As a man thinketh so is He

Or woman. I was watching a program I DVRed last week or so that is Matt Lauer interviewing Dan Brown the author of "Secrets of the Lost Symbol" which just came out in hard bound. It started me thinking about what my parents taught me about the title of this article.

You can't do anything unless you believe you can. So, literally "As a man or woman thinketh so is he or she".

It is said that beings like Jesus or Buddha were intuitive geniuses who were always the right place at the right time maximizing their positive gifts for the most efficient good they could do in all situations all the time. If you look at not only what they both did in their lives but how many lives they have both affected in positive ways every since it is very difficult to logically argue with this thesis.

So, if you and I consider what Jesus and Buddha did was the ultimate of what mankind should aspire to then to follow in their footsteps seems to be the highest honor we could pay them and the highest good we could do for our fellow man and ourselves, our families and all life everywhere in the universe.

However, when one begins it is helpful to understand how one gets from point A (ignorance) to Point B (enlightenment).

Actually, one point of view says they are not far apart at all. For many Buddhists say that the only thing you need do to become enlightened is to realize it and if you are the rare being that can realize it right now and hold that thought always then you are enlightened right now and always will be and all mankind and you will be the better for it.

I can give my own experience as an example. When I was young I wanted very much to soul travel. My parents often talked about it and I read about it in I believe either "Unveiled Mysteries" or "The Magic Presence". I read of a Lady Master named Leto that would come teach me to soul travel if I wished. And so in my teens I decided that I would pray hard to be able to soul travel even though I already knew everyone already does it in dreams at night and in waking dreams.

So in my late teens and twenties my whole perceptual paradigm shifted and I was soul traveling consciously throughout earth and to other planets just like Buddha and Jesus. However, I believed at that time that it took effort to travel long distances and so the effort wore me out at times.

It wasn't until my 30s when I realized fully that both time and space were not ultimately real the way we are taught here on earth and experienced fully that I already was everywhere and everywhen. And since I was already everywhere and everywhen all I need do is to believe I was at any place or time I wished and I was there.

What the Buddhists say about instant enlightenment or some call it Zen enlightenment is like this. You are already there. You are already enlightened.

So don't get in your own way. Allow yourself to already be enlightened right now.