It is a simple statement. The zen master said, I am sitting here alone with myself. This is the greatest miracle. To be alone is the greatest achievement. One feels always a need for the other. There is a tremendous need for the other because something is lacking within ourselves. We have holes in our being; we stuff those holes with the presence of the other. The other somehow makes us complete, otherwise we are incomplete. Without the other we dont know who we are, we lose our identity. The other becomes a mirror and we can see our faces in it. Without the other we are suddenly thrown to ourselves. Great uncomfort, inconvenience arises, because we dont know who we are. When we are alone we are in very strange company, very embarrassing company. We dont know with whom we are. With the other, things are clear, defined. We know the name, we know the form, we know the man or the woman -- Hindu, Christian, Indian, American -- there are some ways to define the other. How to define yourself?... To be alone is really the greatest miracle. That means now you dont belong to any church, you dont belong to any organization, you dont belong to any theology, you dont belong to any ideology -- socialist, communist, fascist, hindu, christian, jain, buddhist -- you dont belong, you simply are. And you have learnt how to love your indefinable, ineffable reality. You have come to know how to be with yourself. Your needs for the other have disappeared. You dont have any loopholes, you dont have any holes, you are not missing anything, you dont have any flaws -- you are simply happy by being yourself. You dont need anything, your bliss is unconditional. Yes, it is the greatest miracle in the world. But remember, the master says, I am here alone with myself. When you are alone you are not alone, you are simply lonely -- and there is a tremendous difference between loneliness and aloneness. When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other was there -- your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband. It would have been good if the other was there, but the other is not. Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody. Book – The Discipline Of Transcedence (Volume 1)
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 18:02:32 +0000
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