Can anyone escape reality? We try, oh how we try. Religion of all sorts is an attempt to escape our current experience, to put aside or behind the very real visceral sensations, emotions, thoughts and feelings about what’s here now. Whether the religion is money, one defined by a divine master, non-duality (there ain’t nothing here), or any of the infinite ‘isms’ we can cling to, it’s still a dodgy hope and a escapist’s prayer.

-Save me for that later date, the end of my life.

-Let me honor the animals and reap the rewards of being a good human, a healthy being.

-Show me the way to ‘enough’ so that I can avoid suffering.

-Let me know love without question.

-Please ease the pain, the dissonance within.

-Clearly show me my next steps so that I do not trip, slide backwards or go off track.

There is an endless litany of prayers, conscious and unconscious. All of them ask one thing: make my tomorrow better than my today. And if not that, at the very least, make it no worse.

There is nothing wrong with any of these religions. Truly. Not a darn thing. They are all life life-ing. They are infinite aliveness at play. Some we groove with, others feel more like we’ve fallen in a deep sticky rut. One is not better than the other. They simply are what is arising in this moment.

Now I could tell you that if you do this or that you will have less ruts and a groovier time, but what’s the point in that? It might be true, but then again it might not be. If you look at the devotees of the religions, some seem to be rockin’ it, others not so much.

Now the story goes that those who aren’t having a grand time are doing something wrong, that they haven’t figured it out yet, that they aren’t trying hard enough, aren’t smart enough, were just born ‘wrong. Yikes!

What if there isn’t anything to figure out … and yet figuring happens, can’t help but happen? What if there is no way to do life wrong … and yet we judge what is appearing, what we are doing and not doing as right or wrong on totally personal, constantly moving criterion? Judging, comparing and contrasting is part of the puzzle in this experiential we call life. What if there is no way to try harder, to be smarter … and yet trying happens, educating ourselves flows naturally out of our experiences.

Life is messy. It is filled with joy and sorrow, pain and health, dissonance and harmony. Perhaps the only thing that makes us suffer is the escapism, the attempts to figure it out.

When Krishnamurti was near death, he told those caring for him that he was going to give them his final teaching and that it would be powerful. Of course, everyone was excited. They all gathered round, with rapt attention.

What did he say? ‘I don’t mind what happens.’

Five little words that make me smile, that are so profound they literally encapsulate the mystical teachings of life, so simple that once heard, most go right back to their practices, worshipping their golden calves, without any idea of what they have just heard, without understanding the true gift they’ve been given.

image: Golden Calf, AI WordPress by Amaya

Amaya Gayle is the author of 6 books, the latest Actuality; infinity at play, published by New Saram Press. https://amzn.to/3Rd4CTY