Written on October 22, 2008 by Tom Stine / 10 Comments »
All of our thoughts are conditioned. We all are thinking exactly along the lines we are conditioned to think. Programmed like a computer. Anybody who thinks they are actually choosing of their own free will the line of thinking that they have is completely deluded by their thinking.
Written on September 5, 2008 by Tom Stine / 23 Comments »
Recently, I’ve written some articles concerning death and rebirth. The first one touched on the fate of an awakened one after the body dies, and the second one focused on past lives and reincarnation. I want to continue the discussion of rebirth and past lives today.
In my prior article, I took a position on past lives that caused quite a bit of disagreement. To be honest, what I was presenting wasn’t really what I believe about past lives or reincarnation because, to be honest, I don’t have the slightest idea what happens. And for the most part, I don’t think anyone really can know. But, you never know!
So, how about a counter point, one that is different from most of the ones I’ve heard? I was reading one of my favorite books the other night, I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj. If you’ve never read it, I suggest that you do. I know several people who have experienced the truth at a very profound level who feel that Nisargadatta express most clearly of anyone the perspective of an awakened one. I would tend to agree.
Nisargadatta’s views on death and rebirth were quite eye-opening. Let’s take a look:
The memory of the past, unfulfilled desires traps energy [the energy of the Absolute or Source], which manifests itself as a person. When its charge gets exhausted, the person dies. Unfulfilled desires are carried over into the next birth.
According to Nisargadatta, the entire cause of manifesting as a person is unfulfilled desires. And death occurs when the energy that is trapped with these desires exhausts itself. Remarkable. And guess what? Any desire unfulfilled during one lifetime is carried over into the next one. He continues:
Self-identification with the body creates ever fresh desires and there is no end to them, unless the mechanism of bondage is clearly seen. It is clarity that is liberating, for you cannot abandon desire, unless its cause and effects are clearly seen.
Here we have Nisargadatta’s whole take on liberation: clear seeing. Our problem again and again according to him is identification of who we are with bodies and minds, which we are not. And the cure is simple: clear seeing. Further, he points out that the attempts by so many spiritual people to rid themselves of desires is pointless, for you cannot do so. You can only see clearly the cause of desire and the effects of desire, and in the seeing clearly desire will drop away.
Now for the interesting part concerning past lives:
I do not say that the same person is reborn. It dies and dies for good. But its memories remain and their desires and fears. They supply the energy for the new person.
Interesting, very interesting! Let’s look at an example to see what Nisargadatta is saying. As I mentioned previously, I was once told by a psychic that I was one of Napoleon’s (short) generals in a past life. But from Nisargadatta’s perspective, there was a person who was a general for Napoleon. He died, and he is gone for good. Pas de general (no more general).
But his unfulfilled desires, his memories and fears remained in some form, and around these bits of mental-emotional energy coalesced a new person, presumably me. The general’s unfulfilled desires carry over into my psyche and my life, which must explain why I can never eat too many croissants or pains au chocalat. Delicieux!
As Nisargadatta would say, though, I was not one of Napoleon’s generals. A point that he made over and over again is that this “I” that we so often refer to does not exist. There is no “I” that carries over from lifetime to lifetime. Only, as he says, the energies from memories, desires and fears. That’s it.
The real takes no part in it, but makes it possible by giving it the light.
And finally, he let’s us know that the Absolute (the real) doesn’t do any of this. It occurs because the Absolute is the source of all, but it is not the cause. What is, you may ask? No way to know, at least not from what Nisargadatta has to say (nor, I think, from anything he has written).
Personally, I love his explanation of past lives and rebirth. If I had to believe in something, I would go with Nisargadatta. The picture he paints is one that I find myself liking. How about you?
Written on August 6, 2008 by Tom Stine / 54 Comments »
I love the subject of past lives or reincarnation. I went to a “psychic” once who told me that I was one of Napoleon’s generals. I guess that explains why I love speaking French, eat French food and I’m 5 ft 6 in tall (can’t be taller than the Emperor!).
Yet even though I love the subject of past lives, I have to say that I don’t have much investment in the concept. I don’t find the subject particularly important to the spiritual journey. Moreover, I can’t even really say that I “believe” in them. Let me explain further.
The entire subject of past lives hinges upon one thing: memories. Many people remember the events of a life that, in the memory, occurred at some point in the past, sometimes even in a past unknown to modern history (like Atlantis). There have been some excellent books written on the subject, with some seemingly intriguing bits of evidence to indicate that indeed some people really can remember a past life.
But ask the following questions, especially if you can remember a past life: Was it your past life? Are you certain? Is there any way that you can ever know? Isn’t it just a memory, a thought, passing through your awareness? I find it equally compelling to explain a past life memory in this way:
Since consciousness is One, since that is the direct experience of someone who realizes the truth of their being, then that consciousness that is aware seemingly in them is also the same consciousness that is aware seemingly in everyone else and at every moment in time. The consciousness that is what I am is the consciousness that you are, that Jesus was, that Attila the Hun was, that Hammurabi was, that Louis XIV was. All the same. Remember, this Oneness of consciousness is the realization of awakening or enlightenment: everywhere you turn, same, same, same.
So, a past life memory would be simply the consciousness that seems to be Tom accessing the consciousness that seems to have been Genghis Khan (and no, I don’t have a memory like that, but it makes for a fun illustration!). It isn’t Tom’s memory. It’s just consciousness being One and recognizing aspects of form that used to be called Genghis. Get it? In a certain sense we could say that every past life is my past life. And also we could say none are.
It makes the whole subject of past life’s quite nebulous and vague and not all that useful to our journey. Sure they are fun, but what to do with it? Will it be of any real use to realizing the truth? Rather, they can become a source of spiritual pride (I was hanging out with Jesus!) and in fact be an barrier to learning the truth of who we are. We can get obsessed with who we might have been.
And if this is a possibility for past life memories, I think you can see why they won’t help us to understand what happens after the death of the body (as discussed in my last post). There may be a host of memories, whether they are mine or not, but do they really tell me what is going to happen when the body called Tom dies? No. At the absolute best, they could tell me about the death of the body of Attila or Genghis or Jesus. But Tom? No. So, you see why past lives don’t really do any good telling us what to expect after death.
Let me end on one of my favorite jokes about the afterlife to wrap-up these last few posts of death and reincarnation (if you are a bit too politically correct, you may want to pass-up this one):
A man dies and goes to Heaven where he is greeted by St. Peter. They begin a tour of the place, which turns out to be a gigantic building. As they walk, they come to many doors. At one door, St. Peter opens it, revealing a huge room filled with every food you could imagine and half naked women parading around. “Muslim Paradise” says St. Peter. At another door, the man is shown a large cathedral with many people on their knees praying. “Catholic saints,” says St. Peter. And on they walk, with St. Peter showing him room after room. After a bit, as they approach another door, St. Peter turns to the man and says, “Shhh…. Don’t say anything as we pass the next door.” After they pass, and have gone some distance, the man asks St. Peter why they had to be quiet. The response: “Oh, that was the Baptists. They think they’re the only ones here.”
And now you know what church my mother dragged me to when I was younger. Poor woman, she finally gave-up after 3 years of my annoying teenage protests. Ah, the Baptist Church and I were not meant to be, I’m afraid.
Written on July 31, 2008 by Tom Stine / 22 Comments »
A reader sent me the following questions:
Something I have never quite understood is that after we come to this realization of the one self that we are not our [the] body or the mind or the thoughts, then we see the body die what then? And what is the difference in the death of a realized one and a unrealized person?
What happens when the body dies? That is a question that has plagued mortal man from the earliest days. So much of religion is basically an attempt to answer that question, with enough theories of heavens and hells to keep us debating for the rest of our lives.
So let me start by saying what seems obvious to me: I don’t know what happens after the body dies. And neither does anyone else. If you say, “well, we go to _________ after death,” or tell me about other dimensions, etc., I’m going to ask you a very simple question: How do you know? Have you died and then experienced these things? No, of course you haven’t. So death is as yet a mystery to you. (As for past lives, let me write a follow-up article to deal with them.)
Even if you’ve had a near death experience, all you can do is tell me about that particular experience, but not the full experience of death (notice they are called near death experiences). There is absolutely no way to know what happens after the body dies until it actually dies and you find out.
That said, we can make a few interesting observations, though, about what might happen after death if you have realized the truth about what you are, namely the One.
1. When you realize that you are not the mind, the body, thoughts, the ego, etc., you realize that the awareness (or consciousness) that you are, the “you” that is looking out of your body’s eyes, is the same awareness looking out of everyone else’s eyes. And the same fundamental beingness that is the house you live in, the Earth you are standing on, the sky, the stars, your thoughts, others’ thoughts, the very fabric of reality. All One, all the same, all conscious, all aware.
2. When the body dies, and the thoughts in it die, and when the energy contained in it dissipates, and everything ceases, what happens to the awareness contained within it? Ah, trick question, for the awareness/consciousness is not contained within it! We are so used to feeling “trapped” in the body that we think we are actually trapped in a body. But we are not. What I am is the beingness that is Everything. And this beingness, this conscious awareness contains the body.
Look-up from your computer right now and look around the room. Is not your body contained in the room you are in? Isn’t it a part of the room? And the room, isn’t it a part of the building? And the city or town in which the building exists? And planet Earth? And so on until we get that this body is contained in the Universe as a whole? And you are the Universe. The awake, aware, conscious, alive Wholeness of existence, the totality of the Universe (and so much more), that is what you are. So, the body is actually contained in you. You realize this fact, too, upon awakening.
3. So, when the body dies, the conscious awareness that appeared to be within it doesn’t go anywhere, for nothing at all has been lost to the Universe. It has merely started to change form. But the consciousness itself is still right where it was before: everywhere! Nothing leaves, dissipates, disappears, or goes anywhere. The One is still ever present Oneness.
4. As for what awareness/consciousness that formerly identified as Tom experiences at death, I have no idea, and as mentioned before, neither does anyone else. This is still true whether you are “realized” or not.
And finally, let me answer the last question: “And what is the difference in the death of a realized one and a unrealized person?” I believe it was Sailor Bob Adamson who said, “The only difference between someone who has realized the truth and someone who hasn’t is that the realized one knows that there is no difference.” Once you realize the truth, you don’t know any differences.
While other people will still look different to you, have different color hair, wear different clothes, etc., you will have no awareness that any of that matters. They will still be what you are. So at death, how can there be any difference? To the realized one, whatever is experienced at death is experienced by every aspect of consciousness. He knows himself to be that consciousness, so nothing to him has changed. The form has changed, but nothing else. Everything is still everything. Oneness is still One.
And for the unrealized one? Again, it is impossible to say. You will simply have to die to find out what happens. I know this answer won’t make a lot of people happy, and it would ruin sales of lots of books if it were widely accepted as the truth that it is. But it is still the truth. We can argue until the cows come home, but it won’t matter. You can’t know death of the body until it dies. And then you will discover what happens next.
Namaste….. Tom
Written on July 25, 2008 by Tom Stine / 17 Comments »
I had the pleasure of interviewing a wonderful spiritual teacher, Larry Melton, who lives and teaches in Davis, California. Larry was a student of Adyashanti’s for a few years, and then after he experienced a profound spiritual awakening, he was asked by Adya to teach.
Our conversation is focused primarily on Larry’s experience of spiritual awakening, how that developed over the years he spent in spirituality, and what all of that has meant for his life. We also discussed awakening quite a bit, and it was fascinating to hear Larry’s perspectives and insights. I think you will agree. So click play below to listen now, or download the mp3 and take it with you on your iPod.
I know from my prior experience with videos that some of you may prefer to read rather than watch or listen. To accommodate everyone, I’ve had a transcript made of this interview. You can obtain the transcript by subscribing for free to my newsletter, Living from Consciousness. Enter your email address in the sign-up box to the right, and you will receive an email with instructions for downloading the transcript. Current subscribers will be receiving an email, too, with instructions for downloading.
I like to provide my subscribers with unique content not found here on the website, and this transcript is simply my way of saying thanks to my subscribers. Remember, the newsletter is free, and I respect your inbox and your privacy (but you knew that, right?).
Written on July 21, 2008 by Tom Stine / 2 Comments »
In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us.
Written on July 18, 2008 by Tom Stine / 33 Comments »
In my last article, I shared some ideas about the proverbial “enlightened guy.” As I mentioned, I prefer the term awakening as it has a little less historical baggage associated with it, but no matter, I think we all know at least something about the subject, no matter what we call it. As spiritual awakening is one of the primary topics of this site, I thought it would be good to have some more discussion about it. And interestingly, Adyashanti provided just what I needed.
Here is an excerpt from a satsang Adyashanti did at the April 2008 silent retreat of his that I attended. I’ll let him do the talking, then I will offer a few comments:
There’s awakening and then there’s awakening, isn’t there? There’s a moment that we can call an awakening moment… An awakening moment isn’t any old spiritual experience. As a matter of fact, it’s almost none of the spiritual experiences that we’re told that it is. But there can be a moment of awakening.
So there’s a moment of awakening, and then there’s actually being awake. And very often the moment of awakening, actually, it’s significant in the sense that something has fundamentally shifted, that you can’t go back on, even though you might re-delude yourself and lose sight of it and start a whole long process of struggling and then trying to maintain it. And all that stuff.
But ultimately something at the seat of consciousness has fundamentally shifted. Then there is the other awakening. It’s the other awakening that sort of is the process of awakening, which is that thing where it starts to dissolve the spiritual ego, dissolve the “me,” dissolve all those things that you immediately apprehend in the moment of awakening but doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be living it a year later.
Then there is this dissolving away of all that which divides. And that for most people takes quite a bit of time. That’s the honest truth. Very few people are going to have, “Ah ha! Alleluia!” The lights turned on. And the lights are just going to stay turned on. Every now and then it happens, but usually it’s like, “Okay, now the other thing’s going to happen, and it’s going to be called the dissolving of you.”
Even though you’ve seen in that moment that there is no you, nonetheless the dissolving of you has now begun in earnest and you can expect it to continue in ways and to a depth that you never imagined. And that’s basically what it’s about.
And once that process has started, it doesn’t really need your help. It just can use you not hindering it. The “me” can’t help it along, but the “me” sure can kind of slow the whole thing down.
So, if we follow Adyashanti’s discussion, there is a moment of awakening, when what you are sees, truly sees itself for what it is. The illusion of a separate self disappears for a time, and you know yourself as One. Sometimes, this can be referred to as a “parting of the veil” of illusion.
But then, for most people, the process of awakening begins. Whatever parts of the “me” that are still hanging around, getting in the way of seeing Oneness in all places and in all moments, these parts will, seemingly over time, be dissolved. And, contrary to popular belief, this dissolving can be a process that takes years. Adyashanti has commented in other places that he has seen in take typically 3-15 years for most people.
Should we be surprised by the fact that there is awakening and then a process of awakening? Not really. For most people, that’s just the way it is. In the Zen tradition, the Sandokai says, “To encounter the Absolute is not yet Enlightenment.” Same basic idea. The veil parts, but then more is seen through over time. To be certain, this process has been my experience.
And yet. And yet, is that even true? While it may appear that a process is occurring, it also seems, to those who reach the endpoint of this process, as if the process never occurred. That which is awake is awake, now, forever, always. How can it ever be asleep, for it is the fount from which springs everything of form? I’m sorry to say it, because it can sound to the mind like I’m hedging, but awakening is filled with paradoxes. No way around it.
Of course, I will have more to say on the subject of spiritual awakening in future articles. I look forward to your comments! Namaste.
Written on July 13, 2008 by Tom Stine / 17 Comments »
I recently received an email from Ariel Bravy that I really enjoyed and couldn’t wait to answer. With his kind permission, I’m going to answer it here. Ready? I’m going to break the email down section by section and respond to each part. Here we go:
Hey Tom,You seem to be a pretty spiritually advanced seeker as well and I was wondering
if I could bounce some ideas off of you. Perhaps you could help bring some
clarity to something I’m looking at…
I’m going to start off with one of the first things Ariel mentions, not because I’m nitpicky today, but because it is something that I feel should always be addressed. And that is the idea of “spiritual seeker.” While I’m grateful for the compliment I’m given, I also want to point out that letting go of the spiritual seeker is an important thing. We spend so much time seeking that we rarely find. So much of the spiritual journey requires that we stop, just stop, right where we are, and let what is be what it is. No seeking. No pursuing. Just stopping and looking at what we’ve already found.
None of which addresses Ariel’s email, but still, it is important to make this point over and over again as it relates ultimately to spiritual awakening.
Following the self-inquiry of Who am I?, I’m finding that there is no decision
maker. With that understood, how does decision making and free will operate?
You got it, Ariel. There is no decision maker. I know that will be a tough one for lots of people to accept, but that has been a central teaching of Buddhism, for example, from the beginning (and many other -isms for that matter). It just keeps getting brought to our awareness century after century. And yet, a careful looking within will always demonstrate this simple fact: there is no self. Self-inquiry is such a marvelous tool. Useful in more ways than just for spiritual awakening.
The way I see it now is that the ego is like an automated process that takes in
all data, memories, desires, experiences, and so on in order to calculate the
most likely choice which will lead to egoic satisfaction and pleasure.
Ariel, you are a lot more generous to the ego than I am. To be honest, I don’t know how the ego works. I simply know that thoughts arise, they pass through my awareness, and then they are gone. The vast majority of them have virtually no useful purpose as they simply are commentary on my experiences.
You know, I love what Eckhart Tolle said about the ego: “It is no more than … identification with form, which primarily means thought forms.” In other words, the ego is simply a thought about who I am, what I am, a placing of my identity in things and thoughts. If that is true, which I submit it is, then giving the ego any attributes or characteristics doesn’t quite work for me. I prefer to see it for what it is, a chaotic, conditioned collection of mostly subconscious thoughts, and then always look beyond it, realizing it is nothing more than the “noise in my head.”
The higher self, on the other hand, doesn’t really make decisions either. It
simply knows the “best” path to walk to head towards the highest truths. It’s a
knowingness, not a decision, per se.
Okay, to be honest, and again this idea won’t be palatable to some, I don’t believe in a higher self. I go with Ramana Maharshi on this one: there is only Self. Period. Who is looking out of my eyes right now? Who is typing these words? Who is thinking my thoughts? Who am I? Self. One Self. Undivided. One with everything and everyone. Self. One without a second as Ramana used to say.
Now, that Self can appear to be unconscious as it expresses itself as Tom Stine, Ariel, Madonna or George Bush, but it is still the same Self, One, whole. I know that this seems contradictory, but my experience would say that it is true. Always One Self. Spirit. Life. God.
And this, my friends, points to what spiritual awakening is all about. It is awakening from the delusion that I am a separate self, an ego, a Tom Stine that is a body in this world. That is the sum and substance of all of spirituality right there: awakening from the dream called “me.”
Let me go further with Ariel’s email before I discuss further the points he makes above.
The ego may consider listening to the higher self if it is understood that by
following this process, one could reach the bliss, joy, freedom, and security
associated with enlightenment, again using practices such as releasing or
surrender for its own egoic desires.
Again, given what the ego is, a collection of conditioned thoughts filled with misplaced identity, I don’t think the ego “listens” to anything. It just reacts. It is a gigantic reaction to what is being experienced.
The Self that I am, that which you are, the One, is simply being deluded in a sense by placing attention on these condition thoughts. What we are is temporarily lost in thought you could say. Lost in a dream of judgments and reactions.
So there is no decision maker making decisions. There is a higher self as well
as a false mentally projected self who has the thoughts and emotions of the
mind attached to it.Who is ultimately the decider of how we use our free will? Who decides if we
listen to our egos or our higher selves?Any ideas?
Now we come to the heart of Ariel’s email. Who decides, then, how to use our free will? Who decides? Well, first of all, I have no free will. You have no free will. It isn’t that free will doesn’t exist. It is just that “I” don’t exist and “you” don’t exist. There is no separate self. There is no one here. If you do inquiry, and look within, and discover there is no decider, there is also no self. No one home. In Buddhism it is called the Doctrine of No Self.
So who decides? The Self, which is synonymous with Life, the Universe, God, Spirit, Buddha Nature, whatever you want to call it. The entire totality of Life, that is what makes the decisions. The fundamental ground of being, that’s the decider.
But even calling it decision making is missing the mark somehow. It isn’t really decision. Life simply flows. It arises from itself. It gives forth. It loves. It experiences. I think you could really say “It Operates,” but that doesn’t seem poetic enough. It simply IS.
But then, is there free will? Well, not in any human sense can it be said there is free will. But does the Self have free will? Does Life have free will? I think the question to ask would be “free of what?” Life is all there is. From what is it free to make decisions? It IS all decision making. There is nothing outside of it. It not only makes the rules, it IS the rules!
Answering your email, Ariel, was fun, and I’m deeply grateful for not only the questions but allowing me to answer them publicly. I hope all the above is clear to you and to everyone. And I hope I answered your questions! If not, hit the comments and let me know. I would love to hear from everyone. I always enjoy answering more questions. Namaste my friends.
Written on July 12, 2008 by Tom Stine / 14 Comments »
A short and sweet article for today. I simply want to state my gratitude to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey for what they’ve given us with their collaboration a few months back in the excellent series of webinars on Oprah.com. And what have they given us? A populace buzzing with interest in our passion: spirituality. And not just any old spirituality, not your garden variety spirituality that sounds like the humdrum world of church and religion. No, I’m talking the kind of spirituality that ultimately leads to spiritual awakening.
You see, Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth, is really about spiritual awakening. He never says it in his book, for quite likely good reasons, but nonetheless, that is the purpose of it. When the ego fades, when that which we are realizes that it is not a separate self living a life of separation from the rest of life and humanity, we call that spiritual awakening. The Buddhists call it enlightenment. But in contemporary terms, I prefer to think of it as an awakening, a waking up from the dream that we are separate.
By bringing this book to the awareness of millions of people, Eckhart and Oprah have put spiritual awakening on the playing field. No longer is it the province of eccentric spiritual seekers, Zen students and residents of ashrams. It is in the mainstream consciousness of the world.
I’ve been hearing stories, from friends, from people I meet on trips, in the media, everywhere, of people picking-up A New Earth and being changed by it. One friend in particular has reported a dramatic change in her otherwise conservative, devout Catholic mother, a change that has resulted in a happier person. I even saw a woman reading A New Earth at my son’s taekwondo school (and, if you recall, I live in the Bible Belt!).
If you visit Barnes & Noble or any large bookstore, you will notice that the books on spirituality, Eastern religions, new age metaphysics, etc, have grown in number. The end caps are filled with books about “the universal field,” consciousness, The Tao of Peeling Potatoes, Zen for Dummies, you name it. It really is astounding. Maybe the Age of Aquarius has finally arrived?
So, no matter what you think of Eckhart Tolle’s book (or Oprah for that matter), you cannot deny that they both have done you and me a service. Spritual awakening is out of the closet and in the consciousness of the world. So, thank you Eckhart and Oprah, and a deep bow to both of you. I think the “future” of our planet might turn out better than anyone could expect. Namaste.
All of our thoughts are conditioned. We all are thinking exactly along the lines we are conditioned to think. Programmed like a computer. Anybody who thinks they are actually choosing of their own free will the line of thinking that they have is completely deluded by their thinking.
Behind most spiritual practices is the belief that you have to get someplace you’re not- a destination called realization or enlightenment. But realization isn’t someplace else; it’s the naturally occurring human state. It doesn’t belong to anybody. It’s who we all are. Spiritual practices also set up many pictures of what this state looks like. For example, when I described how much fear was present, people told me the fear meant that something must be wrong, because fear was an indication that I wasn’t in the proper state. But fear is just what it is, and it’s there too in the vastness of who we are.
In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us.
Those who awaken never rest in one place.
Like swans, they rise and leave the lake.
On the air they rise and fly an invisible course.
Their food is knowledge.
They live on emptiness.
They have seen how to break free.
Who can follow them?
We always want someone else to change so that we will feel good. But has it ever struck you that even if your wife changes or your husband changes, what does that do to you? You’re just as vulnerable as before; you’re just as idiotic as before; you’re just as asleep as before. You are the one who needs to change, who needs to take medicine. You keep insisting, “I feel good because the world is right.” Wrong! The world is right because I feel good. That’s what all the mystics are saying.
