Why Are We Here?
Dear friends,
Well, that's sort of a big question, so before jumping in I thought to tell a story:
George Washington Carver was born into slavery and became a deeply spiritual man. He also had an insatiable curiosity about—well—almost everything. One day as he was praying, he asked God, "What is the purpose of everything? I want to understand it all!" God answered, "Well, George, that's a mighty big question for a little fella like you." "O.K. then," George said, "how about telling me everything there is to know about the peanut?" God answered, "O.K... now we're talking." Carver then proceeded to come up with over 300 uses for the peanut and became a groundbreaking professor at Tuskegee University for decades.
Well, we at East West are pretty bold, so we are going to answer the main question, since the peanut question has already been pretty well covered. So here we go...
Everyone wants to feel joy: a deep peace, a connectedness to everything around us, and an expansion of heart and mind. People strive for that feeling in many ways, most of which are notably unsuccessful. "If I just had more money, then I'd be happy." "If I just had a better relationship... or better health... or a better job... or more friends… or more self-confidence, or…” You can fill in your own personal quest.
Whence reincarnation. We try almost everything, constantly changing circumstances and life conditions lifetime after lifetime, hoping to find the secret formula, but to no avail. If it worked it might be o.k., but it doesn't ever work. It actually cannot ever work.
By way of illustration, you can always find someone near the very top of their profession who has a feeling of emptiness once that last mountain has been conquered. There is only one endeavor where 100% of those who reach the pinnacle are completely and deeply thrilled and satisfied: becoming a saint. All other forms of expansion never quite do it. No saint has ever found God and at the end said, “Meh! I should have been a banker!"
Finally we come back one more time and realize that temporary fixes and feel-good rushes will never really satisfy our soul's deep desire. It is then that we consciously accept the spiritual path and commit to putting Spirit first... as best we can.
This is not an easy task and takes many more lifetimes, but patient endurance will bring us to victory. For this is a game that we cannot lose... we can only take longer than might be needed to achieve that ultimate victory. The train is moving forward. We can walk towards the front of the train or the back of the train, but forward we will go. Whether we resist or cooperate is entirely up to us, and determines the speed of our arrival.
May we each come to see that this is the only game where learning the rules is actually the point of the game. And that once we learn the rules we need only to do the best we can, as ultimate victory is assured. But let us each then cooperate with what is inexorable and move willingly and joyfully towards the front of the train.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West