Close the Gap

The words known as: Self-Realization, God-Realization, The Absolute,
Moksha, Liberation, Freedom, Truth, GOD, Enlightenment, Nirvana and
any word that hasn’t been mentioned, are all pointing to the same
thing. The question is what are they pointing to?

We use the word “Unconditioned” to refer to all of the above. The
Unconditioned is none other than you minus the Conditions.

Some of us see the Gap quite easily and for others it’s more subtle.
The Gap is in believing that God, Enlightenment or the Unconditioned
is somewhere other than where I AM.

Most teachings agree on the word Omnipresence. Omnipresence
being true, the question that arises is: Where Can I go where GOD
is not? The obvious answer is nowhere. There is nowhere I can go
where GOD is not! That is a most profound statement to be realized.
If there is nowhere I can go where GOD is not, then God must be right
where I AM.

If we truly embrace Omnipresence then that will Close the Gap quite
nicely.

Three statements on closing the gap

You are you and you are THAT which is Significant.

There is nothing for you to do in order to be you because you are
already you.

You are already you because you have never been anyone else.

Please ponder the three statements deeply. Doing so will Close the
Gap.

Cultivate Awareness of the Unconditioned

Most of us have been focused on the Conditioned since birth and we’ve
had quite a bit of help to have that focus. Our parents, siblings,
friends, schools and any thing else that we call society is one big
condition.

Birth and Death and every thing in between are a Condition.

The Ego believes that it can create conditions that are favorable to
it and having done that, it will be happy.

The difficulty is that this is only a belief and one that the Self
Improvement people are trying to sell to us. Yes friends you can have
it ALL! You can have the MONEY! You can have the TOTALLY HOT
BODY of all times! You can have a love relationship that exceeds the
love of Romeo and Juliet!

The above is what Ego wants and what society is trying to sell to it.
Please stop buying into this. Even if the Ego could acquire these
things it will then need to maintain them or they will be lost.

No matter how well they are maintained and that of course assumes
that one acquires them to begin with, they are destined to perish.
The reason that they are destined to perish is because they are
conditions. Conditions do not unfold. Conditions always collapse in
on themselves.

The Ego is actually the opposite of the Four Principles. The Ego does
not close the gap it creates gap. Ego does not cultivate awareness of
the Unconditioned. It prefers to cultivate awareness of the
Conditioned. The Ego doesn’t attempt to deepen in wisdom and
compassion because it’s too focused on itself to care about others.
The Ego does not trust or rest. The Ego does not unfold it collapses
in on itself as does all other conditions.

Be Willing to Forever Deepen in Wisdom and Compassion

Wisdom and Compassion are both necessary. There cannot be one
without the other. Wisdom relies upon Compassion for a true
understanding and Compassion relies upon Wisdom for a true
expression.

Wisdom without Compassion leads to arrogance and Compassion
without Wisdom has no direction.

Most people seem to favor one over the other. Some find Wisdom
comes more readily than Compassion and others will find the
opposite to be true. Therefore, we focus on that one which does
not come so easily.

If Wisdom comes easily, then focusing on Compassion is most wise. If
Compassion comes easily, then focusing on Wisdom is most
compassionate. This is true simply because we need both together as
one.

A very good example of Wisdom and Compassion being together is
found in the Heart Sutra. In the Heart Sutra there is Avalokiteshvara
Bodhisattva which is the highest emblem of compassion within
Buddhism and the Bodhisattva is speaking about Wisdom.

We would have a tendency to expect an expert on Compassion to
speak about compassion, but it so happens that the Bodhisattva of
Compassion speaks about Wisdom.

It is actually quite natural that the epitome of Compassion would
speak about Wisdom because that is a very compassionate thing to do.

Wisdom and Compassion are not something that we create. They are
qualities of the Unconditioned. Engaging the Unconditioned is to
engage wisdom and compassion. As we Cultivate Awareness of the
Unconditioned, then we are also deepening in Wisdom and Compassion.

Trust and Rest in the Unfolding

Trusting and Resting in the Unfolding is the culmination of the other
three principles. To the degree that we Trust, it is to that degree
that we Rest. The more we Trust, the more we Rest. The more we
Rest, the more we Trust.

Trusting is not based on blind faith. What has caused you to be
interested in Truth itself? That is what you Trust. It is important
to point out how rare it is to attend Satsang. Approximately one
percent of the human population attends Satsang. That means there is
a 99% chance that a person will not attend Satsang and yet you are
attending. How do you explain that? Learn to trust that which brought
you to Satsang.

Do not believe anything. Believing is something we do when we don’t
know. When we know directly then believing is non existent. Believing
is something we use to fill the Gap because the gap is uncomfortable.
It is much better to be honest by saying “I don’t know” then to
insert a belief in order to be more comfortable.

Honesty is a characteristic of the Unconditioned. When we honestly
don’t know then we are much closer than we would be if we inserted a
belief. Believing is an illusion of knowing. Do not settle for
anything less than knowing directly for yourself. Being honest about
not knowing opens the door to knowing. Inserting a belief closes the
door to knowing.

Trusting and Resting are based only on KNOWING. Before you say
that you know nothing, you MUST know something or otherwise you
would not be at Satsang.

~John Taylor