Clarity of Intention

Clarity of Intention I f you want to be free, if you want to be a liberated human being, then it is essential that you become interested in what it means to be simple—terrifyingly simple, frighteningly simple, shockingly simple. For many of us, simplicity is not easy to understand. The notion of simplicity in relationship to what it means to be a human being is a concept that is very alien to us alien not only intellectually but also experientially To many of us, simplicity doesn't even sound attractive. Usually

what we're attracted to is the very opposite of that which isjr simple. But simplicity is where our salvation lies. And if we) want to be free, if we want to become truly sane human beings, then it is essential to look deeply into what it means to become simple. The movement from bondage to Liberation is the move- ment from complexity to simpUcity And this movement, the movement from complexity to simplicity, will in the end require the renunciation of all that is false, wrong and Clarity of Intention untrue. It will demand the willingness to transcend all that is superficial and irrelevant. You see, so much of what we're interested in and preoccupied with, from a deeply spiritual perspective, will ultimately be revealed to be completely irrelevant, without importance and a total waste of time. If we want to become simple, then instead of wanting many things, as most of us do, we have to come to that point where we want only one thing. That's all there is to it. If we want to be free, if we want to be able to experience what it means to be a liberated human being, the way to that attainment can be found simply through ceasing to want many things and wanting only one thing. If we want only one thing and that is Liberation alone, then our vision becomes clear and distinct and our atten- tion becomes very focused. Why? Because we want only one thing. And it's difficult to be confused when we want only one thing. You see, when we want many things it's very easy to be confused. But if we want only one thing, and this never changes for any reason at any time, we will discover an undreamed-of clarity of being. We will be free from fundamental confusion because our attention will always be focused on Liberation alone and nowhere else. For one who is sincerely interested in being free in this life, the simplicity inherent inAanting Gmly-J^beration and nothing else is very attractive. For that individual, just the Emhracing Heaven & Earth thought of wanting only to be free, just the conviction that nothing else matters, in and of itself, is profoundly liberating. Wanting only to be free—and being willing to exclude any- thing and everything else from our attention—liberates us from the world. Wanting to be free more than anything else liberates us from the mind and from time. It really does. It not only frees us from the endless burden of having so many_ choices, but it releases us from the often compelling attraction to all that is false, wrong and untrue. So if we want to be free more than anything else, then) we become very simple. If Liberation is the only thing that is important to us, and we're willing to back it up with^ action in such a way that we will not succumb to the tem22 tation to beUeve that anything else could ever be more important, then we become quite simple indeed^ To a very worldly person, to someone who has no sense of the spiritual dimension of life, we may have become unbearably simple, appallingly simple. He or she may even feel that we have gone too far and have started to take this whole matter of Liberation much too seriously Why? Because we are not deeply interested in anything else. Nothing else moves us, nothing else inspires us, nothing else touches us. Now it's important to understand that those who have come to the place that 1 just described—those who cannot be swayed in any way from their one-pointed interest in liberating themselves from fear and ignorance in this life— Clarity of Intention find that they have a lot in common with one who has actually succeeded. They have a lot in common with someone who has become a living, breathing manifestation of the kind of simplicity that I have been speaking about. You see, someone who wants to be free more than anythingelse and one who is free are in many ways not all that different. This is very important to understand. If you want to be free more than anything else, and if you're willing to make any sacri- fice in order to succeed in winning the prize of Liberation in this life, then from a certain point ofviewyouve already won._ Of course we don't know how many of us are actually ffling to succeed in becoming enlightened in this life. We can never predict these things. But the question of how many of us are going to come to that point in our own evolution where we are willing to do anything that we possibly can in order to succeed is a very different matter. You see, the power to go that far lies in our very own hands. And in the end, there is nothing more that any of us can do than want tobe free more than anything els£_and be willing to back it up withjction and with sacrifice. From a certain point of view, whether or not we actually succeed in becoming fully enlightened doesn't really matter. It doesn't make any differ- ence. But what does make all the difference in the world is whether or not we are truly willing now. If we are truly willing now, our relationship to the whole world and everything in it changes all__thin^s become Embracing Heaven & Earth possible. Why? Because inwardly our attention has become one-pointed. It is now focused upon a mystery in which there exists no sense o f limitation whatsoever. This mystery is immeasurable, indescribable, unknowable. But when our attentJQiL-iS-^rimarily focused on the material world—on what we want from it, how we feel about it and what we think about it all things _are no longer_2ossible because we have given our attention entirely to that which is inherently limited. And when our attention has been given entirely to that which is inherently limited, very little is possible. You see, there is no room for that depth that has no limit when life is lived without any knowledge or experience of a miraculous possibility—^without any knowledge of that which is sacred, of that which is perfect always because that is its nature. A life that is lived without any knowledge or experience of that possibility is a life of limitation, and lim- itation in relationship to the freedom I'm speaking about is the same as no life at all. It's important to understand that, in the end, all an}^ us can do is want to be free mnrp rhar) anything pl^e and be willin^_to do anything necessary in order to succeed. When we've come to that point where we are literally doing every- thing that we possibly can, when we are ceaselessly extending ourselves fully and without reservation, and in that wanting only to die, then and only then will there be nothing more /(i^yyc/{.^ Clarity of Intention for us to do. And then and only then will we begin to discover what Liberation actually is. You see, our attention only needs to be on doing anything and everything we possibly can in order to succeed. If we are willing to do this fully, unconditionally and v^thout reservation, then in that we will he saved. Wejwill actually experience salvation . Whatever else may or may not occur is really beyond our control. We ^, do not have a say in it. Beyond this unconditional willing- ness to die there is just a mystery, and how it works we will never know. Wanting to be free more than anything else means that we have stopped waiting. Jt means that we have stopped procrastinating . It means that wejiave stopped deceiving ourselves and that we have firially become serious . It means that having an unconditional relationship to freedom is no longer something that frightens us. On the contrary, it sets our hearts on fire. For spiritual experience to lead to extraordinary trans- formation, we must be deeply grounded in an unshakable^ desire to become liberated. That means that we must be willing to leave this world and everyone in it behind forever. Unless we are, there is going to be a return, which means we are going to come back. We are going to come back because we are not sure that we want to be free more than anything else. Free means FREE. Free means leaving every- thing behind. Freedom means having nothing and having Embracing Heaven & Earth nothing is freedom. You must understand that EnUghten- ment is not an object that the ego, the separate sense of self, can play with for its own amusement. So for spiritual practice to bear the fruit of Liberation, it must be inspired by an unshakable intention to succeed at any cost. To be able to liberate us from fear, ignorance and a profoundly self-centered relationship to life, spiritual practice must be inspired by a burning passion to go all the way. Without this burning passion, it will notJiaye the power to liberate. Injfact, spiptual pri^ctice, in ^y other context except that of Liberation alone , may even become^he enemy. Why? Because it will in all likelihood enable the ego to feel better about itself. And in that, there is the great danger that we may lose touch with the overwhelming sense of urgency ^ that is so essential if anything is really gqingjxichsLn^. What 1 am speaking about is the very foundation of my teaching. It is also, I believe, the foundation of any genuine teaching of Enlightenment. The path, the goal and every- thing in between begin and end with this and this alone.

call it Clarity of Intention. It is a fundamental and absolute resolution to be free in this life. Clarity of Intention means that we want to be free more than anything else heremd now. Here and now means that in relationship to any choice that we make, to any action that we take, in relationship to any event that may have occurred in the past or may occur in Clarity of Intention the future, first and foremost we want to he free. Wanting to be free changes everything. Look into this for yourself and you'll see how true this is. In Ught of the intention to be free, all things become clear. Clarity oj Intention is the most direct path out of deep and fundamental confusion. Indeed, the intention to be Jree, when sufficiently cultivated, has the unique power to penetrate the often overwhelming illusion created by all that is personal. It can cut through the illusion of blinding^ complexity created by our attachment to self-importance in an instant, if only we are willing. But its demand is absolute. The intention to be free, when taken seriously, demands everything from us—and then a little bit more. It cannot be taken lightly. You see, the only reason that those who begin on the path do not succeed, indeed, the only reason that they make important mistakes, is that they were not true to the one-pointed desire to be free more than anything else. If we are always true to the desire to be free, we_won't make important mistakes—it won't be possible. If we're always true to that and that alone, we cannot fail. But if we are not true to the urgency of this call to Liberation, if we allow ourselves to get distracted, if we allow ourselves to believe that anything else could ever be more important, the delicate confidence that is_the very foundation of the path will fall to pieces. Without being aware of it, we will allow ourselves to be casual. Then, in a Emhracing Heaven & Earth flash, the liberating power of inner certainty and unwavering conviction will be gone. You see, this kind of passion, this intensity of interest, cannot be taken for panted. In this world, where there is so_ much distraction and where our attention is usually painfully focused upon a self-centered and deeply materialistic rela- tionship to life, the delicacy and preciousness o f this kind of passion is almost completely unknown. Indeed, in this world, this passion for freedom will not survive within us unless we are deadly serious, unusually vigilant and extremely careful. That's just the way it is. It's so easy to deceive ourselves. In fact, it's the easiest thing to do. Most people do it all the time. What is igno- rance? Ignorance is a state of constant self-deception. It is so rare when a human being actually wakes up for more than a few moments. And it is because of the intensity of this habit of living in a self-deceived way that it is essential to be absolutely one-pointed about Liberation. Unless we become one-pointed, we are not going to make it. The forces against us and the currents of ignorance in the world that we live in are just too strong. To understand Clarity of Intention for oneself is to under- stand the meaning and the significance of simplicity^

strongly encourage you to contemplate the implications of simplicity, of absolute simplicity If you do this, you will get Clarity of Intention a very clear sense of exactly what it is that 1 am pointing to. ;Go into this over and over and over again. Go into this absolute simplicity so deeply that you begin to feel and I know directly know experientially, exactly what it is that

am pointing to. And when you experientially get in touch with what simplicity actually means, you can then begin to look into its opposite, which is complexity. Then everything will be revealed to you. All will become clear—the difference between wisdom and ignorance, freedom and bondage, heaven and hell. When seen from the perspective of sim- plicity, complexity and all it represents begins to look and feel extremely unattractive and very painful. In fact, com- plexity is now experienced as the essence of that which is ^ confusing, deluding and inherently divided. But you have to J discover this for yoursdL^ Look into simpUcity Look deeply into it. And when you find a simplicity that is so simple that it is absolute, keep your attention there. It is in that absolute simplicity that the truth is found. Those who don't have the eyes to see are daz- zled by complexity. They often believe that in complexity there is inherent significance. But don't be fooled. It's really the other way around. If you want to be able to know directly and experien- tially what the truth is, then you have to become simple first. The reason for this is that complexity cannot understand simplicity. But—and this is the whole point—simpUcity can 1 4 Embracing Heaven & Earth understand complexity. Complexity cannot see simplicity but simplicity can see complexity In order to get in touch with the source of all true wisdom you have to become simple i yourself. It just doesn't work the other way around. You see simpUcity means being whole. It means being perfectly undivided, completely unified. I strongly urge you to give as much of your attention as you can to looking into this. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. The absolute simpUcity that can be discovered and experienced directly through the one-pointed contemplation of the desire for freedom above anvthing else is Liberation. That is why intense and profound contemplation of the first tenet, Clarity of Intention, is so important. In fact, that is why the one-pointed contemplation of the desire for freedom alone is the most important part of the spiritual life. Clarity of Intention