What Is The Key To Love?
STAR-SEARCHER: What is the key to love?
EXPERIENCE: Patience.
STAR-SEARCHER: Why is patience the key to love?
EXPERIENCE: Because patience is a stepping stone to compassion.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that patience leads to compassion?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely.
STAR-SEARCHER: But why does patience lead to compassion?
EXPERIENCE: Because compassion for an individual or group requires personal understanding of the trials of that person or group.
STAR-SEARCHER: What does patience have to do with a personal understanding of others?
EXPERIENCE: Without patience we would not be able to be around others long enough to hear about their situation in life.
STAR-SEARCHER: But isn’t the life situation of others their Karma?
EXPERIENCE: That is correct, we have all created our situation in life and are constantly creating our future as well by the quality of our thoughts and actions.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, if the life situation of others is just their karma, then why should I have compassion for them?
EXPERIENCE: Star searcher listen well. A lack of compassion is a cold prison.
STAR-SEARCHER: A cold prison, why is that?
EXPERIENCE: A lack of compassion is lonely and cold because it leads to a “Me-first” personality.
STAR-SEARCHER: What, in the universe, is a “Me-first” personality?
EXPERIENCE: It is the false idea that an individual must put himself first, or above, everyone else in order to be a success in his or her life.
STAR-SEARCHER: So a “Me-first” personality is “just an idea”.
EXPERIENCE: That is imprecise.
STAR-SEARCHER: Huh? Imprecise. What do you mean imprecise?
EXPERIENCE: Imprecise as in you, Star searcher, are not listening accurately.
STAR-SEARCHER: OK. OK. So the “Me-first” personality is not “just” an idea. It is an idea. Right?
EXPERIENCE: That, Star Searcher, is also imprecise.
STAR-SEARCHER: What? That’s imprecise too? OK. OK. Run that by me again.
EXPERIENCE: The “Me-first” personality is a false idea.
STAR-SEARCHER: False idea? Are you sure you said that before?
EXPERIENCE: Yes.
STAR-SEARCHER: OK. OK. But…
EXPERIENCE: I heard that but, what is it Star Searcher?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, what is so terrible about a “Me-first” personality, isn’t it good to be somewhat tough and stern in life so people won’t walk all over you because they think you are weak?
EXPERIENCE: No one who truly understands what a “Me-first” personality is, (and its cause and effect relationships), would want to be in close association with that kind of individual.
STAR-SEARCHER: But why don’t people want to be around the “Me-first” personality?
EXPERIENCE: Because the “Me-first” personality is what philosophers call an Ethical Egoist.
STAR-SEARCHER: An Ethical Egoist, what’s that?
EXPERIENCE: An Ethical Egoist is a person who is always for himself, or herself, and never for anyone else. The Ethical Egoist is the antithesis of brotherhood. The Ethical Egoist is, with respect to the concept and practice of brotherhood, a liability and not an asset. In short, Ethical Egoism leads to the dark side of life.
STAR-SEARCHER: But…
EXPERIENCE: There’s that but again. Go ahead, what is it Star Searcher?
STAR-SEARCHER: But, surely there are only a few people who are 100% Ethical Egoists in the universe?
EXPERIENCE: This may be true.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, if there are only a few true 100% Ethical Egoists in the universe, then why do you emphasize this condition that blocks compassion? Surely all the rest of us who are not 100% “Me-first” personalities are not in need of this information.
EXPERIENCE: Unfortunately, Star Searcher, this is quite untrue.
STAR-SEARCHER: How do you mean quite untrue?
EXPERIENCE: Star Searcher, it is not that a person is either a 100% Ethical Egoist or that he, or she, is not an Ethical Egoist at all.
STAR-SEARCHER: Then what is the true understanding of Ethical Egoism?
EXPERIENCE: Like a seedling of a weed, which gradually grows into a full size weed and creates a very real danger to the beauty and harmony of a garden, so does the seed of Ethical Egoism grow rampant and choke the beauty and harmony in the garden of an individual’s personality.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that we all have a degree of this “Me-firstness” in us now?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely.
STAR-SEARCHER: Do you also mean that this degree of “Me-firstness”, or as the philosophers say — Ethical Egoism, in all of us is holding us back from a higher degree of compassion?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that each of us has exactly the same degree of “Me-firstness” in us?
EXPERIENCE: No. It is according to our reactions to what is presented to our consciousness that we evolve our personality. Therefore, we all have this self servingness in us to varying degrees.
STAR-SEARCHER: Are you saying that the degree with which an individual is self serving limits the development of his or her compassion?
EXPERIENCE: Precisely. You do catch on fast Star Searcher.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, how long will it take to weed out this “Me-firstness” in us?
EXPERIENCE: This depends upon an individual’s knowledge.
STAR-SEARCHER: What do you mean? Isn’t the fact that we know that we have this “me – firstness” in us enough to bridge the gap between patience and compassion?
EXPERIENCE: No.
STAR-SEARCHER: No?
EXPERIENCE: No.
STAR-SEARCHER: But why do we need more than the knowledge of the degree of selfishness in us in order to bridge the gap between patience and compassion?
EXPERIENCE: Because, Star Searcher, that knowledge alone is not sufficient to activate a desire to cross over into the state of compassion.
STAR-SEARCHER: But…
EXPERIENCE: Yes?
STAR-SEARCHER: Well, what knowledge is needed to enter the state of compassion?
EXPERIENCE: The experiential knowledge, Star Searcher, that a “Me-first” personality not only leads to pain, but also that any degree of self servingness is an off ramp from The Highway of Love.
STAR-SEARCHER: But why is self servingness an off ramp from The Highway of Love?
EXPERIENCE: Because selfishness, no matter to what degree, has the potential of leading a person into the non beneficial art of deception.
STAR-SEARCHER: Why will a degree of deception in us prevent us from maintaining the state of love?
EXPERIENCE: Star Searcher, we do not deceive those we truly love.
STAR-SEARCHER: Does this mean that the higher the degree of self servingness which we have in us then the higher the degree of deception we are capable of?
EXPERIENCE: Well said, Star Searcher. That is precisely correct.
STAR-SEARCHER: Well then, what does this capability of deception lead to?
EXPERIENCE: Betrayal, Star Searcher. Betrayal.
STAR-SEARCHER: What then is the way to weed our garden of our capability of deception?
EXPERIENCE: By understanding, beyond a doubt, that deception, no matter to what degree, leads to pain. By knowing, beyond a doubt, that deception destroys unity. By knowing, beyond a doubt, that deception will not lead us to the light we are seeking. Now, Star Searcher, let us see what you have learned from our discussion. What, Star searcher, will lead us to the Light which we are seeking?
STAR-SEARCHER: We are the gardeners of our personalities. When we learn to spot and weed the shoots of deception and self servingness from ourselves, then we can cultivate a beautiful garden. It will be then that we can increase our compassion to a maximum and prepare to cross The Bridge of Love.
EXPERIENCE: Well said, Star Searcher. Now, on the road to happiness how many bridges must the traveler build and cross?
STAR-SEARCHER: On the road to happiness there are three bridges to build.
EXPERIENCE: What is the first of these bridges which the traveler must build and cross?
STAR-SEARCHER: The first is The Bridge of Knowledge, crossed only by a heart with no fear.
EXPERIENCE: What is the second bridge which the traveler must build and cross in order to enter into the state of happiness?
STAR-SEARCHER: The second is The Bridge of Gratitude, crossed only by a heart filled with compassion.
EXPERIENCE: What is the third bridge which the traveler must build and cross on the way to happiness?
STAR-SEARCHER: The third bridge which the traveler must build and cross is The Bridge of Love, crossed only by a heart with no deception.
EXPERIENCE: What is the value of constructing these bridges?
STAR-SEARCHER: The spiritual art of no deception leads to the gates of the land of no deception, the place of true brotherhood.
EXPERIENCE: Star Searcher, your intellectual knowledge is satisfactory. Go now, and with ever increasing gratitude, search for The Bridge of Love; with ever increasing joy, discover The Bridge of Love; and with no deception, cross The Bridge of Love.
STAR-SEARCHER: But where will I find these bridges? In which direction shall I begin my search?
EXPERIENCE: Star Searcher, you will do well to begin your search in the direction of beauty.
STAR-SEARCHER: But in which direction will I find beauty?
EXPERIENCE: The direction of beauty is not on your compass Star Searcher. There is only one direction that will guarantee a search well begun. You must now go within and search there for the Light which you are seeking — The Light of Beauty.