Most men see themselves in the mirror without actually seeing themselves in the mirror.  Often when one hears ones own voice via recording or sees ones self via video we are surprised because we do not look or sound like we thought we did.  This is an example of taking ourselves for granted.  We are not typically interested in actually seeing ourselves we are satisfied with the impression we hold, and hope others perceive, of ourselves.

Since the desire of the average human being is to not see themselves as they truly are, delusion becomes the default setting of life.  Its hard to achieve anything worthwhile when you can’t look in the mirror.  Its hard to be real and present in a relationship when you aren’t willing to see yourself.

So many of us are trapped in a fake jumbling of ideas we call a life.  We become numb or worse, adapted.  We grow into a sleepy blindness day by day and experience by experience.  Then suddenly we believe in a diploma on the wall or a listing of credentials instead of a knowing within our hearts.

Each day we fail to see, we fail to feel and we fill ourselves with meaningless reasons not to reason.  It is an utter failure to allow this emptiness to be called wholeness.

Then when we encounter a rare bit of genius or beauty or passion we see it as foreign.   We see it as foreign to spite the familiar pulsing it inspires in our soul.  These bits of reality pierce the years of relentless delusional shielding that so many have surrounded themselves with.

This bit of ecstasy we are blessed to feel from time to time can be nurtured and brought into every aspect of our living.  We were not meant to ride dully along on the subway of life surrounded by thousands of people but being utterly alone.  We are not meant to be separate.

There is more to life than the piece of paper you’ve framed and put on the wall as a validation of the time you’ve wasted studying old ideas in sterile unthinking institutions.  Each day you spend hiding from that genius inside of you is a day wasted.  Close all the business you like, produce all the results you like remedy the problems of your blind life but it will be empty.

The beauty, the real feeling of being alive comes from seeing yourself as you are, without editing or expectation.  Only with a clear picture of your genius, your beauty your individual soul will you succeed.  All else is a trifling failure.

-Caleb Sensei