It's really a joke, just don't make a joke out of the joke.
Life is fun. It’s really a joke. But if you’re not laughing, it’s not much of a joke—and there’s no fun in it.
Life isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s more like a ride at an amusement park; you just don’t always see it. But once you do, life becomes fun.
You actually live in two worlds at the same time. Some call them the Material World and the Spiritual World. Others say the inner and outer worlds. Think of it as “eyes open” and “eyes closed.”
With your eyes open, you’re aware of your body, your clothes and hair, your surroundings—your home, family, work, car, and everything else.
With your eyes closed, you’re in another world. None of the material things can be seen. Close your eyes and you can’t see the room you’re in, the furniture, your house, your bills.
Open your eyes and you step back into “reality”—or is it? Which world is more real? You have to eat, sleep, and work to stay alive. But in the world behind closed eyes, you don’t have to do anything. Close your eyes and there is peace.
Next time the pressures of life build up, just close your eyes and refuse to worry. If only it were that easy.
We live in both worlds simultaneously—open eyes and closed eyes. One doesn’t vanish when you enter the other. When you sleep, you close your eyes and—God willing—relax and prepare for another day.
With your eyes closed, there are no limitations. This is the world of imagination—the Fifth Dimension. (Time is the fourth; height, width, and length are the first three.) In the world of imagination you can fly to the moon or Mars, or picture yourself on a Pacific island with a single palm tree and a bowling ball (too much Far Side). You can live in dreams and pleasures. There are no limits.
Open your eyes and you see yourself in your room, sitting in a chair, inside a house, wearing clothes, feeling the temperature, looking out the window, feeling hungry, thinking about work or mowing the lawn or where to go Friday night. There are limits. If you want to eat, you must go to the kitchen or a restaurant. If you want to swim, you must drive to a pool.
Close your eyes, and you are already there—already swimming, already wet.
The open-eyes world demands your attention. Your survival depends on it. Falling asleep at the wheel won’t get you far. And how far can you walk to the supermarket with your eyes closed?
Life on planet Earth is a game. It has rules. Being awake is one of them. But it is not the first priority. The open-eyes world wants to be first. It wants all the attention and energy you can give it. It wants to be in charge—and often it is.
But this creates an imbalance. That imbalance produces the feeling that something is wrong, or something is missing.
You can go through life constantly sensing that something is off and assume it’s normal. It isn’t. It’s imbalance. When your tires are out of balance, they wear out faster and unevenly. When you live out of balance, your body wears down faster as well.
You may try to silence the plea from your invisible side by working harder, drinking more, playing harder, or doing anything that still fails to satisfy.
The invisible part isn’t a tyrant. It doesn’t want to control your life or tell you what to do. It only wants acknowledgment.
Imagine you had a trusted friend who wanted nothing more than to help you. What would happen if you constantly ignored that friend?
Your spiritual part is just like that. It is one of the two worlds you live in. Accept it. Acknowledge it. Ask it: “What do you want?” “What do you need?”
You might be surprised.
Tomas Burke
www.spiritual-pilgrim.com