“Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
— Benjamin Franklin
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Normal … what the heck is normal anyways?
I was recently asked on a podcast (which was very cool – I’ll send you the link when it goes live) what my parents thought when I became a monk 20 odd years ago.
A deviation from normal indeed.
Normal – society’s commonly trodden path. Why is it laid out in a commonly accepted way? Education, job, family, holidays, retirement etc? So we can succeed. So we can find stability and certainty and thrive from that foundation.
Right?
Believe in the path, follow the path, find success and be happy.
Yet I remember my dad got made redundant back in the 80s and his sheer shock as his world view was shaken. He was a job for life man, as was his generation, and his job for life had just kicked him to the kerb.
What hurt him the most wasn’t so much the job dismissal but the death blow to his fundamental belief in the path, if you see.
Nowadays that’s nothing. The path has altered in some ways. Everything is zero hour contracts and flexible and blah blah blah. Unless it’s your rental/mortgage/phone contract, then you’re locked in for life! Death and taxes, as the man said.
But here’s the thing.
The path promises stability and safety, but there’s no actual certainty or stability to be found anywhere in life.
Everything you have can be taken from you.
I don’t want to be a bummer here, but let me lay it out so we can ultimately save you some anguish and point you in the right direction.
Regardless of how careful you are, very little is under your control. Everything you can touch can be lost. Your health, your relationships, your house, your money, your car … everything comes and goes.
A bunch of things you can’t touch can be lost too.
Your time, your beliefs, concepts and expectations, your memories, your mood … your hope.
All of it, no matter how hard you try to hang on, can be taken from you. Yet our society tells us to find stability in all the places that are forever changing. Isn’t that insane?
If you want a real platform to thrive, don’t place your hopes in anything that will come and go.
Now, you don’t need to take vows to do this, you don’t need to change your external world at all –
But find the one place that is not change, that is absolutely certain and stable.
That is within you, in your being, in your presence.
It’s always been there, but our culture puts little emphasis on it – often it’s those whose world views have been rocked by the realisation of the lack of stability who have begun to search for it.
Don’t wait to have your world thrown upside down to lose your hope.
Don’t wait. Get going now on a path of true certainty.
It’s all about living from the present moment and the presence within you.
How you practice that is ultimately up to you. There are easier and more fun tools and paths than others, for sure. I’m an Ascension teacher for a very good reason. I think it’s one of the best ways forward out there. With Ascension it will be fast and fun.
But whatever you do, don’t waste any more time.
Find true certainty and stability in the only place you will ever find it. Within.
“Go within or go without” as they say. Or a better way still of putting it, go within to go beyond.
And if I can help, let me know.
Go well,
Arjuna
PS.
Free yourself from misplaced hope. Avoid heartbreak. You don’t need to suffer. You really don’t.
Find stability and certainty in the only place it exists, and you will have a platform to thrive like no other.
It’s a cornerstone human skill, and the most underrated.
It’s never a case of if life will life you, but when.
Elevate yourself from suffering and find freedom and what it really means to be alive.
I have some free downloadable meditation audios that will help no end.
Check the link in my bio, or let me know and I’ll get the links out to you.
Or, if you want to dive into Ascension, next courses are 12-14 April and 28-30 June (both start 7pm Fri). Let me know if you want details about that too.
Talk soon!