The Overlooked Treasure
El Tesoro Inadvertido
This meditation invites you to slow down and discover the ever-present richness of the present moment hiding in plain sight within ordinary experience.
The Overlooked Treasure
Nothing really changes
when we go from what we would call a natural attention,
daily attention, into meditation.
It's really just to discover something that's always there.
We don't want to change anything.
We can explore changing things.
Intention is always discovery.
Realization isn't an achievement.
Something that's always here,
the only thing that is always present.
Everything else changes.
So what is it that is always here, always present?
It is an overlooked treasure.
And it's overlooked because we don't immediately, at first, recognize its value.
And that's the biggest challenge,
the hardest thing to convey,
communicate,
transmit.
Different paths to now
That's where there are different paths:
the path of love,
the path of truth,
the path of beauty.
All leading to now.
Love is now.
Beauty is now.
The key is:
How do I learn to trust?
How do I learn to trust the present moment more than my thoughts,
my strategies,
my desires?
And that could be seen like an acquired taste.
The more we taste it, the more we realize its value,
and then there is a tipping point,
which isn't that important because it'll happen when it happens.
Tipping point when nothing is more valuable than now.
It's the ultimate carrot at the end of a stick.
And where is the carrot?
The carrot is the present moment, exactly as it is.
Most of the time, we don't like that carrot.
We have conditions.
That's okay.
Resting in the infinite now
Now is infinite.
Learn to taste it,
learn to rest in it,
fully mysterious and uncertain,
terrifying,
fully loving,
holy,
embracing all our fears.
Has there ever been a pain or a fear that the present moment hasn't fully embraced?
It can embrace even more.
Take the leap every instant.
The promise is to lose everything, to gain much more.
You will be troubled, shaken,
and then you shall enter the kingdom,
which is here and now.
Now, including thoughts,
including pains,
everything exactly as it is right now.
Waves and ocean
See through it.
Feel the ocean as it takes form as waves right now.
Thoughts are waves,
sensations are waves,
images, sounds.
All waves.
What are they made of?
See through it, feel into it,
not with your mind; it tangles.
Choose the trail, the path that resonates.
At any moment, all paths lead to now.
Thoughts come and go.
Your universe changes, comes and goes.
What is it made of, all of it?
Don't approach the question with thinking.
Feel into it.
Three qualities
The answer is true beyond words, concepts.
It's love
and feelings and sensations.
It's beautiful right now.
Now, if you think you understand it, that's not it.
Its nature is unknowable.
If you think you know it, it's not it.
You have glimpsed it all your life.
You're here for the sheer pleasure of finding it all over again,
to lose it, to lose yourself, for the journey of finding it all over again.
Quiet ecstasy, shimmering joy,
heart singing,
the answer that soothes every longing,
holds every pain.
Eternally present.
No rush
There is no rush,
nowhere to go,
nothing to do.
You are free to take all the time you want.
The journey home is rich with many treasures.
Savor it.
You might need to take small bites.
Being is; non-being is not.
Wherever you look, being is.
It's been called the ground,
the kingdom,
the Father,
Christ.
It is here, it is now,
taking the form of exactly what you're experiencing right now.
The experiment
The kingdom, the universe, the self
are all one thing.
Three in one and one in three.
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
Exactly what is happening now,
including your thoughts,
struggles, fears, and pains.