See the Way Things Are

Q: How do Iextricate myself from samsara?

A: By seeing the way things are. Be more interested in what you are seeing than in the fact that you may at times feel uncomfortable. You should be more interested in seeing what the whole picture is. Don't focus only on your discomfort. Only then will your understanding deepen. This is what renunciation is all about—being more interested in seeing the way things are than in having things the way you want them to be. Q: There seems to be ageneral sense of discomfort in just living, afeeling of "there's something wrong."

A: If you identify with the pain then you will be lost forever. If you identify with the pain as being who you are then there can be no Liberation. That’s what creates ego —the idea that there is aproblem. That idea makes you feel special and feeling special makes you feel sepa¬ rate. Give up that idea and then you are Free. Give up the infatuation with your problem. That is what every¬ body has to do. 8 6 If you want to know the way things are you only have to open your eyes. You don't have to do anything else. Then throughout the period of aday you will learn everything you need to know about the way things are. All you have to do is pay attention. 8 7