Let me begin by telling you a true story about my son, Adam, which happened not long after his thirteenth birthday. School was out, and he stayed the night at my house. When I left for my office in the morning, he was still sleeping. Around eleven-thirty I decided to call and check on him.
"How's it going, buddy?" I asked. I was a little concerned that he might be wandering around the house, fretting because he had nothing to do.
"Great, Dad," he said. "I just spent an hour reading Siddhartha, and then I meditated for twenty minutes."
I smiled, and breathed a sigh of relief. I'd bought him Herman Hesse's classic novel about the life of the Buddha a month or two earlier. Little Buddha was one of his favorite films. Adam related to the Buddha and his teachings around enlightenment and inner peace.
Suddenly, his eyes widened as he looked at me, "And Dad… !"
"What?" I said, intrigued.
"I could feel the wholeness of everything! It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside."
"Wow," I smiled, "that's really cool." It made me happy to realize that he knew how to find that place of wholeness, of spiritual richness, within himself.
"It's important to remember this experience," I said. "Whenever the world out there gets too intense or crazy, you know what to do now to feel really clear and strong inside yourself. You just have to sit like you did, breathe down into your belly, listen to the sounds, and tune-in to the power of the present. Then you just let the power flow through you, until you feel all filled up again." I rubbed the back of his head affectionately. "Pretty simple, huh? And pretty awesome, too."
"Yeah, thanks, Dad," he said, and gave me a warm hug. Then we went on to make lunch, and talk about what we were going to do for fun that weekend.
Adam's experience with meditation really sums up the message of this book. It is about the inner path to balance, happiness, and success in life. As you learn to make your spiritual well-being your foremost priority, and master the art of getting relaxed, centered, and grounded within, you'll be able to move out into the world—into your relationships, your work, your creative endeavors—with confidence and ease. This is the way of harmony.
If something happens (as it periodically will, for such is the nature of life) to cause frustration, disappointment, pain—or even that learning opportunity we call "failure"—you'll know how to deal with it. This book will give you the information and the tools you need to clear away any conflict or confusion in your mind, harmonize the energy in your body, and tap into the joy that is your true nature. You'll be able to meet life again with a renewed sense of clarity, enthusiasm, passion, and commitment.
You'll feel the inner wholeness that Adam felt. You'll experience a sense of true, inner abundance, a richness of spirit that will always be with you, no matter what is happening outwardly in your life. You'll no longer feel any sense of split between who you are and what you do, between your inner self and your outer world.
The split, the schism between the inner and outer, between the spiritual and material, is probably as old as humanity itself. At a personal level it translates into a conflict between trying to fulfill one’s deep spiritual needs, while doing what's necessary to prosper in the world.
Many people get caught in one polarity or the other. Some become very spiritual, giving their whole lives over to the pursuit of truth: meanwhile they struggle to pay the rent and make ends meet financially. That was the path I took for many years, and it was my own need for balance, as well as my desire to share the treasure I found, the core insight, that inspired this book.
Others go in the opposite direction. The spiritual dimension in life sounds too abstract to them, too idealistic, and so they place all their trust in the material, in the world of the marketplace, money, technology, and things. While they may accumulate material security and do well in the world, there is a chronic dissatisfaction, a lack of real inner peace and happiness, in their heart and soul.
The way to successfully integrate the spiritual and material is through seeing that they are in fact not different from each other, but are reflections of the one reality, the one divine consciousness, or energy, that underlies all creation. The more clearly you see this, the easier it is to walk in the world with balance.
This is where the core insight comes in. The core insight, which has its roots in a number of enlightenment teachings, of both the East and the West, is the fundamental perspective behind the inner path. It is the knowledge that heals personal conflict, liberates you from fear and limitation, and allows you to fulfill your unique potential—to bloom as the beautiful, conscious, and creative person you really are.
Every person I have ever met who has found genuine inner peace and freedom (and more and more of us are coming into this), has arrived at this understanding, this jewel of wisdom that I call the core insight. This is true whether they discovered it through a formal spiritual practice, contact with an awakened teacher or person, or through their own inquiry and investigation.
The beauty of the core insight is that there is just this one thing, this one idea, that you have to grasp and make real. Not twelve principles, not ten laws, not seven keys, and definitely not a long and arduous journey toward some hoped-for goal of fulfillment, peace, and happiness.
The core insight opens you up to the realization that the happiness you've sought all your life is available right here, right now. You don't have to drop out and go to a monastery or ashram to find it. You can experience it whether you're driving on the freeway, riding the subway, raising a family, working for a corporation, starting a new business, balancing your checkbook, acting on behalf of the environment or social justice, or doing anything else that we humans do. It's your true nature, in fact, and once you awaken to it, it's always there—regardless of what may be happening in your outer circumstances.
So, what is it?
The core insight involves a subtle shift in the way you see yourself and your life. It is a stepping back, so to speak, and beginning to see that you are not the person you thought you were.
Specifically, you are not your "story." The reality you've created inside your head about who you are—your beliefs, personal history, attitudes, identity, and self-image—is not who you are. This internal reality is actually nothing more than a tale you've been telling yourself, probably for most of your life. It's a fiction, a myth, created out of memory and belief, reinforced through the opinions and judgments of others, and clung to mainly through ignorance and habit.
Before you wake up to your inner, spiritual nature, you need a story, a personal myth, to make sense of the world and your life. We all do. Unfortunately, it's this attachment to the story, to a particular system of belief or way of seeing the world, that explains why there is so much conflict between individuals, cultures, and nations.
People get so identified with their particular version of reality that they will fight, kill, even die for it. It's a sad state of affairs, and it's why we need to continue to raise the level of spiritual awareness on our planet. The freer we all get inwardly, the easier it will be for us to live in peace and harmony with each other, so that we can work together to solve the problems facing us.
Enlightenment, then, is seeing that the world you've created inside your head doesn't really exist, except as a fabrication in your mind. You can't actually find a thought anywhere.
The more you see this (and the seeing has to happen over and over again, until your internal "eye"—your true I—is fully open), the more the content of your particular story, the baggage from the past, begins to dissolve and drop away. Your head clears, and you feel extraordinarily awake, alive, present. Freed of all the psychological and emotional overlay, thinking becomes much more functional—sharper, more intuitive, more creative.
You still have a story, but you're just not identified with it or attached to it any more. You know it's not who you really are. Your meaning and identity in life come from something much deeper, something much more timeless within you—from the flow and fullness of being itself, the energy and power of the life force as it moves through you.
The more you open up to this energy, the more you will experience it as a constantly renewing and revitalizing presence in your life, one that manifests in your body as well-being, in your mind as clarity, and in your heart as love.
Gradually, your ego, your personal sense of "I" and "me," becomes more transparent. All sense of psychological and emotional fear begins to leave you. The world no longer has any real power over you. The big questions—about God, death, the afterlife—resolve themselves in ways you cannot begin to comprehend as long as you're still identified with your story, so long as you still "think" you are the sum of your past, your thoughts, your beliefs.
In this new freedom you find that you no longer need to hold onto any concept or image of "self" to know who you are, or to be happy. Just to be, to be alive, aware, and fully engaged in life is an astonishing enough gift, bringing a depth of meaning and understanding that is beyond words.
Living itself becomes much more spontaneous, creative, playful. You bring a new honesty and energy to your relationships. Your work, the contribution you're here to make, becomes clear. You stop worrying about money. You no longer take problems, difficulties, and other people's judgments personally, because you've stopped taking yourself personally. Imagine how freeing that is!
Most problems, you find, sort themselves out, and those that persist you learn to live with and manage in an intelligent way. Manifestation, the art of translating your inner vision into reality, happens more easily. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you know what you want, and your energy is focused on the task before you rather than being attached to the outcome.
Each chapter in this book contains three tools. These are specific exercises that will enable you to better understand and integrate the material being presented. The tools work. Combined with the insights and examples I share, they offer a road map for self-realization. They give you the exact directions you need to come to your own experience, your own understanding, of the core insight that is the key to the inner path.
Experiment with the tools. Test them out for yourself. Play with them. Focus on the ones that really make a difference for you. In time, you won't even have to think about when, where, or how to use them. They will become second nature, and their benefits will be deep and lasting.
As you read these pages it may be helpful to keep in mind that even though inner freedom, once you've found it, is yours forever, attaining balance in the world is very much a process.
Because you're human, there will be times—usually when you're under stress, are feeling out of sorts, or are facing a crisis—when the old ego patterns and reactions will tend to resurface and you'll find yourself getting hooked back in by circumstances. The world, and other people, will always try to pull you back into the "story," the drama, and make you forget who and what you really are.
But the deeper your enlightenment, the less you'll be seduced by outer appearances. You'll understand that life is inherently chaotic and uncertain. It is a continual movement, an endless series of events, and conditions are always shifting and changing. Just as the skilled tight-rope walker must be supremely alert so as not to fall off the wire when the wind blows, you'll realize that you must be constantly vigilant. You must be ready at a moment's notice to re-focus your attention, take a different action, or respond in some other ingenious way to a new or challenging situation.
Balance is a beautiful dance. It feels the best, and it is what works best—for all of us. Whenever your life feels like it's beginning to spin out of control, remember to pause, breathe deeply, come down out of your head, and feel yourself in your body, feel your feet firmly on the earth beneath you. Open your heart and tune in to the sounds around you. Listen for the silence behind the sounds. Feel the energy that is always here, underneath all the noise and chatter inside your head. Feel the energy that you are made of. Feel the power of the present.
Then, from that clear and grounded place, think about the goals and dreams that matter to you, that stir your soul and ignite your passion. These are the ones that are true for you. These are the ones that have the ring of destiny about them.
Focus on the vision you have for your life, the way you see yourself loving and serving. Be true to your heart, and the rest will follow. You'll be fed by an inner joy and zest for life that will always be with you, no matter how difficult your outer circumstances may appear at times. You'll be guided from within. Doors will open, the right people and opportunities will appear. You'll find the strength you need to act. Success will come. Increasingly, gratitude will be your daily prayer.
You'll discover just how incredibly abundant the universe is, once you get in harmony with it.