Dozen Ik

It’s ok to break these rules. You won’t necessarily have to get rid of your ego, or unlearn your story, or traverse unseen barriers before you can know the Truth.

These were just some of the conventions that were developed to help you to know the Way. Not as requirements that you must fulfill before you can know Enlightenment. You don't have to battle the lion at the foot of the mountain in order to climb it; the important thing is to climb the mountain.

When you learn the Truth, then you will learn the beauty and value of the ego, and your story, and the self. And they will be precious like fresh raindrops on morning grass.

And, in knowing Truth, all these "ego" things will work themselves into their proper place.

In a photograph, it is not the film or the paper that matters most: It is the light. That’s what carries the information. It merely uses the form, the convention, of those mediums to travel on. Taking away the film and the paper will not show you the source of the light. But without the light, the film and paper would be useless.

But, looking for truth is like pointing your camera at a beautiful object. And by focusing on truth, you then transcend the petty explicably knowing. Yet, in the inexplicable knowing of truth, you realize the way in its essential "form". And, ultimately each of us must craft our own way from the great beauty.

This is like driving a car: If you just stare at the speedometer and the mileage gauge all of the time, then you will know that you are going someplace, but you wont know where you are going. But, if you look at the road, then you can see where you are going, and you can glance at the speedometer and mileage when you need to see them.