A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a
stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically
holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then
he asked: "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old
box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember." "Ever looked inside?"
asked the stranger. "No," said the beggar. "What's the point? There's nothing in
there." "Have a look inside," insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open
the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with
gold.
I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look
inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside
yourself.
"But I am not a beggar," I can hear you say.
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being
and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have
great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment,
for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only
includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some super-human
accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural
state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something
immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially
you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and
form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation,
from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself,
consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within
and without becomes the norm.
Thanks to Author of Power of now
