A monk and neophyte walk into a rock venue; An order of manifestation as desire; You are merely a block of wood: Just be.

Long ago on a camping trip, while sitting under the stars, by a glowing fire, someone told me Buddhist story on life. There was a famous monastery in Tibet that foreigners would often visit for meditation and guidance.  One day after breakfast they observed two large perfectly square blocks of wood by the rock garden. Soon the head monk called everyone together to assemble by the wood pieces. As this was a typical weekend, and these adherents on the path of Buddhism longed to leave imparted with some spectacular life-changing information, the head monk asked for two volunteers, one junior monk and one foreigner. This was outside the normal exchange of Koans in order to teach the neophyte wisdom.

As both participants approached the head monk, he handed each a sharp whittling knife. He explained that the piece of wood was life, and what was awaiting intent discovery inside was what our life would become. He instructed to them not to state aloud their intention; and then requested they start into the wood with their whittling knives. The Westerner started aptly eyeing the angles, making measurements, imprinting lines. The monk was indiscriminate, giving little concern how his knife was carving into the wood, as if to have no care in the world the upshot. But with the Western student, it was very clear immediately how unduly focused and intent he was with his knife carvings – he cared greatly the result.

At this epoch of misinformation and misdirection, a time of the incessant need for constant affirmation, rampant narcissism, where everyone is Kim Kardashian on Insta or Ivan Boesky on Facebook, there are no lack of fast-food Drive-Through Gurus or Kentucky Fried Yogis to sell you that ‘dream’ life everyone on social media so desires (but doesn’t really exist) to come to manifestation. They are relentless in their proselytizing of baseless delusions, a result of their newly discovered spiritual life. Though the exceeding majority has no actual success or background that qualifies them to instruct others down any path, let alone one with profound implications, they will fill your inbox with endless absurd not-so-Secret claims.

These newly ordained prophets of Buddhahood truly believe in the claims they are pedaling you online. Having no real qualifications or prior life successes to lean on, or means of proving that such results are actually attainable, freshly minted with a dusty graduation certificate from a Fruit Loops mail-in contest, prepared to imbibe the masses with their newly concocted ethereal Kool-Aid, planning on enlightening the “Sheeple” who are subconsciously lining up for slaughter, they have boundless ‘special’ methods in order to fulfill your every thirst. Their focus is always on areas that society suffers most from: aspiration of happiness – as the automatons mostly equate happiness with success and success with the most toys.

It never dawns on the blind being lead by the blind that these ass-clowns are actually living their ‘dream-life’ by selling you a program they themselves cannot achieve; who woke up one morning bored in life, unsure what to do for work, and decided to jump on the get-rich-quick train of the month. Otherwise, why lower your worth by prostituting out yourself on social media when you can achieve anything you want e.g., that $100K per month, immediate release from Karmic debt or any other snake-oil hoax they sell you on.  If they were that amazingly successful before deciding to sell any said path as a guaranteed program, I’m pretty sure instead of being a Titan of Carnival, they’d be living on some hot tropical island. 

There is no amount of 5am yoga followed by lychee enemas, claiming to be a mentee of Bob, freezing off your nipples with intentionally pumped up icy air conditioning or pseudo daily promotions in order to achieve what these conveyors of quick results or riches say you can achieve. Always hankering to be someone else or be somewhere else, desiring more of something means you are unhappy. If you were happy you would accept your life, be content and go with the flow like a river pierces through a valley, winding and changing as it seeks its end, the wide open sea of unknown. If feeling you are not enough or do not have enough, running low on E.Q., living in a lack of abundance, that will eventually cause bigger concerns and distresses. To live in the past is veiled depression; to live in the future is unveiled anxiety.

We can only live in the now, the present. No matter how much we think of the past or the future, we can never escape the present. By wanting to constantly change the conditions of your life, manifesting yourself into whatever you fancy or feel you are without in life, you are always living in the future – you are living a life of desire that obstructs your experience of the present. Desire in Buddhism is the root of all suffering. Manifestation, boxed up and sold to you as freely as an Oreo frappe at your local cafe, with its foundation in inadequacy and desire – with the goal of eternal joy and pleasure, both which, it should be pointed out, are temporary, requiring an immediate refill once the initial adrenaline rush has worn off or the hedonistic treadmill threshold thus achieved – is fear based, causing foreboding and an uneasy insecurity, a sense of uncertainty; only leading you back to square one after such dreams do not fructify.

We are not here on earth to see who can amass the most money, buy the most exotic mansions or cars, or gain the most fame or fortune. If that were the case then all the rich and famous would be happier than everyone else on the planet. And we know that is not true; Hollywood is as dysfunctional as a one-legged grasshopper. In fact, some would argue that the rich have it worse, as they have more money – causing them increased disquiet in life; the perpetual fear of losing their money – therefore they buffer themselves still with more material items, ultimately becoming possessed by their own belongings. The exact things meant to bring them freedom and happiness end up becoming ironic shackles of agony and discontent. Their lives end up becoming a continually self-fulfilled Maytag of rinse and repeat shit cycles.

They will tell you that you can manifest yourself into a Mick Jagger if you really crave it so grandiosely enough. The person whom you desire to emulate might be one in eight billion – but do not fret worried camper, they will get your ‘new reality’ sussed-out straight away.  They live in a senseless impracticable wonder-world where you can do anything or be anything – achieving any results your little heart yearns. These behemoths of Swamiville seem to have forgotten about some of the necessary constituents of life, such as karmic debt, lessons intended for each of our lives, traumas and suffering we agreed to in pre-birth planning – all intended to help us elevate our spiritual frequency. Sure, life might be one grand illusion, but it still has guided purpose, otherwise why would we be here. We are one one-shared conscious.  

If life had no underlying foundation of interconnectedness and synchronicity, where anyone at anytime could manifest themselves into whatever they wanted, everyone would be kings and there would be no trash men. What is that to tell future generations: hey guys, no worries, when life gets hard and you are suffering hardship, all good, just go visit a manifestation fantasy coach, and within a short time you can transmogrify yourself into anything you wish, even the colossal magician of orgasmic phantasm who just sold you the biggest piece of faux-ice west of the Kuiper Belt. If only life were to be so easy, there would or else be no insurmountable obstacles to overcome, no harshly painful unforgettable lessons from life. 

It would be living as if we had a guide-book – yes, easy street. Life would become boring and not long after people would be pining for a life with an unknown future, where puzzle and mystery exist, where they have no control over what happens, where there are surprises of joy and sadness the same, where there are opportunities for inner maturity and growth. As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for! This is an archetypal example of an unintended use and aftereffect; like the doomed Manhattan Project. History has a way of repeating itself if you are not careful. In life, what you resist persists. Only until the universe is satisfied you have understood the lesson, it organically returns in frequency and magnitude.

We are here to learn to love ourselves. Once we love ourselves then we can learn to love others. Once we learn to love others we then invite divine love and grace into our own lives. The daily lessons you get in this lifetime are meant for your spiritual advancement; if you receive the lesson, you get to Pass-Go and collect $200, otherwise you get thrown back in line only to face the same lessons over and over again, delivered in a different form – much like Groundhog Day with a new fury menace to foil each day. There is no manifestation bypass valve; there are no shortcuts. We must live out our karmic debts in order to find inner balance, to understand duality – the veil of maya. The most epic vistas of life are only reachable via the most difficult roads. The harder one works, the more the universe reveals her secrets.

There are no mistakes in life, including you; there are no chance meetings or occurrences either – everything has a purpose, a reason. They are each interdependent and connected to one another – all acted out according to an indescribable unfathomable master divine plan. You are solely as you are supposed to be today; nothing needs any adjustment. Just as the moon, regardless of one’s view, is perfect in all stages. You are right where you need to be at this precise moment in time. You should celebrate how far you have come, how strong you are for facing head-on all the battles in life you have had – and each time, it was always ok, you came out ahead, whether you knew it at the same time or not. Stop trying to be someone else; everyone else is already taken. Be as you are; your authentic self.

Love and forgiveness are two substantial facilitators of unearthing our true meaning and purpose in this untold cosmic farce. The noblest self-realizations through extensive self-enquiry and deep heartfelt introspection are the understanding that we have no control over life or its events or outcomes, but that we are in control of our attitude and reaction – it’s our choice how we feel. Rather than spending a life of insatiable impulse and fancy, unhappy with your current set of life circumstances, oscillating irascibly between constant want and boredom, existing instead in the never-ending dejected valley of depression and anxiety without any direction or happiness – start living in the present, the all-present Tao. Virtuoso athletes and artists will tell you that the real magic happens when you exist in the flow. Get in the flow!

The obstacle is the way; grit, determination and perseverance pay vast dividends. Without mud there is no lotus: Buddhists believe in order to become extraordinary gems in God’s image we must face copious pressures and stresses of life in order to develop ourselves into diamonds. It’s Doing the Dirty Dishes of life; without tilling the garden of life we cannot have flowers – we cannot have happiness. An unhealthy fruit tree cannot produce fruit. Happiness is an inside job; all the answers you seek lie within your heart. We only reach our heart through the journey of immense suffering, the quest to slay our terrifying inner dragons, through the valley of darkness, into the peaks of light, as we fly through space on a boiling hot rock of magma, covered in burlesque meat-suits, thinking everything we see is real – to boot, simply VR.

We are spirits who decided to have a human experience in order to eventually evolve ourselves into ascended masters. It is estimated by the northern Buddhist school that the average person will take one million lives in order to attain that level. We come into being in this life experience for a reason. All we can manifest in life is the premier version of ourselves – to manifest our intended meaning and purpose. The exact parts of life some people covet to manifest themselves out of are the same parts that give our lives meaning – they are the required pieces of the puzzle in order to advance to higher states of being. If you remove them then you remove all mutually-dependent integrated pieces in order to make it work. 

Irrespective the path or journey we each take, all roads lead to the same destination – fate is fate.  No matter what the Western student thinks he is carving out of the block of wood with his well intentioned swipes, the wood will become what it is meant to be, regardless. Life is a block of wood of which you have no control over the result; destiny always has her way – and the last say. The universe, as a river cuts its way through mountains and landscape, through the experience of life as suffering, as even you agreed before popping out the honey-pot for another go-around, indiscreetly forms the block of wood into its intended objective in life over time – as with nature as with yourself, if you leave it alone, allow it to be observed from afar, it continues on. So, like water, go with the flow. Live in the ever-present – just be.

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