Finding Out...

"But what's the point of doing anything if all you discover is that there's nothing to be done," I blurted out.

"Because you'll never find out anything unless you do, that's why." The intensity in Rose's reply bordered on irritation. "You've got people who can't wipe their own noses who think their laziness and incompetence is some sort of spiritual detachment. They want to jump over the material world without ever mastering it, and get right into Enlightenment. As a result they end up doing nothing on either the material or the spiritual plane. You have to extend your material being to the limit. Only then will you find out that you don't exist--at least not as you think you do. You've got to fatten up your head before you chop it off."

Rose paused for a moment to take a drink of his soda, then spoke more softly.

"You've got to somehow build up a tremendous ball of energy if you want to find the Answer, and that's not going to happen without a bit of ego. You use the ego, let it go along for the ride. Take on the world, tackle some projects, practice some ascetic disciplines--maybe perform a miracle or two if the opportunity presents itself. Success in these things will give you confidence and momentum--a vector--to use for the bigger task. And when the door opens to the Absolute, your vector is what takes you through it. The ego can't go.




Richard Rose

After the Absolute