For the Sake of the Whole

For the Sake of the Whole Xhe first tenet, Clarity of Intention, tells us that if we are going to make any real progress in spiritual life, it's essential that we cultivate the intention to be free to such a degree that our own Enlightenment becomes more important to us than anything else in this world. But the fifth tenet tells us some- thing altogether different. It tells us that to become liberated only for our own sake is selfish. The fifth tenet tells us thatj what is of the ffleatest importance is that our passion for Liberation be not only for our own sake but for the sake of the whole. For the sake of the whole means Liberation not for ourselves, but for everyone else. Most seekers are interested in Enlightenment only for their own sake, only for their own personal Liberation. Indeed, when we begin the spiritual life, the most important thing to us is our own happiness, our own personal experience of expanded states of consciousness, our own Enlightenment. But there comes a time when some seekers begin to recognize For the Sake of the Whole that spiritual experience is not only for their own welfare. Because they have gone deeply into the spiritual experience, they have discovered something sacred. It is the recognition of an obUgation, an obUgation that Uterally commands them to cease to live for themselves alone, but instead to live for the sake of the whole. In that obligation it not only becomes apparent that this Ufe is not our own in any personal sense, but it also becomes clear that true Liberation can be found only when this life is lived not for our own happiness, but in the service of a cause that is always greater than ourselves. The fifth tenet makes clear that to live the spiritual life in earnest always means ceasing to live only for ourselves. Not even personal Liberation, it tells us, is the main event of spiritual life. The fifth tenet says that, in fact, theLxntire^^ purpose of spiritual experience is, in the end, the simple yet all-encompassing recognition^that the meaning and signifi^ cance of human life is neverjound through having or getting for ourselves, but onlyjhrou^h^vi^. Indeed, the experience of being alive only begins to make sense, absolute, perfect sense, when there is not even a trace of doubt left about this question. But relatively few get to this point because most seekers are only looking for a way to be happy. They want to find a way to alleviate their own suffering. They want to personally be able to experience a permanent state of peace, joy and bliss. And they hope that the experience of bliss will enable them to be impervious to all suffering. Embracing Heaven & Earth But the fifth tenet, For the Sake of the Whole, calls the seeker to address this self-centered position through inquiring very deeply into the question: What is Uje really all about? Is this event, this experience of embodied consciousness, only for ourselves? Are we here only to have and to get? As seekers of Enlightenment—seekers of peace, clarity and sim- plicity of being—are we trying to get something only for ourselves? Or is there, in fact, a deeper understanding of lifef and the meaning of spiritual experience that finally liberatesj us from Sflf-r^Tirprri? The fifthteneTtells us that what is more important than even our own Enlightenment is the conscious recognition of a profound sense of obligation. What emerges from the recog- nition of that obligation is a mysterious and passionate sense of care for the whole. And this passionate care is larger than anything that can be called personal. Indeed, its nature i impersonal and its intensity always overwhelms all that i personal within us. This passion wants order where there is disorder, wholeness where there is division, truth where there is falsehood and love where there is hate. The ego can appreciate the first four tenets. It finds them perfectly reasonable. But upon hearing the fifth tenet, the ego says, "That's it! Enough is enoughr The ego hates the fifth tenet because in the fifth tenet it recognizes in a way that is unequivocal that in that passionate, impersonal For the Sake of the Whole care for the whole, it has absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose. The fifth tenet tells us never to see our own Liberation out- [de the context of everyone else's Liberation. "Cease to live for mrselj alone," it says. "For the sake of the whole, liberate your- (eljjrom all self-concern. When you get to that point in your own evolution where you recognize that there is nothing else to do that makes any sense except to wholeheartedly give your own life so that it can be lived for the sake of the whole, Lib- eration will be the result. But at that point its no longer the most important thing. Liberation, personal Liberation, will be the automatic result of no longer living for yourself, but with- in the context of the fifth tenet, its no longer the main event. So many of us experience profound difficulty simply coming to terms with_thg_iife_we are living. It seems that we're endlessly trying to get awav from it. We feel uncom- fortable with the body that we have, uncomfortable with our memories, and we are ever struggling with the movementoT" our own thoughts and emotions. That's why we are always trying to overcome the past, rearrange the present and con- trol the future. That's why we are seeking Enlightenment^— because we are craying rplipf But if we cease to live for our own sake, we will indeed experience relief, but not the kind of relief we had bargained for because, you see, in ceasing to live for ourselves alone, 4"^ Embracing Heaven & Earth we assume a great burden. And that burden is the evolution of the whole . Wholeheartedly assuming that burden instantly liberates the individual from the weight of the personal and simultaneously enables him or her to be available, to respond, to give in a way that was previously inconceivable. When it no longer makes any sense to you to live only for yourself, something mysterious and utterly liberating v^ll occur. You will discover that this life, your own life—^with your ov^m memory, lived in your own body, with vour very own thoughts and vonr very oym pm nfinnQ \xn]] QnHdrrily make perfect sense.. The "you" who you are right now will be recognized as being perfect as it isA t will become obvious tha]: you are in exactly the right place, ;rrthp right rimp, fpr the right, reasons, domg the right thi^^^usFf^^^ ynu ^^^^_^ Now there is a^nse of being deeply at home and^con- nected with life in a way that is inconceivably profound yet completely ordinary The "home" I'm referring to is where you (the personal you—the body, memory and mind that you have right now) and life—

IFE ABSOLUTE—merge and become ONE. Suddenly everything fits. You are exactly where you're supposed to be, being the person who you already are and always have h^PT^—y[^^tJSJPry sa^p ppr<;nn whoj^ouwere^^ always trying to get awayjrom. The more you care about others and the less you care about yourself, the clearer this experience of being at home will be. When you begin to care about the greater good more For the Sake of the Whole than you care about yourself, all the problems that you thought you had will disappear^ Everything you thought you had to overcome in order to become a better person will suddenly seem insignificant and even irrelevant. All the experiences you thought you needed to have in order to feel complete will appear to be empty and superficial. When you give everything that you have and everything that you are to everyone else, there will be nothing left for you . And that nothingjhatjsJ^fLLS your Tiberation. When you give every- thing, you are not separate from the source of life itself. In the beginning there was nothing. Then for no apparent reason, from nothing suddenly something was born . From pure emptiness the whole universe of life sprang into being. In that instant there was a big "YES!" That same unlimited consciousness embodied as you is that very same something, that same "YES!" that continuously arises from nothing. If you truly want to be free, you must understand that from this vast perspective, ego consciousness and self-concern even concern for your own Liheration—are_the expression of a fundamental denial of who and what you already are. When you cease to live for yourself, when you give everything you have and everything you are /or the sake of the whole, that's the end of it. Its the end o f you as youVe known yourself to be. Its the end of becoming. Its the end of having Embracing Heaven & Earth a problem that you need to overcome. Its even the end of striving for Enlightenment. It's the end of all of that and the befflnning of an unconditional response to life that savs "YES!" and that only gives. When you stop trying to get anything back for yourself,^ you will find yourself immersed in an unending revelation of perfect Liberation here and now always and forever being who you already are. For the Sake oj the Whole