Simplicity

By being simple, one is sensitive to the trees, to the birds, to the mountains, to the wind, to all the things which are going on about us in the world.

Most of us live on the upper level of our consciousness, there we try to be thoughtful or intelligent, which is synonymous with being rightious; there we try to make our minds simple through compulsion, through discipline.

To be simple, in the total process of our consciousness is extremely arduous because there must be no inward reservations, there must be an eagerness to discover, to inquire into the process of our being, which means to be aware of our fears, or of our hopes, and to be free of their bondage. Only when the mind and heart are really simple are we able to solve the many problems that confront us.

Knowledge alone will not solve our problems, You may know, for example, that there is reincarnation, that there is a continuity after death. You may know, but life is not necessarily changed by your theory, information or conviction. It is much more myterious, much deeper, much more creative than that.

It is only through direct experience that our problems are solved, and to have direct experience there must be simplicity, which means there must be sensitivity. Only mind that is capable of adjusting itself to the present can meet the powerful influences and pressures constanctly placed upon us by our environment.

It is only when a mind is sensitive, alert, aware and capable of receiving that there can abe happiness. However complex our problems, we shall be able to see them in a new perspective if we approach them with simplicity.

That is why it is so important to be aware, to have the capacity to understand the process of our own thinking, to be cognizant of ourselves totally, from that there comes a simplicity, a humility which is not a virtue or a practice, but a state of becoming.

Maturity is a road, not a destination. The gate is narrow, and simplicity is the key.