In order to stay on the path we must be willing to simplify the self.
This does not mean to simplify our external situation; our external
situation may change but it is a manifestation of internal work. We
simplify our internal world. We stop listening and following the fool
within.
The fool worries, doubts and springs up in reactive emotions, morning
noon and night. When we listen to the fool we find ourselves in all kinds
of inner hot water from anxiety to loneliness and all manner of frivolous
nonsense. We hear the voice of the fool as a familiar sound.
This fool is the very fool who robs us of sleep, peace and an ability
to meet what shows up in life.
Here's a simple way to remember how the fool works.
The fool is forever guessing at what will and will not happen. It thrives
when we speculate. When we hear the voice of "if only" and "I wonder if"
we do or do not do such and such a thing. The fool relies on guesswork and
projecting into the future. It looks afar and steals your ability to meet life
as it is. Meeting life as it is not the end all to practice but it is a place
to practice tranquility which gives us a cool head to continue on in the dark.
The fool, you see, believes wholeheartedly in crystal ball reading.
It begins with a story, a tale which is often somewhat reminiscent of a past
experience and begins to spin the ball towards gain, shame, blame, worry,
doubt, dislike, pleasure and every sort of possibility in the mind. The madness
piles up and we find ourselves overwhelmed with complexity.
Little thoughts, subtle thoughts when followed like a school of fish,
stir up the waters of the mind. The fish runs here and there, the mind out of
control. We don't understand the fish. When we understand the ways of the fish,
we are ardent, aware and let it swim by. To follow it stirs up the heart.
