the Great Escape from Nothing

When the escapes are all taken away, when there is no more places to run and hide, we are left face to face with our lives and our thought programs as we have been living them. This is a pinnacle and pivotal situation of extreme consequence: do we (or can we) accept and take responsibility for this life we embody? Or do we continue to runaway, escape and cover over this unacceptable self?

We are constantly running. We run away from what we consider discomforts and we run towards what we see as comfortable or pleasurable. Another way to say this would be that we run towards our hopes and away from our fears. Our hopes could be something as simple as and unspoken (or un-thought of) as eating a bowl of ice cream. We run towards pleasure and that that sweet taste will satisfy us for a time.

We then lie, cover, reinterpret, avoid and justify all of our actions in protection of this fragile Self and it’s selfish pursuits.

All institutions, religions, social norms and unspoken mores are born out of this Self preservation.

All that is good and done in the name of good, all that is bad and done in the name of bad: comes from Self.

All that is sacred and all that is detested: comes from Self.

This world, this life that we have created is a prison and nothing more.

Every hope and every dream, every fear and every defense further supports and reinforces the prison walls of Self.

Our parents are both our fellow inmates and guards of this prison. They, like us, each have a key to exit this prison, but do not see this prison as a prison at all; and therefore do not choose to leave.

People’s desire for security, comfort and sense pleasure has become stronger than their need for balance, happiness and freedom.

We are addicts unto ourselves and cannot see the horrible consequence of this situation.

We quickly sell our time, our thoughts, our entire lives for the promise of satisfaction that runs from us so elusively.

We are slaves programmed that we are not thin enough, beautiful enough, white enough, rich enough, caring enough, powerful enough, full enough and on and on…

With the right car we will be happy, with the right person will be happy, with enough money we will be satisfied, with the right toothpaste our white smiles will bring us all the success we deserve. Then the people will see how smart we really are, how kind and generous and happy our lives appear and then things will be right, and we will be satisfied.

The foundations of our programmed minds are natural and inherent in all humans: sheer desire. But what does desire entail? More, more, more, protect, more, more, more, protect, more, more…

We are biologically programmed to never accept enough as truly enough. We are satisfied only when we are full for the memory of our empty stomachs is a biological imprint that keeps the wheels spinning at all costs.

This is extremely important: it is our True Nature to not be satisfied.

Desire is the fuel of evolution.

Desire is both the creator and the destroyer of life and life must have both for it to continue. This is why humans are undoubtably headed towards destruction of not only their entire habitat, but of themselves as well.

The overlay of this instinctual desire is the cultural, societal and familial programming that runs through all of our minds like an annoying backseat driver that reminds you to turn left just as you are signaling to do so.

We are monkeys taught to go up the coconut tree, grab the coconut shell and give it to our masters for a piece of banana. Each of us is both a monkey and the master, playing each role in different times and in different circumstances.

We are slaves to others, we are slaves to ourselves.

The wheel of rebirth spins through realization, acceptance and participation.

The more you stop feeding the desire (or the need for the Self to escape into desires) the more the program running in your mind will resemble an addict: reaching, searching, wanting, never being satisfied.

The target of the desire is unimportant, Self just wants more. It needs to be fed.

Therefore, your thoughts will begin becoming extremely nasty and cruel at times. The reason for this (if there can be a logical reason for self loathing) is that the injured person will quickly run back to his or her escapes, thus feeding the desire and keeping the process going.

The only way out of this never-ending cycle that the Buddha called Samsara and the Christ called Hell is to FIGHT.

FIGHT by letting go of everything that you have and everything that you do not.

FIGHT by letting go of everything that you believe in and everything that you do not.

FIGHT with no weapons, fight with no arms, fight with no legs.

FIGHT with the moment and the courage to accept it as it is, for there will never be another moment like NOW.