Ever feel like you're wrestling with your life? All you need is one victory, even a tiny one, on some front but it just won't materialize? Well, I have news for you. With all my talk of squeegeein the third eye and assorted borrowed Buddhist concepts, I am one of the worst offenders.
A while ago, I read this great book on the concept of the devil from a Buddhist perspective. The title escapes me but this quote from Buddha remains resonant: "It makes no difference what you grasp, when someone grasps, Mara sits beside him". Mara is Buddha's devil or devil-concept. This 'grasp' he refers to, in my mind, is the opposite of squeegeeing the third eye. The mind's eye needs to remain clear so that the world can pass through it and a dirty third eye will certainly muddy that up. However, it is only when this 'eye' gets a hold of something and won't let go that our entire life can be upheaved. Despite the ability of a high-functioning third eye's capacity to process the metaphysical or obtuse concepts of the surrounding world, the rest of our mind still clings to the concrete like a baby to his mother's breast. When this 'grasp' occurs, things start to back up in the third eye and sure, Bill Hick's squeegee recommendation is sound advice. Yet, the jamming of the eye in this manner is only the beginning of our troubles. Like a nervous sphincter, our mind's eye clams shut in an attempt to establish some sort of fixed position from which we can fend off life's challenges. No one, NO one can avoid this. Especially not me.
My only hope, as far as I can tell, is that I still manage to catch on eventually when I have a vise grip on life. Other folks work hard to maintain their grip and experience the odd "eye-opening" experience here and there, only for it to do the spincter thing immediately after. My experience of releasing said grip is not radical or beyond what my fellow travelers work with. It actually turns out to be the latest in a lifelong parade of double-takes where I let it slip and am reminded that my life and life itself are still "there" whether Im gripping or not. So then what good does this grip really do? How many proverbs and cliches are there for holding onto something too tight? I'll let you go ahead and fill them in. Life happens. It doesn't require our input and it goes on. The spirit of existence is a free one and it doesnt respond well to, or really give a shit about our input. It's for us to enjoy. I leave you with more words of wisdom from my spirit-world brother Bill Hicks:
"It's just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one." - Bill Hicks
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