The Key (A Fairytale) — Chapter 5: Fertile Soil (Part 3)

"To curb both of your curiosities," he said, "I will briefly mention the roadblocks, but they will be difficult for you to grasp at this stage of your development. At any rate, there are ten roadblocks that prevent you from your key. By overcoming the first three, you will establish Stream Entrance.

"The first of these three is a misguided conviction that your body and personality will remain somehow intact after death. The second is an idea that following religious rituals and beliefs will procure the key without the effort of self-inquiry. And the third is your doubts conce
ing key seeking. These three things you must defeat with the only thing that can defeat it - the inner work."

"In my past life," Savaka explained, "I was very religious and prayed fervently for the safety of my fellow soldiers in battle. I prayed to my Creator to protect them and take care of them in heaven if they were killed. I knew that my Creator could not prevent wars, but the leaders on my sphere were hopelessly aggressive and uncompromising, and I beseeched my Creator to instill wisdom in the small minds that killed each other for property, idealism, and honor."

Addressing her unspoken inquiry of whether her prayers were important, a John replied, "Your prayers were well intentioned, as your helper beings always listen to all pleas and heart-felt desires. Your empathy and your prayers for your fellow soldiers were from a good place inside of you, but until these men found a way to understand their situation in the human realm, they would be subject to uncountable battlefields in many lifetimes. It was their destiny."

"She looked predictably puzzled, confused by what a John had just said, and asked, "Is the key our only hope?"

"Things outside of ourselves will never bring lasting happiness," a John replied, "no matter how great or alluring they are. There are wealthy people in the kingdoms that are wretched, while there are impoverished people in these villages who are very happy. Happiness, as well as dissatisfaction come from inside and nowhere else. To think otherwise is a misunderstanding."

"How do we work on ourselves internally?" she asked. "Is it different than prayer?"

"Prayer is a solicitation," a John explained, "where we ask for something for ourselves or somebody close to us. Working on ourselves internally would be more of a meditation - an opening as well as a quieting of our minds - so that the Source of all there is can communicate to us directly." To understand ourselves internally, we must open ourselves up and stand naked and vulnerable before our Creator and trust that It, Reality, will fill us. This requires skills quite different from ones we develop to satisfy our desires in the world.

"We must now see with our hearts, actually feel with our hearts, not with our heads. This requires a dramatic change. If we refuse to make this radical and difficult transformation in our lives, if we merely continue to escape and hide from reality with our entertainments and frantic activities, then we will remain in our state of confusion until the day we are shaken by Reality, the day when it's too late and our illusions are shattered. You see; there is no escape. If, however, we take the time to see, then we have freedom, real freedom. Not the freedom to do as we please, but the freedom to ‘be!' To be what we are and not what we should become. We must always be wary of becoming."

What did he mean by "seeing?" I have been seeing all my life! And what was this "becoming?" A John had mentioned it once before. The longer he talked, the more confused I became, but it was a delicious confusion, and I loved every minute of it.

He must have detected our confusion. "To see means to be quiet," he continued, We calm our busy minds so that the Source can communicate through our insightful hearts. This voice is very fragile, very tiny however, and we must be very still to hear it which requires the disruption our normal intellectual mental patterns of ambition and grasping at things. We must now attempt to see intuitively with our hearts."

"I don't know how to do that," Savaka said.

"You must begin slowly, by simply concentrating your mind until it becomes calm," a John instructed. "Then you will use that calm mind to see the truth of things intuitively. Reality vibrates at a deep and singular intensity, while everyday thoughts and emotions vibrate at countless shallow, weak and frenzied levels. Only when these weaker levels of our thoughts and emotions decline during the inner work do we approach extremely calm states and move increasingly closer to that strong, steady, unified vibration of the Source, of Reality. The inner work will move us from our heads to our hearts (a John demonstrated by pointing to his head and then slowly moving his finger down to his heart). We drop down from the choppy, surface waves of a storm to the quiet, calm depths of the sea."

The depths of the sea sounded peaceful, but if a John talked all night, I would never discover these depths! I was getting anxious to dive. While he was talking, other points of light descended onto the field but they didn't transform themselves into beings, they merely hovered like hundreds of fireflies. What he was saying must have been very important, and I tried to remember every word.

"Something unusual happens when we approach this singular wisdom of the Source"; a John continued quietly. "Our lives become dramatically less stressful as we naturally simplify things by limiting our choices. This simplification is not a result of trying to simplify our lives; it is an indirect result of the inner work. You see, once Reality begins to surface, the allure of the world and its millions of things slip away involuntarily, without effort. You might occasionally want to revisit something to confirm your lack of interest, but each visit will result in diminished intoxication."

I enjoyed listening to a John, but restlessness was getting the best of me. I wanted to actually begin the inner work. The key was waiting and I was ready to get on with it.

A John glanced at me, smiled and said, "Don't become too impatient when you begin your inner work. It will not be a fast or pleasant solution, and the results will not be readily apparent, but it will be a permanent solution. When you restrain yourself by sitting still and practicing the inner work, it can be frustrating, for there are many other interesting things you could be doing. You could be having fun instead of sitting there, bored with nothing going on. You could be with friends going here and going there, and the inner work seems to be an unnecessary bother. What makes it more difficult is the fact that nothing seems to be happening in the beginning and it is just plain, old, hard work. Therefore, the temptation persists to do something else.

"Be forewa
ed that the world has dominated your mind for many lifetimes and your habit patterns are ingrained. These habits will not surrender quietly or depart without a fight, digging in hard once the initial exuberance of this new experiment, this new adventure wears off, but know that there is no escape from the reality of human existence and the sooner you face it the sooner you will free yourself from returning to it. "

I listened to a John with nothing but sincere admiration and respect, wondering how a man who lived so simply in the forest could know so much. I recalled the story scratched on the blacksmith's wall and how the little tree became wise just growing toward the sun. I was beginning to develop a fond respect for this unique style of living, this solitary life in the forest with few diversions to distract me from my quest, a life that in many ways reflected the noble life of a tree.

When a John asked if we had further questions, I motioned behind my back for Savaka to be quiet. She smiled. "All right then," a John announced, "it's time that we began our inner work!"

Finally! I was beginning to think that he would go on all night! I was more than ready to conquer this inner work, just as I had conquered the kingdoms. Nothing would stand in my way now.

"I will start by cautioning you both," he said, as he climbed down from the rock upon which he had been sitting. "In the beginning, things might come up that you won't be prepared for; for example, not feeling satisfied and bright after practicing - possibly even feeling disgruntled. Also, although the fog of your ignorance will be subtly lifting without you realizing it, there will be long, dry periods, sometimes for years perhaps, where nothing seems to be happening. This is normal. Know that the mere attempt to do the inner work has a profound influence on your spiritual life whether you are aware of it or not. What you feel does not accurately reflect your progress; it is your efforts to reach the Source that is important, not the results, so never evaluate your work with your beginners' minds. Just practice it and talk with me if anything unusual happens. Alert me if you experience any strange feelings, emotions, or sensations. Also, let me know if any visions, ideas, or imaginations come up, and finally, discuss any insights that arise connected with your regular daily routine. These insights would include discovering a new way to do something or a new way of looking at something - any kind of revelation.

"Now, providing you have no questions, are you both ready to start?"

"Yes!" I said enthusiastically, while thinking, it's about time! Savaka agreed by nodding her consent as well. (To be continued) n