Keys to Succeeding at the Great Quest

We spend a great deal of time battling "foes" that we think have taken something from us. We are created to, instead, come into this life to go into a Great Quest where everything is an unfolding adventure. There is an enthusiasm seeded within us that is intended to guide us through this life. The world steals this enthusiasm from us and we become someone who learns to live with constant unrest that is always at odds with life. There is another life intended for us.

The princesses of fables and fairy tales represent wisdom, and the mythology of the quest of this wisdom leads to the principles of real Life. But we have instead followed the thoughts and feelings that give us nothing but more of the same futile unrest that we fight against on a daily basis.

There is a real quest that is sown into us along with the arrival point. Story: A Great Knight... He had seen through worldly prizes and had realized that he was not yet a whole man... He heard of a true princess and went out to find her...When he found her, she told him that her heart belonged only to the Knight who would bring her the Golden Cup from The Great Lake of No Return. Upon finding the lake, he sees that the whole lake is filled with dragons and monsters -- A storm came and the water turned blood red. The scene looked impossible to conquer. He then saw a stone tablet with words carved on it... "Let only the one cross these waters who alone can speak those words that are at once the highest words of praise and yet be fearless in them." He tried extolling the lake's quality, but continued to experience failure. Then he tried forsaking the lake, but nothing changed. On and on this went... but he realized that he was where he had to be. But he did not know how to go about this quest. It was impossible for him to go back but also impossible for him to go forward. He stood up and started to tremble, for he knew what this quest was going to cost him... He said, "Let there be nothing between You and I." At that moment, a great stillness came across the lake and a golden bridge was formed to the golden cup at the center. He retrieved the cup and took it to the princess where they lived happily ever after.

We think there is something we can achieve that will bring us the fulfillment we long for. We think our unhappiness is caused by not getting what we want or getting what we don't want. The unrest we feel holds the individual's conviction that the conflict can be repaired through changing his/her situation or possessions. But the root of the disturbance is never what has happened or what we have; it is the part of us that is never happy with whatever we have.

There is always something, placed there by desire, between ourselves and what we truly need to realize. It never dawns that it is not what has occurred that causes the conflict, but the incessant desire for things to be other than the way they are; We never meet a moment without adding something to it. (Opinions, judgments, criticisms, etc.)

Everything that our present mind adds to the moment is what it is already identified with. It is this identification that gives us the sense of self we presently operate from. What is between me and my God (Light) is me. I am what wrecks the moment. Self-love is at the center of everything I do and is a purely awful sickness. This self is full of endless speculation and analysis, forever disturbing the 'waters' and creating dragons beneath the surface. What causes this disturbance (the endless self-chatter of interpretation) cannot bring an end to the disturbance. But we can catch the relationship between the chatter and our sense of conflict.

The 'you' that is between God and my true being in the moment must come to an end. I must take 'me' out of my life and let God's Life act directly on who I truly am. That is the real act of fearlessness.