom, since our deepest inner desire is for total freedom.
Libertarians are in touch with their natural deep inner desire for freedom, but they usually haven't yet grasped the fact that the outer flows naturally from the inner. So they campaign for or otherwise work for outer freedom, political freedom, without first experiencing true and full freedom inside themselves.
This is equivalent to saying, "I'll experience the reality I want to experience if I ignore the reality I want to experience." It's the old "mirror, mirror, on the wall" reverse image. They think they will experience the reality inside themselves after they have first manipulated the reflection.
A country singer might be tempted to sing to libertarians, "Looking for freedom in all the wrong places!"
Reminiscent of peace activists who are anything but peaceful inside themselves when it comes to war, libertarian political activists are really desiring a spiritual experience, but pursuing outer goals in the hopes of leading to it, thus living a contradiction. You can confidently predict election results will reflect this contradiction. In fact, libertarians typically garner a very small percentage of votes, and usually draw comments like, "Oh, those libertarians are out of touch with reality!"
Well, the truth is libertarians are very much in touch with reality when they feel their desire for freedom. But then they turn around and lose touch with the fact that the outer political world will automatically fall into place after they first go all the way inside and find true and full freedom inside themselves.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matt. 6:33)
To be, or not to be. "To be free, or not to be free?" That is the question libertarians must ask themselves.
Listen to how A Course in Miracles speaks to a libertarian's deeper desires:
"The Holy Spirit is the home of minds that seek for freedom. In Him they have found what they have sought. The body's purpose now is unambiguous. And it becomes perfect in the ability to serve an undivided goal. In conflict-free and unequivocal response to mind with but the thought of freedom as its goal, the body serves and serves its purpose well ...
"Be free today. And carry freedom as your gift to those who still believe they are enslaved within a body. Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of your escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid." (Workbook: Lesson 199)
Isn't it true that the question and answer are always simple, always the same? A little reminder mantra might help:
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