The Worst Kept Secret in the Universe
This is Peter. Peter has spent 47 years meditating in a cave with no pants. One day he opens his eyes and smiles. He has learned the final truth.
This is Sally. Sally is deeply traumatized and resistant to most treatments. She undergoes psychedelic therapy, meets the one who made the universe, witnesses the true nature of reality, and goes on with her life with a cheeky smile because she knows the Big Secret.
This is Caroline. One day she was in her car and she saw an angel or something, and it saved her from a big accident and then it told her the Big Secret. Sometimes it just happens!
These people have something in common. The sacred knowledge they return with is something out of a Hallmark card. It's always some version of "Love is the answer."
We hear such sentiments all the time, so why does someone have to go to the peak of consciousness just to hear it again? Just to finally believe it?
As often as we hear that love and kindness are the foundations of a livable reality, the truth is that their opposites—hatred and fear—are also precious to us. What a strange experience it is to hate. When I hate someone, the hatred is painful to feel. And yet the idea of letting go of the hatred is unacceptable. I cling to it. I wield it like Gollum and the One Ring. All the while knowing that the experience I really yearn for is that state we all cherish—when arms are let down, the adversary is forgiven, we are cleansed in mercy and feel the warmth of love again. How can we explain this?
No idea.
But we better figure it out. Because one thing that is obvious to all of us is that you can realize the value of kindness immediately if you simply imagine a world without it. A world without kindness would be a living hell. And unfortunately, there are worlds like that, or at least people for whom the world is utterly merciless. Children who are neglected, teenagers who are bullied, adults who are wounded. Humans adapt to their environment to survive. When a person lives in a merciless world, what do they become?
In this moment of political turmoil, I think we all know we are at the bottom of our hearts yearning for the moment we can forgive and love one another. But we are also clutching our precious rings of resentment. What journey do we have to undergo, what high mountain do we have to climb, to find the Hallmark card and once again accept it?
When one encounters the Big Secret, there is an immensity to it. But for all that grandeur, life is still mundane. One does not return to life as a mystical saint. One has to find a way to translate the Big Secret into ordinary language, everyday life. When the Big Secret manifests in our day-to-day experience—going to the post office, talking to our friends, working with people we may or may not like—all it looks like is kindness. It is so ordinary, but it saves the whole world.
Secretly,
Harry
