What Are You Chasing?

In an archetypal story, one night, a man dreams of a treasure buried under a house in a faraway land. ?He ventures out from his home, embarking on a long, treacherous journey to the place of his dreams. ?On the way, he meets both obstacles and omens, and in the end he reaches his destination.

In the house he has dreamt of, he meets a man. ?He reveals the secret of his dream to this man, hoping to be led to the site of the treasure. ?Instead, the second man laughs and calls him foolish, telling the first man he has had the same dream, and describing the location of the house in the faraway land from his dreams. ?The first man stands still, stunned into silence, for he realizes the second man is describing the exact location of his own house, and that the treasure he is seeking has been buried under his own house all along.

What treasure are you chasing? ?Is it success? ?Happiness? ?Or perhaps enlightenment? ?Wealth? ?Or love?

All these things are realized the moment you discover that the treasure you seek is in your own home, is in your own heart, and that anybody and anything that tells you otherwise is just setting you up for a journey that will lead you in circles until you finally realize this one thing:

It’s right here. ?Really.

“Right here?” You may say. ?”But that is too simple! ?That is too easy!”

Is it? ?Just try it, even for 5 minutes. ?Stop reading this and sit somewhere. ?Close your eyes, or keep them open–it doesn’t matter, as long as you bring your attention to what’s right here in front of you, inside you, beneath you, within you. ?Follow your breath as it moves in and out from your nostrils. ?Bring your awareness to the sensations of your body as they arise and pass away. ?Feel the beating of your heart as it beats in time with all things.

And when you notice your attention has drifted away into some train of thoughts, kindly interrupt them and return to your breath. ?Go ahead.

You will notice that our own minds are just like the man in the archetypal story, chasing treasures in all kinds of faraway lands. ?I mean this not in a castigating way, but just to show that being present with the treasure of our own hearts, as simple as it seems, is a great act. ?For there is an incredible momentum pulling us elsewhere…

And that’s not all. ?Presence is only the beginning. ?The real journey begins once we come home to ourselves–and then start digging.

This digging is the journey of Self-Marriage: we realize there is a treasure buried in our own hearts–that?we are the treasure. ?Then we dedicate our lives to digging beneath the surface of ourselves and what we call reality, and we commit to living from that deeper place of surrender to the treasure within.

The practice of digging is entirely different from chasing. ?Instead of continuously looking elsewhere for fulfillment, digging entails that you already know where the treasure is and fully trust that it is there. ?You already have it and you already are it. ?And you have all the tools you need to reveal this treasure-nature of yours.

Every day, you simply uncover another layer; you live this truth–and embody it–even deeper.

You have already arrived–for there is nowhere, really to go–and still you commit to doing the work it takes to keep your heart clear and your treasure near, each and every day.

The only real journey is the journey home. ?Now stop chasing and start digging.