Imagine that I tell you that a million dollars in gold coins is shallowly buried in a spot less than a mile from here, and Iām about to tell you exactly where it is. If you dig it up, itās yoursāa gift. But I will give you the directions only once. Exciting, yes?
But thenājust as Iām about to tell you the location of the goldāthe person behind you puts his hands over your ears so you canāt hear me. And another person puts his hands over your eyes so you canāt read my lips. When I tell you the location of the treasure, you learn nothing.
This would be pretty annoying, wouldnāt it? Youād be irritated at the people who kept you from learning about the million-dollar gift.
We all receive the gift of life, as well as a unique collection of other giftsāintelligence, creativity, trusting, and moreāthat make us who we are. These gifts also make it possible for us to be happier personally and to make a singular contribution to the world around us.
In order to see these gifts clearly and to use them effectively, we cannot be distracted by fear, emptiness, or angerāamong other conditionsāwhich blind us and make us deaf to who we really are. Fear and paināalong with our reactions to them, like anger, alcohol, porn, and any number of addictionsāconsume our souls and detach us from our gifts, thereby robbing us of our own happiness and our ability to contribute to the joy of others.
Indulging in pain and fear is like allowing somebody to put their hands over our eyes and earsāemotionally and spirituallyāand then we lose far more than a million dollars in gold coins. We lose WHO WE ARE. We lose ourselves. We lose our way in the world. We simply LOSE.
We have to dedicate ourselves without flinching to the elimination of pain and fearāwith a zero toleranceānot because somebody has told us to, but because the alternative is unthinkable.