‘Accept only the sacred and eternal oneness and then be still.’ Photo: by davide ragusa
Something old, something new: Tony D’Souza on the Ancient Way
‘You cannot stop thought, but you can avoid being carried away by it.’
The Ancient Way is unlike any other way. It is very old. I have no idea how old it is. It is older than the hills, older than the universe – it is probably older than God. If you want to know it, you will know it when you are ready and not a moment before. And, when you first know it, if you are not completely appalled and shocked by it, it is not the true way.
The Ancient Way is unlike any other way. It is very new. New like a newborn lamb or a flower freshly blooming in the spring. The Ancient Way is new in every moment. Every moment precious, every moment perfect, every moment love and nothing but love. Here is an experiment for you: Look at someone you have known for many years, perhaps your spouse or your child. Can you see them without past and without future – without time? That is how the Ancient Way is new in every moment.
If you really want to know it, look at the world and withdraw your ideas and opinions about it. Abandon all your preconceptions and beliefs and allow the world to be a blank canvas. Allow it to be innocent and fresh in every moment (because that is how it is). Your ideas and opinions are the things that cover it up and obscure it. They make it impossible to see. When you are repelled by anything, or attracted to anything, the Ancient Way vanishes before your eyes. This is what is meant by walking the razor’s edge.
The separate sense of self, the ego, being an illusion, can only find itself in illusion. So, it is the cause of all poor decisions. When we desire the illusion, despite all our prior experience, we desire what will ultimately bring us pain and despair. In this way, the mind forever builds castles in the air. Our tragedy is that we take them for real. Then we move in – and the devil collects the rent.
Becoming free of the ego is defeating illusion. Defeating illusion is defeating desire. Desire creates a world of illusion. Making a destiny for yourself in the illusion of name and form is what is called karma.
When you are repelled by anything, you oppose the reality of ‘what is’. You then immediately lose your way and become lost. When your judgement becomes active, your own self takes over, and this is what makes you blind. The thoughts in your mind then make your words and your actions misguided.
How can you oppose reality, except in illusion? Your opposition creates the illusion and at the same time your opposition is the illusion. When you allow the illusion to be real for you, you spend your life starring in your own reality TV show.
Guarding the mind, guarding the space, means being free of attraction and repulsion. When either of these enter your mind, know that you are firmly in the grip of the egoic self. The only sensible thing to do then is wait. Wait until these feelings subside before you do or say anything. In this way, you will avoid untold suffering and humiliation.
Look at the world and say to yourself ‘Just this’. Perhaps you will see the hidden unity in all things. Why not just this? Why not desire nothing but what is? It is your mind that creates preference.
You do not have to deny your intellect to know the hidden unity. It is enough to stop identifying with it. If you treasure your learning and feed your opinions, you will never see it. It is far, far simpler than that. It is not made of mind stuff. Reality is simple, and you have to become innocent like a little child to see it. Just as Jesus said: ‘Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it.’ [Luke 18:17]
Thinking and not thinking – they are both the same. When you are thinking you are not really thinking. When you are not thinking, but observing your thoughts, you are nearer to the Ancient Way. There is not your mind and my mind. Not your mind and all the other seven point eight billion other minds on earth right now. Your mind is a fragment of the unity, just as a candle is a fragment of the sun.
Thought, like everything else, is a creation of the One, which is why it is futile to try to stop thinking. You cannot stop thought, but you can avoid being carried away by it. The important thing is not to make an identity out of it. You dis-identify from the mind by observing it. This is called liberation.
Your mind is a fragment of the unity, as a candle is a fragment of the sun. You have the potential, however, to reflect the light of the entire sun if you choose. What keeps you from doing so is your sense of individual self. It’s like holding up the palm of your hand to block out the sun – that is what keeps you in the dark.
What is true and what is false? What is real and what is not real? You must decide. You have to find out for yourself. What is certain is that reality is as it is. There is no changing, no deviation, no preference in it. It is the only thing that was, is and always will be. It is both seen and unseen.
Denying its reality is to live in darkness and to know nothing. Saying it is the only reality is to deny the reality of things. Both of these views are wrong. Reality cannot be captured in a mental concept. Accept only the sacred and eternal oneness and then be still. Why talk about it or attempt to discuss the ineffable?
There is only one unity. Not two. Therefore, nothing can be apart from, or excluded from it. Because it is one, all things are connected.
The living moment is the key to find your way home. Within the living moment everything is revealed. Inhabit it completely for just one second and you can be free, because there you will find the life that underlies your life and all life. When you find it, fear and desire will leave you. This is what Jesus meant when he said: ‘I have come that you may have life, and have it in all its fullness.’ [John 10:10]
Finally, don’t imagine that you can grasp any of this with your mind because that is the greatest conceit of the separate egoic self. The mind can only understand ideas, or mind-made concepts, and these are the most dangerous things of all because they create beliefs. For this reason, if anyone tells you that they understand the Ancient Way, put your fingers in your ears and run away from them like a scalded cat. The words of those who understand without knowing are meaningless sounds, like water babbling in a stream. Those who know never speak of it. It is far too holy for that.
