Petit Manual for Life by Omar Ávila

Petit Manual for Life Cover Design: Sergio L贸pez (Pineda Monterrubio, S.C.) 漏 2010 ISBN: 978-607-00-3231-8 IOI Editions

Petit Manual for Life

Introduction Much can be done in life and in it there are virtually an infinite number of paths. The present manual has as a main goal to help make the most out of and enjoy life. Life is really a gift, one we not always value and most of the times fail to fully understand until we see it in its totality. There are many trends that indicate how to face life, how to take it, how to succeed in it… but usually the main fact is ignored: “how to live it”. And it‟s simple; it‟s really simple to live a life with peace, harmony with ourselves and our outside. In reality, it‟s so simple that it seldom seems enough or we follow thirdparty advice and complications arise. Sometimes it‟s a question of perspective, but it‟s really surprising how mankind has managed to complicate itself the task of living, enormously, and has created a world in disequilibrium, disorder, chaos. Certainly the world can be a wonderful place, but we would have to search for it with a different perspective, and to make it work it would b as simple as having each person in the world with inner peace. At first glance it sounds complicated, but if each person gave itself peace, that is,if each human being takes care of him or herself, then the problem will not be a big deal. Everyone knows how to get inner peace, but post-pones such task to take care of more important matters. And that‟s with everything. We have to accept our reality, our surroundings. We have to accept that the world is very big and complex, populated with other human beings like us with their own ideas, ambitions and desires each. Success in the task of changing so many minds has little to no chance.

Nevertheless, to enjoy life we need to work with only one mind: our own. That is more than enough to make the most of this trip on this beautiful planet and that way experience and enjoy in peace of this wonderful journey that is life.

Table of Contents I'M BORN, NOW WHAT?..................................................7 YOU'RE ALIVE!....................................................................7 YOUR PATH ...................................................................... 11 GIVING AND RECEIVING ................................................... 14 YOU AND YOUR EGO ....................................................14 YOUR TRUE ESSENCE ........................................................ 14 EGO ................................................................................ 16 THE PROBLEMS WITH EGO................................................. 18 THE GRAND JOURNEY .................................................21 THE IDEA ......................................................................... 21 RELIGIONS ....................................................................... 24 CLUES .............................................................................. 30 THREE GIFTS ..................................................................31 SIMPLICITY ....................................................................... 33 PATIENCE ........................................................................ 37 COMPASSION .................................................................... 39 ILLUSIONS .......................................................................41 CONTROL......................................................................... 41 ATTACHMENTS ................................................................. 44 SUFFERING....................................................................... 48 IN THE END ....................................................................51

Simple in thought and action, you return to the source of being Patient with friends and enemies, you harmonize with the way things are Compassive with yourself, you reconciliate all beings in the world

I’m born, now what? You’re alive! You‟re alive and sure of it. Nobody needs to tell you and neither it‟s necessary for you to explain it. You know you‟re alive, You sense you‟re alive: you feel alive. It seems so common and ordinary that we rarely meditate on the matter. There‟s no need: I know I breathe, I feel hunger, thirst, cold. Why am I alive? What‟s life? Answers to these questions are off subject at the moment; they will be re-taken in further chapters. For the moment it‟s important to manifest that you‟re alive. You know it and feel it, but, hoy much do you value it? Everyone likes to be alive and enjoy life, but it‟s important to point out that each life is worth the same. Each life enjoys of a conscience similar to yours, being its degree of expansion the only difference. Each being that lives, feels, just like You. Life is worth life, each life is worth the same as yours. Take a look at your body: it‟s an organism beyond technology; it moves at your will extraordinarily, it obeys your thoughts with an amazing speed. You an also feel what happens to it; you feel through that body and in the same manner you can cause sensations in other beings by using it. Each body is both a sender and a receiver of someone like you. You‟re alive, interacting with more lives that are different on the outside but alike in its inside. You can celebrate or not that you‟re alive; nevertheless you‟re already here. The idea is that you can carry on the experience of living in the correct way, in harmony, in peace.

Your life is limited. It doesn‟t matter how your life is; it will have an ending: death. A necessary ending to give life sense. Knowing life is not eternal is a fundamental practice: being aware that you‟ll die –for good or bad. So no matter how much joy or suffering you may have, you have to keep something in mind: everything has an ending, even your life. Life is a carnival for the richness of its experiences. It conveys many many things: pleasures and suffering, victories and defeats, joys and sadness. Life is always changing, as is Earth, as the universe, as everything. There may sometimes be storms, but, if it weren‟t for all its shades, it wouldn‟t be life. Everything that happens in life is part of life. In summary: -

Each life is unique, with its own thoughts and feelings. Each life enjoys a conscience, with a different degree of expansion. Each life is different, but all have a unique value precisely because they are lives. Life is temporary.

Living in itself is a wonderful experience. Living in peace and harmony with the rest of life is a paradise-like experience, but it all starts with a life, with Your life. Be joyful! You‟re alive! And it‟s temporary!

Your path Having cleared out that you‟re conscious that you‟re alive, because you feel it, and that life is temporary, what follows is to mention your mission. Life is like going to school. You attend a certain number of classes with the idea of learning certain things, do some leisure activities and mingle with people. Life is similar. You‟re not here by accident, but because You wanted to. You chose to be born, you chose to live. Maybe you don‟t remember it but that‟s the way it was. By choosing to live, you chose a path to travel in this world. It‟s a huge path, ever changing, that forms and reforms constantly with your decisions, that can affect others‟ and be affected by others, that is interlaced, bonded, but still remains yours to walk it. That path is your time in this life. It‟s such a big path that you may wander through it in many different ways; you can even choose whether or not to walk it. Only You can chose and judge your path. Only your vote counts when making choices and the consequences are only for you. Nevertheless, there‟s a universal instrument of great value: inner peace. As you travel along your path in a more harmonic way with your surroundings, you will live with more peace. Peace is known by all, but few value it in its wholeness. It‟s that feeling that everything is harmony and oneself harmonizes pacifically with its surroundings, to the degree which living in itself becomes an unmatchable experience where everything is enjoyed.

“From peace, love arises, and from love, peace outcomes.” Finding your path is as simple as making a self-exam, analyze what truly brings you peace and ask yourself: - What do I like the most? - What really captures my attention? - What do I like to do the most? Whatever you answer will be the correct answer for you. It‟s up to you to follow your answers. It‟s important to note that, if it brings you peace, then you can be sure that‟s the correct path. It‟s a fundamental clue: whatever brings you peace is the right thing for you. Your path will sometimes bring suffering, sometimes pleasure, sometimes mistakes, but remember that every mistake is a chance to learn something, and each suffering is an adverse reaction to the lesson that your path is trying to teach you. For that, even in suffering or pleasure, in joy or sadness, in action or calm, you have peace. Beyond happy or sad –that are just hues of life-, you must feel at peace. You find that inside of you, just as you fell you‟re alive. This peace is indicating that that path is the correct one. You may not be able to explain it but you feel “it‟s that way”, you follow it and you‟re in peace, it goes on and you are in peace, it ends and You maintain peace and the lesson learned from the experience. It‟s fundamental that you understand that your peace is only yours, only you find it in your path and in the same

way each person finds it in its own path. That‟s why it‟s something personal. The most valuable thing you can transmit is your learnings, without imposing them. More useful will be to hand out the tools You used, so tat each one finds and follows his or her path in peace. Only each person knows where its inner peace leads him or her. The idea of living is that you live what you chose. The way to follow it is according to what gives you peace, and, while you are living and learning, everything becomes more fun and, therefore, easier. Also, you enjoy it more. In summary: -

You‟re here to enjoy life and learn, which you will achieve with more harmony when you follow your path. Peace is the best way to know if you‟re in your path or not. Only each person may know its path; only each one may follow its peace.

Giving and Receiving There‟s a concept you need to consider in this trip through life. There are many others like you, with a body just like you, with a conscience, like you, and many share the same space and time as you. They are people, like you. They too, feel, think and have an opinion. When so many people share a determined time and space, they affect each other, and it generates what is colloquially known as “karma” (not in the strict religious sense), that is, the “bill” according to giving and receiving. This is why, when you cause an action that generates damage or suffering to a conscious living being like yourself, a “negative karma” or “balance due” is generated upon you. This is, when your body acts in such manner that your actions cause suffering to someone else, very likely you will receive such suffering in return, although it will rarely be in the way you would expect it. In the same way, every time you do a selfless or goodwill action for someone, you will probably receive it back, also not likely in the way you would expect it. It‟s simple: the universe balances itself. When you rob or inflict pain, you will suffer; when you give and support, you will purify. This occurs in the everyday actions, the same with family members, friends, acquaintances, colleagues or strangers. Each selfish action that we do tends to damage other people, whereas when we help or act unselfishly we cause peace and harmony. This is why in every moment, in pursue of our path or not, we have to be careful when acting, to avoid causing and thus receiving suffering by using our body, so that its

actions may be harmonious. It‟s as simple as asking oneself: “Does what I intend to do, have or be damage anyone?” and “Does the way of doing it, obtaining it or achieving it damage anyone?” A fundamental key for that is identifying when we act through our “ego” or “self-ishness”, which will be discussed with simplicity on the next chapter. In summary: -

Your actions affect other people. When you affect them you can cause suffering or harmony. Everything that is caused is received in return, everything balances out. Ask yourself: Does what I intend to do, have or be damage anyone? and Does the way of doing it, obtaining it or achieving it damage anyone?

You and your ego Your true essence It‟s important to clear something out: you are not your body, you are not your brain. They are the ones that get cold, hungry, thirsty, and sleepy, make plans and are basically a tool to be here, to understand the physical world and be able to move and express yourself amongst your peers. You are something else. You can‟t define yourself as your body, your brain or your name, because if you‟d been born in another place or another time, you‟d still be the same, just in a different context. You‟d have a different face, another name and you‟d have grown up in a different environment. Nevertheless, You would remain the same. You are what you feel you are; it‟s called “soul”, “essence”, “spirit”, “mind”, “conscience”, “energy” and other names. That which You really are –you must remember- is a part of the creator. A metaphor may help: Imagine that the creator is the sea, life is a river and you are a drop of wáter. The river‟s flow (life) is to return to sea (the creator) and You are a drop of water in that river. At the end of your path you will rejoin the sea. And in the end both the river and the sea are made of infinite drops of water, all identical to you, just with different degrees of conscience. Many drops contained in physical cases, just like You inside your body.

You are in this life to follow a path, to enjoy being here, to learn, to interact with specific people in different ways. The idea is that the body you are living in serves you, that essence similar to the creator and part of It, so as to harmonize in your surroundings, enjoy life and make the most of your time. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x;re already here anyway. In summary: -

You are part of the Creator, just as any life you see. Life is to be contemplated and respected. Your body, your name and your brain are instruments, and they will perish.

Ego It may be your worst enemy. It may really be your only enemy, your nemesis, the invisible rival, the “hidden predator”. You don‟t see it. Really you never see it and that is why it has become so strong throughout time in the human kind. Ego can be defined as the belief that you are your body and your brain. That is, it is not a feeling being, but a belief, a form of acting, a “mindset” so to speak. This same mindset can control your body‟s acts, to the point that it can make you believe that such acts are yours. Ego acts under the self-ish principle, which implies acting for own benefit or satisfaction, without taking into account other people. Ego‟s satisfaction is usually linked to the body or to the belief of the ego about itself. That‟s why the ego acts to satisfy the body and thus itself. The “ego” exists only inside the body and the brain. It‟s not really a part of you, so that ego will seize to exist at the moment in which such body‟s life ends. Due to it, the ego is very attached to the body that gives it its existence, reason why it will look to give it much more importance than owed in reality; in the end it‟s still just a vehicle to transit through this life. It will put most of its attention to it, it will dedicate excessive time to tend to it, it will look to give it the best pleasures and comforts. In the same way, ego grows when glorified, which is why it is arrogant, proud, vain. The ego lets no one be above it, therefore it has a lot of rivals. The ego has its dignity above all. The ego rejects humiliation upon itself or the body. It pursues greatness and looks to transcend, although in this

last aspect the most it has achieved is partial transcendence through its name or work. The thing with the ego is that it can‟t be seen or perceived, as stated before: it is a belief, a way of acting. It can be summarized like this: Everyone who pursues self benefit acts on selfishness; everyone who pursues the benefit of others acts for him or herself (for his or her spirit, true self); it‟s up to each one stablish the limit between the actings of the ego and the self. It‟s up to you to define when you are the one acting and when your ego is acting through you. This is simple when you take note of the suffering of others. The only one that rejoices in causing suffering is the ego. In summary: -

The ego is the acting with the belief that you are your body and your brain. The ego acts for its own benefit, without caring if it causes suffering to the rest. Everyone enjoys freedom of choice to satisfy the ego or not.

The problems of the ego A great part of the suffering that people have in this world is caused by the ego. We self-inflict suffering upon us by being attached to our bodies and inflating the ego. Similarly, we generate suffering to others when we please the body and look to satisfy our ego. When it concerns the body, the ego makes us suffer for what happens to it. If the body is but a vehicle we are using to travel through this life, then: Are you your body? No. Therefore, there‟s no point in suffering because of it. That pain is channeled through the ego, that in its belief that You are your body, it convinces you that what happens to that body happens to yo. That body has a beauty standard, aesthetics, improvement goals; it forgets it‟s a tool, the vehicle for your life, the house where you live in. In the same way, care has to be taken when pleasing the body, since often the consequences of the actions necessary for such pleasing are ignored, thus generating negative “karma” if in the pleasing, suffering was caused. If you are not your body, it‟s not worth hurting others to satisfy it. In the case of the ego itself, you can cause yourself suffering by enlarging it. Life is for Your learning and enjoyment, following your path –which is why you came here-, but it can result in disarmony and chaos when you pretend to satisfy the ego. Ego generates pride, the superiority complex for some reason. Ego generates vanity, physical or intelectual, that is also a feeling of superiority. Both pride and vanity feed from ego and nourish it back. The more you are attached to your ego, the more you will suffer, more so when it starts its decadence together with

your perishable body and brain. The acts you commit on behalf of egoism will not last. Making others suffer by pursuing ego‟s satisfaction is another important matter. Satisfying it usually includes acts where others get hurt, humiliated, yelled at, mistreated or else, only to demonstrate that the own ego is superior than others‟. Acts that look only to enhance a temporary situation in life, acts of pride and vanity. The ego‟s platform is usually a social or economical position, a physical or intellectual attribute or a position of power; situations or tools that in themselves are keys to follow our path. Performing acts that prove the superiority of the ego is really unnecessary and without purpose, in addition to causing bitter experiences in other people that have the same life and conscience than ours. Generating suffering for an “ego” that will perish with the body makes no sense. This is why the ego is your only enemy. Nothing than happens to your body or your brain happens to you really. If someone wants to hurt you, you may suffer, yes, but it can‟t really harm you. And the more you are dettached from your body, your brain and your ego, the less you will suffer. Ego is what makes you suffer. Obeying it gives you pain when someone, using its own ego, steps on “your pride”, “proves he or she is better than you” or “proves he or she is right and you are not”. A great deal of life‟s lessons has to do with dettaching ourselves from ego and possessions and enjoying your path without harming others, as well as learning to forgive. A practical exercise to dissolve your ego is meditation. Meditation, as opposed to introspection, doesn‟t involve

thingking. On the contrary, it consists in not-thinking. Another way to say it is to put your mind in a blank. Meditating is as simple as settling yourself in a comfortable position and blank your mind. Every time a thought arises, one can imagine putting that thought inside a bubble and floating out of the head. Another way to do it is to contemplate something, focusing all attention into a single thing, like listening to water run, focusing on a single digit number or even the process of breathing. Meditation comes in handy because, like any exercise, the more you practice it the better you get at it. In the same way it allows your brain and body to listen to you over your ego or thoughts. The more you silence your thoughts, the more you can listen to yourself, to your true you. You will also be able to easily differ yourself from your ego and live more flowingly. In summary: -

Ego acts on selfish impulse. Ego is really only affected by its own problems and your bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x;s. A great deal of our learning consists in acting with no ego or selfishness. The less your ego acts, the more You act.

The Grand Journey The Idea You might not recall it, but this is not the first time you‟re alive. You‟ve been in this Earth before, in another body, with another name and in another time and place –another “space”. You were born, grew up, related to others in this “space” during a period of time and then you died. Then you were born again. Very few times do we recall this. The reason for that can only be known by each person in the same way that each person knows his or her own memory. Maybe it is because the brain in a new body doesn‟t “know” what it has experienced and lived in other lives. It doesn‟t matter; the point is that very few remember. The same happens to the rest of re people and other living things you see: not everyone remembers. That is the wonderful mechanic of the game of life. To be born, grow up, fulfill your purpose and subsequently die to later repeat the process. The idea is that in each “life”, You inhabit a body with a brain to move within this time-space context. You are here to learn something, to walk a part of the global path, to purify yourself, to live certain experiences. That‟s the general idea. Sometunes you‟re a son, a father, a mother, sister, cousin, uncle, grandma, etcetera. The roles of the people around you change too. Throughout this great trip you relate with other people and interact with them through different roles. Not remembering it consciously doesn‟t mean it didn‟t happen.

This is why some people may seem “familiar”, or you can “dislike” others without reason, or similar situations. This means you recognize them – perhaps unconsciously – beyond their curreng body, and you relate them to a sensation they made you feel in another life or round. There are friendships that transcend beyond a single life. There are encounters that repeat themselves. Before you are born, you choose what it is you‟re coming for and what you‟ll want to do. That‟s why to live alone you must be Yourself, beyond what your ego makes you believe you are. If you‟re born in a “difficult situation” and you don‟t know why, it may be because you‟re paying for suffering you generated in a previous life. If you‟re born with a comfortable life, maybe you were a good person in a past round. In either case, it‟s part of your path. The Creator is really in everething. What you learn and evolve, you take with you when dying and being born. If in your current life you find it easy to be compassive, generous or patient is because in previous existences you have learned it. If you‟re prone to flowing in life or meditating and blanking your mind, it‟s because in another life, you learned it. Everything you grow and evolve can flow from within you as something natural in your life. Therefore, each path is unique, and more so when each living being has so many paths to travel. Only You can judge yourself. You are a traveler, like everyone, that rides through time and distance, in space, living the experience of learning and purifying to eventually return to the creator. Being here is the biggest proof that you still have paths to travel. Make the trip worthwile.

In summary: -

You are a traveler through time and distance, just like everyone else. You live to enjoy the experience and learn in the process. Everything you do in each of your lives affects your complete existance. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x;re alive it means you still have paths to travel.

Religions (It‟s better to encourage faithful followers to be good followers of their religions rather than trying to convert others) In this world there are many religions of diverse names and roots. They all have one thing in common: by being religions, they focus on honoring a God. They are guides for true growth, known as “spiritual growth”. This matter has been addressed by religions in different ways. They all have their reasons and in a way, they compliment each other. Broadly, this is the mechanic: I.

Judeo-Christianism and Islam

These religions teach the mechanics of living one life, that is, how to guide yourself in a single turn. The idea is that between your birth and your death, you follow its basic principles. Both the Jewish-Christian and Islam believe in the existance of an almighty God, unique, inmense, that is present in each quark of the universe; that is, the creator. It recognizes that each person has a soul and when they die, it returns to God. By soul, they are referring to what/who you really are. In the Jewish-Christian mechanic, the unity has been divided in good and evil. It is declared thatn God is Love. There is a demon known as Satan, that is God‟s opposite – the no-love or selfishness-. Each action that serves the ego is an act of selfishness, which is in turn a hail to Satan

(Satan means “the adversary”). Each act of love is an act of praise to God, to its soul. Both can be interpreted as a teaching to respect and love the peer and cause no suffering by aiming to satisfy the body or flesh. II. Buddhism and Hinduism These religions teach the mechanic of living all lives; that is; how to guide yourself through all your rounds. The idea is to use each life to practice the basic principles of respect, no control and dettachment of material possessions, use everything and lead a world of harmony. They are fully focused in learning and developing virtues to keep advancing in each life, that is, dissolving the ego as well as looking for inner peace, getting rid of desires. They acknowledge that spiritual growth is achieved in the amount that the self-path is followed. They both accept the state of “enlightment” that is obtained when in an advanced degree of the path, that is, when one has learned the most part of what needed to learn. They equally recognize the state of “awakening”, which consists in feeling past existances and that life is a trip of many lives. What the greek myth calls “getting out of the cavern”. These religions already assume that a person avoids causing suffering to others, or better said: it assumes that the love and respect principle of the Judeo-Christian and Islam religions is already practiced.

III. Taoism Taoism is the simplest and maybe for that the deepest religion of all. Taoism is very simple, thus it covers everything. Its teachings can be interpreted at many levels, shallow and deep. It teaches the no-action, that is, letting the moves and words flow from within you. The no-thinking to flow in life in every sense. It can be said that animals follow the Tao since they “don‟t thin”, but act accordingly to what they fell they should act. That is, they‟ve achieved a superior state of harmony and at the same time the most basic of all. It accepts the unity of things, everything as an infinite everything, with every molecule united. Tao Te Ching –its fundamental book- is interpreted differently each time it is read, very much in the same wat that in life we learn differently every time we live it. It‟s learnt from the reading, in spite of being the same book, because the learning becomes more profound. This happens as the reader evolves and starts to understand it in a different way. Taoism verses on life itself as a totality and unity. These main religions are bound between them and provide the same teachings, but at different levels and in different ways. Nevertheless, they all interpret the same God: all followers are human beings, they‟re all on Earth and they are all particles of the same creator, may it be called soul, spirit, energy or mind: You. Judeo-Christianism and Islam teach how to live a life, Buddism and Hinduism teach how to live all lives and Taoism speaks about unity in itself and the return to non-action, abandonment of the knowledge and live in full acceptance.

In the same way, Judeo-Christianism and Islam teach the way to freeing oneself of causing suffering voluntarily (evilness), Buddism and Hinduism are the way of deattachment and acceptance as well as the dissolution of “ego”; Taoism is the disolution of thought and the return to an empty concience. To follow a religion is a good way to follow the spiritual path, though it is not the only one. In spite of the former, it‟s more important to note the “how” of this religious practice –if such is chosen-, being that they coincide in the “love yourself as you love thy neighbor”, not causing suffering and enjoying the gift that is life. If you practice your religion ignoring your ego, you can co-exist respecting and being respected by others. In the end if harmony is broken because of religion, then religion itself loses it‟s raison d‟etre by becoming an obstacle for achieving its own goal. In summary: -

There are guides for the spiritual way called religions. All religions are interdependant, because they explain existance from different angles. Following any religion is as simple as acting selflessly and not satisfying “ego”, that is to live with love and respect.

The Clues A big part of this game is precisely to learn to play it. Free will gives you the freedom to chose your path or not. When you start to understand that existance is for the enjoyment of the experience of “living”, which in itself is wonderful, you start to understand that it‟s easier to follow your path than not to follow it. This applies for every life. The more you learn about “how to live”, the easier it will get for the following lives. There are many clues in many places to help us follow the way and to feel and understand existance through the expansion of consciousness. They are generally reproduced as art, in any of its forms including television. Art is the human expression of an idea or feeling. Beyond than faces, bodies and names, that is beyond “people”, there are actions, and these actions have a mechanic or an implicit “idea”. Everything has its basis on an idea. If you like an idea, maybe its because it‟s part of your path, either in the past or to follow in the present, mattering not if the context is completely different. Ideas_ Actions__ People_______ If you analize the “why‟s” of every detail, hobby, inclination, discomfortness and all variables within your personality (beyond your body), you can find answers and keys to follow your path, that is: to be yourself. Liking an

adventure movie comes from the idea of being “the conquering hero”, no matter if it‟s a barbarian or an executive in an office; the idea behind it is to “defeat the enemy”. The enemy can be an obstacle, a vice or an attachment. That idea is the reason why you have that taste or likeness for a particular expression. It gives you an idea that you can apply to your life or a situation within it. Listening to other people and their ideas lets you see what their path is or how that path is going in that very moment. This is why ideas are transmitted only once, every conscious being know in which part of his or her path he or she is and how he or she wants to proceed; in their own free will and within the boundaries of respect. Those sensations that “come to us” are the most important clues: it means to feel how to act. The „creator‟ is within you –and you being a particle of „it‟- hints you with sensations to the correct path, the one that will bring you knowledge or growth, that will become an experience that nurtures or is enjoyed. That sensation is what guides you at every moment and/or when it‟s a really important decision. Beyond whether it brings pain or joy, it brings peace when followed, because you advance, grow and are in this magnificent and grand wandering through existance. In summary: -

Every person executes actions that enclose an idea. The ideas you are attracted to usually give you an idea about your path and where it goes through. Art is the human expression of an idea or a feeling, which usually are clues to the „artist‟ on the first

degree or to those who enjoy that particular expression. Inner peace is the best clue that youâ&#x20AC;&#x;re walking the path that you planned for this life, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x;s how you learn and evolve.

Three Gifts Three gifts are three tools that may be used in any situation to facilitate the decision making process, the vision of events and the learning in the chosen path.

Simplicity Simplicity is.

Simplicity (extended version) Simplicity is simple, it‟s the most basic way to define it. The “simple” can be defined in many ways, but basically it‟s an attitude or “modus operandi” of things, people and situations alike. It‟s understood that something is simple when very few layers or textures are necessary to contemplate it, and its comprehension is quick and easy. Paradoxically, as will be exposed ahead, it‟s convenient to cease to be “simple” in order to exhibit the mechanics of simplicity. You advance the path of life through actions and experiences. All of them involve a raison d‟etre. Every one of your actions involves a wish or longing. It can be for the enjoyment or experiencing the moment in itself or as a step to get to the finish line, which is to meet that wish or longing. All people that coexist with you operate the same way. All actions are funded on an idea and over such we form the ambition or desire. That idea is what matters: that your actions are in harmony with your desires, because the idea which ties them together is what counts.

In much the same way you perform actions to get to an end, the rest of the people in their daily interaction perform their own actions to get to their goals. You can call that phenomena an “event”: a person acts as means to an end. An event can happen with one person or a group of people. When it happens with a group of people, it becomes a colective event: many actions from many persons, each one with an idea of “being”, that together conform a great action that englobes within itself an idea. Evidently, each action a person performs that doesn-t share the colective idea that originates the collective event will be in disharmony. These acts are generally selfish, because they search for a personal outcome over the collective goal; acts over an idea that is different from the global one. Needless to say that disharmony is pointless, since the person executing the actions that disharmonize the collective action, when acting selfishly and thus causing suffering, will have to balance it out due to the cause-effect rule. It‟s a lose-lose situation. Taking this into account, You can analize or understand every event from any of its layers. The exterior layer is „people¡, who are bodies like You, with a conscience and always changing –which complicates the analysis. Substracting „people‟ from the events, the next layer would be „actions‟ and the complexity of the analyzis would be up to the observer‟s judgement, since you can analyze the elements of every action (like temporal and spatial context) as much as pleases, with as many textures as willed, and at the same time all actions participating in such event can be analyzed individually; complexity is completely optional. The most basic and simple way is to analyze ideas. In the same way, an idea can be analyzed in complexity or simply:

the simplest way is to inquire the wish or goal that the actor or executioner. Every act has a purpose. Analyzing events trhough ideas facilitates understanding and clarity. Being simple is as „simple‟ as understanding life in a „simple‟ way. Observing events and life itself through ideas, from the nucleous of things. This process can be repeated in any place. Art itself is an expression of an idea or a sensation that is different to words. Life can really be simple and that‟s why it‟s incredible; it‟s so grand that it can be seen complexly or simply, as chosen. It is in the everyday actions and moments where it starts getting complicated, by adding textures and layers instead of focusing on the idea, on the reason of the goal to be achieved: to follow the path, enjoy it and learn to purify yourself in the process. The layers and textures themselves become distractors. This is as plain as the fact that more importance is given to making life comfortable in lieu of accepting it as it is and enjoy it like that. The more life gets complicated, the more a person wants(needs?) to make it comfortable. Thanks to death, life is valued, that is why each life has its death. Simple: it all balances. Another simple way to look at reality is to see it composed of circles and spirals. Each being is a circle that is only different from the others in its position and diameter size – conscience expansion-. You are a circle living in a bigger circle –your society- that it‟s within a bigger circle (Earth) that is within more circles. You coexist in that circle “Earth” with other circles and everyone‟s actions affect everyone. The spiral becomes when giving depth to the circle.

Diagram 1.1. Spatial Context

The mechanics of life are, in the same way, developed in circles or “cycles”; with the expansion of the poles being the variable that changes. Maybe a “severe” problem for an adolescent is inconsequential for an adult; whereas at the same time the latter would declare its problems to be “real problems”. False. They are problems in “his” or “her” reality. The world of the adolescent might be more limited, but it‟s in no way less shocking for him. It‟s his life. The ideas behind his or her fears are probably the same as the fears of adults, only simpler. As two circles, they have the same center, but they change expansion and temporal/spatial position. In that sense, the mechanics of living life are the same: the way of learning and living is a group of circles or cicles. The bonds that join people, situations or places are in reality cycles. They begin and they will end and they have a function and purpose in your life. It can all be analyzed from its idea –it‟s center- or from any of it‟s layers or textures.

The simpler it‟s done, the easiest it is to act and, as a consequence, live.

Diagram 1.2 Cicle of desire

Simplicity is an attitude. Paradoxically its easier to detail the explanation of simplicity, the use of the tool, so as to apply it in this trip of life: To define simplicity implies to limit oneself to determine it. „Simplicity is‟; that‟s it, no more. To define simplicity „simply‟ is as obvious as to say „Simplicity is to be simple‟. This, however, generates many questions, so being simple must be stopped in order to explain them „in a simple way‟. (This is logical since the idea of this explanation is to point out how to use simplicity as a tool in the path You are traveling.)

Even metaphors and fables are „vehicles‟ to convey „ideas‟ (which is the moral or lesson). It‟s a way of moving a lesson from one series of events to the next, from one group of people to the next, but always coinciding in the idea. One can be as simple as wished and at the same time as deep as wanted, without needing to be complex. Seeing the ideas can help that actions don‟t distract from the objective of acting. At the end of the day your acting, simple or complex, either obeys your „ego‟ or it obeys You. In summary: -

Simplicity is an attitude, a way to observe events. All events are grounded in an idea. Simplicity consists of analyzing things for the ideas they involve. The reason for fear or desire, of the idea of the executioner or the actor, is part of their path; the fact that they‟re alive means they‟re still learning.

Patience Before the storm and peace, patience. Everything in the world takes its time, Every process, every change, every move. Even a step requires its time. Patience. Do your part and be patient. When the time is right, everything comes into place. When the moment is the right one, everything blossoms. Patience. Wise is he who choses what to do with the time he has; that gives him patience. Make good use of the wait before you suffer it. Patience. Patience is a very useful tool for the observation of events in the passage of life. It involves the illusion of control of time, acceptance and respect, and is influenced by faith. Patience is accepting thereâ&#x20AC;&#x;s a time for everything. When you have patience, you maintain the peace while you wait, and in a deeper sense, before uncertainty as well. Patience is the opposite of the illusion of control, in the sense that when you donâ&#x20AC;&#x;t have it, you pretend to control time. Time, far any interpretation or definition that may be given to it, following a course that is beyond any attempt of control, modification, alteration and the like. This is why trying to control it will end in a vain effort. The only thing that can be controlled is your actions in the present moment. Patience involves acceptance and respect, being that time is accepted and respected as it is, as well as other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x;s time. Being time relative to each one, each one advances at its own pace in his or her path. Similarly, processes have their own time. It will always be simpler to be patient and accept such time as part of its nature.

Patience involves faith independently from personal belief, especially in the face of uncertainty. Within life experiences and tests, there are moments to act and moments to observe. In the path of life, when you act chasing a goal or desire, you do what feels right to get it, but the reward or prize doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x;t always come when expected and this is where uncertainty starts and patience comes in. Patience helps to trust that the result will arrive. The expected as well as the adverse result will come in its due time, with its corresponding lesson. Every action has a reaction, but it comes at its due time. Patience in itself can fill the waiting and is useful to watch the facts, distill the idea and hence see in a simpler way the lesson to learn or apply. Faith is laid on the wait and wait is held in patience. Patience basically involves a constant acceptance of the reality as well as the pass of time and its influence over people and events. Accepting allows you to make the most out of everything in harmony. The easiest way to act harmoniously is to do what you feel needs to be done in the present time, even if it means do nothing or waiting (being patient). You only have to choose what to do with the time you have. In summary: -

Patience is useful to observe events in calm and inquire its reasons, as well as to find how to make the most of the waiting. Being patient is as simple as to choose what to do with the time you have. Accepting time as is, without trying to control it, leads to being patient.

Compassion An excellent tool for the daily interaction with other living beings is compassion. This quality includes simpathy, empathy and similar values. Compassion is to understand a persons actions from his or her perspective and evaluate accordingly. Other people, the same as You, are not beings endowed with „evilness‟ and, in any case, it‟s not their primary wish to cause suffering to other persons, just like you. They are all usually victims of their ego, they are also in their journey, learning and evolving too. This is why they cause suffering –just like You-, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unwittingly, directly or indirectly, but it‟s important to remember that it‟s always for a reason, since everyone acts looking for a result (just like You). When another person generates suffering, before judging him or her, it‟s wise to stop first and analyze the reason why he or she acted that way, the idea within, the aim of those actions that turn harmful. Compassion is an excellent tool to observe others‟ actions, taking into account that the executioner is also a conscious being, he or she is also in a process and therefore suffers, faces tests, has goals and yearnings. It‟s really not the being itself that generates suffering, but its actions fouled by its ego. He or she is subject to his/her enemy and obeying it –without knowledge- causes suffering to others. He causes suffering by obeying his ego‟s whim.

Similarly, due to „karma‟ law, the suffering caused will be returned. Any person that causes suffering to satisfy its ego will see it come back. Observing it with compassion, its better to look for the objective wanted and act accordingly. In reality, no one wants to cause suffering consciously. Whoever does, acts enslaved by an ego that aims to satisfy itself. Compassion is understanding that we are all apprentices (like You) and that that‟s why they were born and live in this world, and will be again just like everyone. The best way to live is harmoniously. In summary: -

Actually nobody wants to cause suffering; this generates in the actions that obey the ego. Compassion is understanding that he who harms is a slave of his own vices and his ego. The person that causes suffering by obeying his ego, will receive it in return because of the balance of the Universe.

Illusions Illusions are deviations in the journey, methods for living life that have no real use, they complicate the experience of living, bring suffering and frustration and, more importantly, they drift us apart from inner peace.

Control This is maybe the most foul illusion about living life in general: trying to control, modify and change to personal taste the world and its components. It involves the lack of acceptance of things and generally the undertone is a whim from the ego. It involves lack of respect for others and a spark of your ego trying to be superior to others. Much energy is wasted and time invested in the eagerness to control, trying to impose our personal perspective and have the rest of the people restrain to it. Ego in its immaturity doesn‟t realice that the world can‟t be judge, it just “is”. The world is. The Earth is. You see it as You are. The attempt to control implies trying to change it and that is the job of no one. The illusion of control can make you believe that you can really control people or the world, and that illusion is always based in some kind of power – political, occupational, familiar, civil, mediatic. In such pursuit and using that power, many beings like You pretend to control the world and their peers, when in reality the world escapes any control. You can pretend to control: I.

Your body

The most basic way to control is to try to control the body that you inhabit. Unconsciously, every person knows that life is about evolving to a better self and growing; the problem lies in the exercise of this precept. Thanks to the „ego‟ factor (the belief that you are your body), the premise of growth and moving forward tends to be applied over ego itself, that is, over the body. This leads to not accepting the body used as it is and try to change it. Taking care of it with hygiene and health is necessary, changing it is not accepting it. Not accepting the body involves an ego that doesn‟t embrace itself. It‟s not Your ego‟s work, but yours, to accept the body that you have instead of trying to control it. The simplest way is to just accept the body that you inhabit as it is, that is, accept that it‟s just the body that you use for moving through this life and embrace it as it is, with it‟s presumed “flaws” and “virtues”, tools, qualities, capacities and the like. Since the body was given to you at birth, it‟s likely that there‟s a reason for it, that it‟s part of your path. Accepting your body as it is is the first step to abandon the illusion of control. II.

People

A hierarchical or economical position may generate in the ego the desire to impose to others a way of thinking, acting, operating, judging and more. No matter the reason, this is disrespectful, since they are plainly conscious beings just like You, with their own journey, like You. Their path will bring them the necessary learnings and letting them act autonomously is to respect that.

The attempt to control others is the main cause of disharmony between people‟s social circles. That pretense to control and stop respecting violates every being the same way it would bother you. The best way is to abandon the illusion of control, express our ideas in a pacific way and then let everything flow. The consequences will arrive and leave their lessons. It‟s smarter to share the experiences and consequences in a harmonic relation than pretend to control and impose oneself. In a superior hierarchical position, it‟s smarter to inform the duties and responsabilities and enforce the consequences of the actions of people. People in the same way must accept such consequences. Control leads to submission, acceptance leads to harmony. III.

The environment

To acquire a better „quality of life‟, to achieve some change or improve a given situation, we can spend our lives pretending to control the environment we live in. When Your path involves pushing a given change, then everything will be given and adjusted. Nevertheless, it‟s easier to accept our environment as it is, with it‟s good and bad, pleasures and sufferings and live life with it. The environment is always changing. Everyone influences it, with every action it provoques reactions on other people, are in movement, participating in it everyday actively. It‟s out of the control of anyone and trying to do so only carries with it suffering and bitterness to people. The best formula is to accept it as is and live in it, adapt to it, like water adapting to the container holding it, causing no suffering and flowing, accepting your lessons peacefully.

Letting go of control requires acceptance. Acceptance of the world â&#x20AC;&#x17E;as isâ&#x20AC;&#x; causes everything to take its place, since such place is being embraced. Life is a unique experience and the time and place where it develops influences it. Quitting controlling things leads you to enjoy your context and to learn and purify yourself from whatever involves sacrifice or pain. It can all be used at the moment where the desire for control is forsaken. In summary: -

Controlling implies not accepting things as they are and imposing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x;s opinion. Respect is essential to the harmonious and productive coexistance of social groups. Accepting things leads to being able to benefit from them fully.

Attachments The opposite to living flowing like a drop of water is clinging (not letting go). One can cling to a situation, person or thing, even life itself. In this life, everything is connected, all is interdependent. Therefore it‟s normal that bonds originate and that they tie you to something or someone. It can be anything: a partner, a position, a naming, a situation; the problem starts when that bond comes to an end or has to and You oppose. For the mere fact that Earth and Universe are in constant change under the flow of time, it‟s natural that nothing really endures. This results in us earning and losing bonds that join us to other people or objects. This is natural, it‟s part of flowing. You can encounter much suffering when you cling to something or someone. If anything that you have or are is lost, let it go. Clinging and yearning for the past prevents us from enjoying the present. It‟s true that all can change in a moment. When change affects you and you lose something, before suffering and mourning, inquire why. Accept your simple answers. Accept your new reality and live with what you have left after the loss. It‟s simpler than trying to stop the come-andgo of things. Even ego can make you cling to life itself, to the degree of limiting the experience of life for fear that it will be over „before time‟. Letting go involves two things: a. Knowledge of true value: very common amongst a material world, the use and enjoyment of assets is decreased by clinging to them while possessing them. When lost one suffers for not having them.

This is illogical, since that suffering can be avoided by accepting reality. In the same way, it‟s illogical to suffer or cause suffering in order to get something. Objects are tools. Knowing the value and end to those tools bring a favorable impact in the use and enjoyment of them and help to be at peace when they‟re over. The „how‟ to take advantage of them can be beneficial or detrimental within the “law of karma”. b. Detachment: or expressed differently: the nonnecessity. The non-necessity allows you to be at peace with or without any given link. You can „have‟ or you can „not-have‟ and peace remains. When you „have‟, you make the most of it, you use it to enjoy life or to learn. When you lose it, loss is accepted, the lesson to be learned or the karma to be settled is inquired. When you „not-have‟, you make the most of what you do, forming a virtuous cycle of harnessing and detachment, to which You only need an adaptation process. Clingings can cause suffering, but such suffering bears a lesson that can be as simple as that the object of such clinging has served its purpose or there was a false need for it. Same thing goes for clinging to a person, a position, situation or life itself. Everything has a purpose and it must be harnessed in the present. In the end life is to be enjoyed using what we have when we have it, without causing suffering to others or yourself, accepting, harnessing and flowing. In summary:

Everything is in constant change and bonds are created with people, situations or objects. Bonds are temporary, since they are subject to change. The idea is to harness â&#x20AC;&#x201C;to enjoy and learn- what is possessed, when it is, without causing suffering to others. To flow and detach we must understand the true value and the non-necessity. Detachment only requires a process of adapting to change.

Suffering Many beings that have passed through have given deep consideration to suffering. It‟s mostly understood and accepted as a part of life and by being present in it it simply is. It‟s uncomfortable, all living beings feel it according to their consciousness and it‟s always created, it doesn‟t exist for itself. Suffering is so shocking that it‟s been considered a valuable teacher for important lessons, and it is. Suffering can be based on either of these two reasons: A) Paying “karma”: this suffering has as its foundation the equilibrium of the scale of giving and receiving in Your interaction with your peers, from this existance or a previous one. Everything in the universe balances out, so the damage inflicted is returned in suffering. It‟s convenient to avoid causing suffering so as to avoid receiving it. It‟s likely that it‟ll come back in the least expected way and with no apparent reason. An efficient formula to sort out this suffering if you encounter it in your path is to accept it. Accepting it without wanting to know the reason for it and acknowledge that it‟s a process of purification to grow, develop yourself and make this life effective for you gives you peace, which comes in handy to sort out the suffering.

B) Get a lesson: more often than not, and usually induced by the ego, tests and exams come to be. Victim of an impulse of the ego or an illusion like a clinging or trying to control you can bump into

suffering when you see that the longed for goal was not achieved in spite of the effort. It also happens that without apparent reason you suffer a loss or a bitter experience. When you perform an inquisitive test –asking all the „why‟s- you can know which lesson is there to learn with that suffering. The answer you feel is the correct one will indeed be. Lessons are focused on moving forward along existances, developing a virtue or dissolving the ego. They can teach us to let go of an illusion, expand patience or compassion, learn the non-necessity or embracement. Only You know the lesson you need to learn to accept it and have peace. It‟s likely that the suffering to pay “karma” might be avoided when you perform actions that go against causing suffering, that is: helping or supporting. If suffering is generally caused by acts of selfishness, acts of harmony, love or friendship can balance them out. It‟s important to mention that the more the lesson to be learned or the “karma” to be paid is accepted, suffering gradually dissolves. That is, at the moment you accept the motive for and the suffering itself, you accept as well reality, and hence peace unfolds. Peace is the best tool to endure suffering, since it helps us understand that it‟s all part of a process and you are making progress. Suffering can indeed be a great teacher. It‟s likely that suffering that provides a lesson repeats itself until the lesson is learned. It will probably manifest itself in different spatial and timely context and through different actions, but the idea behind it, the lesson to be learned, will be the same. For instance, the suffering endured to help

abandon the illusion of control does indeed appear each time one tries to control and fails to do so. When that pretense to control is abandoned, you stop failing and, in consequence, stop suffering, since the lesson has been learned –in this case, letting go of control. Under that light, you can decide how much you suffer before you accept and learn in the events of life. The lessons learned, the purified and the balanced will endure during the grand journey. You can tell that you have within you previously learned lessons that just flow our of you; same goes for everyone. What is learned flows naturally slowly and causes more harmony. The more you learn to live better, the better you live, the less suffering you bestow upon yourself to learn or balance “karma” and the more you enjoy the experience of life. In summary: -

Suffering is a teacher in life and is ever present in it. It can be to pay for caused suffering or to learn a lesson. When suffering and reality are accepted, peace arises, and it‟s the best support. When you learn the lesson you stop suffering. What was learned and overcame endure during the great journey.

In the end Living, or life itself, can be described in countless ways. Life is so inmense that it can be contemplated from many different angles, you can say what you want of it and prove that you are correct. Every being is correct in its perception of life. Nevertheless the mistake is to believe that itâ&#x20AC;&#x;s the only , true, universal perception, omitting the expansion of consciousness or the mind. Every perception is correct for its author, but life is so inmense that it encloses every perception of it. No matter what path is chosen, they all operate the same way. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x;s challenges and duels, learning continuously. The ideas to be learned are the same. It all happens in solitude or in social groups and all actions have a motive. The desire behind the act is precisely the path construction. It will always be easier to build the road that You enjoy, since that way youâ&#x20AC;&#x;ll go through it more peacefully. Free will. All learning leads to the same: life is for experiencing and enjoying it. All is said and done, but all can be detailed endlessly. You can change again and again; the idea is to evolve in the process. In the end the capital lesson always is to learn to love. Respect is the most basic form of love: it involves accepting and causing no harm. This already includes thirdparties; its a thought of selfless nature. That is the root where love blossoms and takes many forms according to each relationship.

It can take the paternal, brotherly, friendly or couple shape; any form of coexistence for the enjoyment of it. Couple love is just one form. To reach harmony one must act lovingly, which includes respect as a basis and causing no suffering. Love leads to harmony: every life coexisting together in peace, without causing or enduring additional suffering than the one inherent to life itself. Within love, life is enjoyed from where you are, beyond the nature of experiences, feeling all joined together in all. Love is founded on respect and develops by harmonious coexistance. To have harmony, all behaviors must focus on one same idea, to harmonize their acting around it and hence sharing and coexisting peacefully. Being and letting be; love in all its dimensions, complete love. That way, under the same simple ideas of acceptance (letting go) and causing no suffering, it can have any form: love of a mother, father, son, brother, friend, aquaintance or stranger, which is simply respect. Acting with love, you look for the happiness in others before your own, without causing suffering. You learn how to give. You learn how to win by yielding. When you give, you receive, and that inspires you to give again and the cycle loops. It becomes a virtuous circle, that works in the same way as a vicious cycle but instead spins in an ascendent spiral of love and peace, not suffering. In constant acceptance and yielding in search for harmony and life, or life in harmony. In ecosystems, this cycle works the same way, and love is understood in a more basic level: they simply interact with

each other in peace. Each one has their role, they fullfill it, by doing so they benefit others and so on. No one ambitions more than what they need. They all look after all without clinging. They all enjoy without possessing more. Everything is in constant change, but harmoniously. Acting within love makes you patient and compassive with others in their path; you let them learn, trusting them. Out of love, you respect life and cause no suffering to any being to satisfy a whim of your ego. When you understand love, nothing is valued above it. Love allows you to overcome control, clingings and have peace when facing suffering. Because of love you enjoy things as they are, accepting them. Because of love, you learn to forgive, in order to promote interaction and learning of your peers. Because of love, you enjoy mere company. Out of love, you respect and let the others follow their journey. You are compassionate of he whom causes suffering, victim of his ego, and you try to cause no suffering. Out of love, you accept things just as they are and you benefit from them fully. Out of love, the best gift that you can give and receive is companionship. All learning can be summarized in the wholesome idea of love. In the end, life is precisely about enjoyment and learning, and all learning can be epitomized in one word: love. Everything is bound together, linked, evertything is part of the same masterpiece. This is why it was said: “Love one another”. As you learn to move forward, it becomes easier to do so. It‟s a matter of following your own path while you learn to

love. It only requires a shift in focus, re-evaluating the present. Questioning things is a good start. In the end, youâ&#x20AC;&#x;re already here, so make the most of it and enjoy it. Bon voyage. IOI

For any questions or doubts, or if inner peace is lost, just look inside you.