How Does It Feel To Win A Million?

Looking through the biography notes on Arjuna Ardagh (author of Awakening Into Oneness, the book I mentioned in the previous post) I came across this interesting quote about the culmination of Ardagh's search for enlightenment:

(Ardagh) had the profound realization that he had been seeking for what he already was, and always had been. He realized that it was in the abandonment of seeking and wanting that his heart found its fulfillment.

What might he mean by this?

It seems to me that if people think about enlightenment at all - and it helps to remind myself from time to time that not everyone does - then it's usually in terms of lots of foreign travel. People are expected to journey along perilous mountain passes to isolated monasteries, where they rise in the middle of the night to pray, drink yak's milk, and smite themselves with sticks at frequent intervals. If they are lucky and survive twenty years or so of this, they become enlightened, which means that they sit around with their knees crossed and make cryptic remarks to their students.

Whatever this enlightenment thing is, the idea goes, it is out there. You have to go out and find it. It is all about long haul flights and frequent flyer points. You have to search under every stone, and having searched, search again. There is no such thing as a long weekend to enlightenment.

And yet increasingly, people like Ardagh seem to be suggesting that this popular concept of a lonely soul scouring the world for some hidden truth is mistaken: that enlightenment is really closer to home than we think. That if we only understood, we could have it here, right now, in this moment.

But if so, then what is it? What is this truth which is supposed to be staring us all in the face?

Eckhart Tolle tells a story about winning a million dollars. This is something which makes people happy. But why should that be, he asks?

We know from reading the newspapers that many people who win such a large amount of money don't stay happy for very long. They may be bouncing off the ceiling a while, but when the elation has worn off, they find that they just have a new set of problems. They may be besieged by people begging for money; they may have trouble with jealous relatives; they may have arguments with their partner about how to spend all the money; or they may simply become morbidly obsessed with the fear of losing this vast fortune, in spite of the fact that they have managed perfectly well without it until now.

So with all this in store, why are people still so happy to win the lottery?

It clearly isn't the money itself, not really, for even if they manage to hang on to it, the chances are that some of these problems will come along to make them miserable anyway. Even at best, it seems inevitable that the elation will start to dwindle away over the weeks and months, even if all the money remains.

So if it's not the money itself, what causes that initial burst of elation?

Eckhart Tolle points out that we tend to spend a lot of our time 'disagreeing with reality'. We refuse to accept that things are the way they are. He describes this as a kind of madness, and if we think about it a while, we can see that he's right. Things are the way they are. Period. There's no getting away from it and no amount of raging against it is going to change it. We might wish we'd done this or wish we'd done that, and want to have this or want to have that. We might want politicians to tell the truth, or our relationship not to have ended, or to have got that job we wanted, or to have eaten a bit less chocolate for breakfast. We might want it to be warmer in winter and cooler in summer. We might want the trains to run on time. But things are the way they are are the way they are - and banging our heads against the wall and wailing isn't going to make them any better.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying we shouldn't take action to change things. If we notice some injustice that's being done to us or to someone else, or if we see how something might be done more efficiently, it's perfectly reasonable to set out to change that. But it's important to distinguish between that will to change and our absolute point blank refusal to accept the less than perfect nature of how things presently are.

The truth is that when we see something we think is wrong, we don't put all our energy into changing it. We don't do that at all. We channel a lot of that energy, perhaps most of it, or - let's face it - in most cases all of it into moaning about how things are right now, in refusing to accept reality, in resisting what we can see in front of our eyes. "The buses should run on time," we will say. "You shouldn't have walked out on me." "Chocolate ought to have less calories and then I wouldn't get fat!"

This resistance does nothing to change things and neither does it make us happy. It makes us tense. It makes us angry. It makes us frustrated. In the end, it is not the situation to which we object which causes us so much pain, but our blind, obstinate, utterly mad refusal to accept that it is so.

And this, Eckhart Tolle suggests, points to the reason why winning all that money can make us happy: because for once in our lives we are willing to accept that things are the way they are. We have won a million dollars - yes, we can accept that. So just for once in our lives, we can drop our resistance to how things actually are. We can drop our disagreement with reality. We can drop our obsession with how things were or how they might become, put our plans and dreams to one side, finally stop resisting and let in life. It is not the money itself, it is the great relief of doing this, of letting go of that struggle, which feels so wonderful.

Which brings us back to Arjuna Ardagh "seeking for what he already was, and always had been". Ardagh reports that he found fulfillment when he stopped this seeking, when he abandoned his wanting. In other words: when he no longer disagreed with reality, when he simply accepted the way things were - and accepted the way he was.

So perhaps it is this acceptance, this surrender, not just from time to time but continuously, from one moment to the next, which forms the cornerstone of enlightenment. Which means that we don't, after all, have to search the world for the ultimate truth. It really is waiting for us right here. We just have to give up the struggle and accept the way things are.

So if you want to know what it feels like to win a million, just try accepting the way things are in this moment, really accepting. Then feel the tension ease...

Feel the lightening.

 

These may also be of interest:

How To Have It All

The Ultimate Truth

Ripples on a Sea of Peace

Comments

[Priscilla Palmer]

Thank you so much for adding The Personal Development List as a whole page. And for The Link in your side bar. I really appreciate it.

[Secret Simon]

No problem, Priscilla - and thanks for including me in the list!

[Sally]

Brilliant Simon

You really are telling it like it is!

I smile at the concept of Enlightenment and hate the term as it implies it is a thing that you can own! So many people have made so much money (and often over complicated and caused confusion) helping people to search for this "thing".

My personal experience (and in saying that, I don't for one moment claim to have achieved any particular state) is that it is your original nature and so has always been there: "closer than hands and feet" says the Bible. That fits with the concept of Oneness, realisation of our interconnectedness with everyone and everything, and so many other titles used for "Enlightenment". It really is an awakening or a realisation in itself to know it is never "out there" to be achieved.

And yes, real and total acceptance of this moment and being present in the Now is an access point to what really is "the Peace which passes all understanding" (and the reason it passes all understanding is it cannot be understood by the mind).

[Pam]

Do you seriously mean to suggest that some people might wish they'd eaten less chocolate for breakfast? I wonder who those people are, and whether they'd consider sending their surplus to me....

[Mark]

Excellent post. It is true, all that we seek is within the seeker. All that we wish to know, we already know. Being is the ultimate state of enlightenment.

[Liara Covert]

Thanks for this most uplifting post. I share the beliefs expressed by Eckart Tolle and will look into the Awakening into Oneness by Arjuna Ardagh.

When it comes to travel, people often quest for enlightenment only to discover all they ever wanted or needed is inside themselves. Yet, displacement can seem necessary to step back and finally see the truth. As humans are born, existence may be a journey to learn how to remember what is truly important, and this has been temporarily forgotten. Some people awaken quickly and still others never truly awaken.

I also think of books like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Higgelty Piggelty Pop! There Must be More to Life by Maurice Sendak. These protagonists came to their own conclusions about the truth.

[Marion]

I first started reading Eckhart Tolle about 7 years ago and was transformed by his writings and public speaking. He is an amazing man.

The Serenity Prayer fits this post, Simon!

[Simon]

Pam - I admit that some of the stuff I write is a bit far fetched. But notice I didn't suggest that people might wish *to eat* less chocolate for breakfast, just that they might wish *to have eaten* less. It's a subtle difference, but it means that the surplus chocolate in question has already been eaten, which may make it marginally less attractive.

[Simon]

Sally - Yes, you're right. What we're talking about is our 'original nature'. This was how we looked at life when we first came into the world, before we got reprogrammed into seeing things differently.

It is a shame that the term 'enlightenment' seems to have been misused, because I do like the word. 'Lightening' is very much how it feels when I get my occasional twinges of this different way of being, and I also like the idea of a light going on in the top of the head, like in the cartoons. Because that is all it takes: a sudden realization that it is easy.

[Simon]

Mark - Yes, we know it all already. We knew it when we were born. The only tricky bit is forgetting the stuff we've learned since.

Liara - This seems to fit in with what you say about stepping back and remembering what is important. Because although we say how simple it is and we know it all already, getting back to that can seem difficult. It's not that the journey has to be a hard one - it's that we don't know which way to turn.

We're a bit like a caged bird with a cloth thrown over it, the way people do with budgies and canaries. It seems as though to let in the light, we have to find a way to remove the cloth. It takes a while to realize that the door of the cage is open all along.

I read The Alchemist a few years ago and didn't really connect with it. Maybe it's about time I tried again...

[Simon]

Marion -

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Those are wonderful words, Marion, and I always thought them perfect, yet in the context of this post perhaps a subtle change is needed: God grant us the serenity to accept *everything*. Then, I think, the rest will follow.

(Trouble is: I'm not sure it scans as well...)

Thank you all for your kind words and comments!

[Liara Covert]

Hi Simon.
I like your caged bird analogy. The funny thing is, maybe its only a case of noticing the invisible key we wear around our own necks and using it to unlock the door of the cage we built. After all that, we also lock it ourselves and forget the key is with us.

Alternatively, you could work on extending mental abilities to levitate the cloth off your own cage. Yet, that's only if you prefer to stay locked inside. Based on the ways we choose to see, and what, that will determine if we devise ways to change.

[Stoovie]

It clearly isn't the money itself, not really, for even if they manage to hang on to it, the chances are that some of these problems will come along to make them miserable anyway. Even at best, it seems inevitable that the elation will start to dwindle away over the weeks and months, even if all the money remains.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Grinning...what if...everyone who ever won a million dollars was 'me' also?

I had a brother in law one time, that thought himself a 'hunter'. I told him he was a 'seeker', because he never came back with anything.

A lot of time, our pleasure in is the pursuit. Like being a zealot. If this is the case, then our joy would end, as soon as we found, what we sought.

Our 'lesser' selves, are very clever and insiduous when it comes to ways to fool ourselves.

[Karen]

I was intriqued by the previous post and bought the CD and book. I am into chapter 2 in the book and I am enjoying it very much. I am saving the CD for after I finish the book, which at this rate, will probably be tomorrow! Excellent so far - thanks for the recommendation. I look forward to letting you know what ideas/feelings they inspire in me. I have really enjoyed your blog. Glad to have found it!

[Simon]

Thanks, Liara, I'm quite pleased with the caged bird idea too, and you introduce some interesting variations! I wonder though, cos my clarity comes and goes on this... Sometimes, if something extreme is happening, it can seem very hard not only to accept what is happening but even to see that acceptance would be a good idea. To return to the original version of the analogy, perhaps I should acknowledge that this poor bird has been indoctrinated from birth to believe that the door isn't open, and told that if it even imagines for *a moment* that the door is open, then the cage will explode and it will be left as nothing more than a bundle of scorched feathers. Perhaps that describes our situation a bit more accurately. And of course, we humans have a more vivid imagination than a budgerigar does - especially when it comes to catastrophies.

[Simon]

Hi Stoovie - I have to admit I'm intrigued by your response. I suppose the only thing I can say is: I couldn't have put it better myself.

[Simon]

Sue Ann - This ties in nicely with a comment I left recently on the 'How To Have It All' thread. Our 'lesser selves' are never satisfied because whenever we get what we thought we wanted, we always want something more. There's a (mistaken) logic in it: if a million dollars hasn't made us happy, then obviously we must need two million. And as you say, we take pleasure in the pursuit. As long as we're still looking, we can hang on to the illusion that what we are searching for is really what we want.

[Simon]

Karen - Thanks for your encouragement! I hope you enjoy the book and CD and I am looking forward to your feedback...

Thanks everyone for your comments!

[Jon F]

Wow!
I can see that when I finally get my head around Conversations with God that Eckhart will be the very next book on my list! There seems to be something wired into the nature of man that we always want just the next little thing just out of our reach, never what is just within our grasp. Goats are the same. We used to have a pet gaot and it would always stretch out and eat the grass right on the farthest point it could strain against its leash, while all around it was standing in lush green grass!!! That goat needs to read Eckhart too!
Jon

[Simon]

Hi Jon - Yes, I suppose it is this yearning which has spurred us on to achieve so much. That is why the human race has developed so many wonderful and exotic ways of traveling about the planet, entertaining ourselves, and killing each other. The only trouble is: that yearning hasn't made us happy.

Interesting about the goat. We tend to think of animals as more in the moment than we are. And indeed that seems to be true. They seem to be more at peace with their essential nature. And yet perhaps the 'higher' species have something of us in them too. They may not have invented the automobile, but they yearn for the field on the far side of the fence...