Becoming the Ideal Human Being

Image from Lucy's album

Imagine for a moment, the ideal human being.  What do you see?

Please do not continue reading until you’ve taken a few moments to really imagine this, taking note of your feelings as the image of the ideal human being is constructed in your mind, as you see more and more of what you want in such a person.

Doesn’t it feel good?  Wonderfully good? J

Hmmm…so, is it possible? 

Is it possible to become this ideal human being? 

Don’t dismiss it just because you think/believe that it is going to be difficult. 

My question is: Do you think it is possible?  Not, Do you think it will be difficult?

So, assuming that it is possible, that you believe that it is possible, let’s explore how we might achieve this highly desirable outcome – the ideal human being.

Notice, I haven’t bothered to state what the ideal human being is like.  I haven’t presented a list of characteristics or qualities of such a person.  Why?

Because the ideal human being already exists – a creation in god/love’s own image.  A creation that arises from the ground of being which you may call ‘god’, ‘brahman’, ‘ultimate reality’ or ‘divine consciousness’.

How do we unveil the ideal human being?

So, the question is how do we realize or unfold such a creation, the ideal human being which already exists in each one of us, or as they say in Buddhism, how do we realize our ‘buddha’ nature?

Each time we sit in meditation practice, after bringing ourselves to a state of gratitude, I remind us to leave aside whatever motivations we have come to our practice with and embrace a new motivation.

This motivation, expressed so beautifully in the Buddhist Prayer of Motivation, reminds us of our interconnectedness, our oneness and our common desire for happiness.  It also reminds us that the cause of our suffering is our failure to realize our true, fundamental nature (the nature of the ideal human being, if you like J).

This is the prayer that I say:

By the power and truth of this practice,

may all enjoy happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all be free from suffering
and the causes of suffering

May all never be separated from the great happiness

devoid of all suffering
And may all dwell in the great equanimity which is free from 
craving and attachment, hatred and aversion, prejudice and ignorance.

I always make it a point to explain what is meant by ignorance, our ‘fundamental ignorance’. 

It is the ignorance of who and what we truly are – the nature of god, our Buddha nature, our Brahman nature, our ultimate reality.

Until and unless we can experience our true nature, if only briefly, we will have no alternative narrative to the narrative of our conditioned existence.  We will have no TRUTH to overturn the compelling story (a myth really), that we have been crafting and telling from our birth.

So, it becomes important for those of us who are seriously keen to be happy and not just sporadically happy but lastingly happy, to realize our true nature.  Without that, we will continue to live in our ‘false-hood’, as ‘not ideal’ human beings!

The TRUTH begins and ends in the reality of non-separation. 

In modern quantum physics, this is called the ‘unified field’.

This is the state of consciousness in which the Knower, the Known and the Knowing are all one. 

You, as the subjective ‘knower’, see something – the objective ‘known’ in the process of ‘knowing’.

Huh?  All double Dutch?  Gobbledygook??  Irrelevant?

Well, let’s look at it this way.  You’ve heard about gravity?  Perhaps understood it to some degree?  Right. 

Now, you don’t need to think about gravity to go about your daily business like walking, driving or lifting, do you?

Yet, gravity, whether you think about it or not is at work. And for the most part, you can ‘blissfully’ carry on living without paying any attention to it. 

After all, other people have designed cars and airplanes and hydraulic lifts and escalators to make your life so much easier to live without having to give gravity a second thought.  Right?  Of course J

Well, until perhaps you have to personally work against gravity, like climbing up a hill or the stairs (when the escalator goes bung J). 

Oops! Now, it starts to hurt.  And, true, you needn’t know a fig about gravity, but, like it or not, you’re now confronted with its impact on you. 

What do you do?  Curse and swear at gravity? 

Or find ways of working with it, being in harmony with it?

So it is with our truth, the principles of our true nature. 

So long as you’re not aware of your true nature, you will remain a victim of your ignorance, your conditioned existence, your compelling myth, your falsehood.

(Ever wondered why its got 'hood' in it???  Yep...J)

You will live your life as if things are not in your control and you will find that things do go bung often, in big ways and small:

Someone irritates you.  Your child is not making the decisions you think s/he should be making.  The government is behaving irresponsibly.  Life is unfair.  You should have done this and shouldn’t have done that.  You’re ill.  Your partner is ill and dying.  Your dog has fleas.  The world is an unsafe place to be in and you should be constantly protecting yourself.  You can’t trust the food you eat.  You are doomed to get the dreaded ‘C’ no matter what you do.  Someone’s lied to you...again.  Someone’s overlooked your contributions, your intelligence, your kindness…

These are all undesirable threads in your continuing (and mostly repetitive) narrative, your personal, victim story.

Oh, but I don’t see myself as a victim, you protest. 

Right.  So, you do see yourself as free, as fearless, as joyous, as creative, as self-determining so that you never get disappointed when things don’t go your way?  So that you are always happy no matter what happens?

I’ll leave you to answer that.

Meanwhile,

Knower, Known, Knowing.

From the ground of unity, from the unified field, all things arise through the agency of thought, intent.

And when, as the ideal human being, you consciously offer thought and intent in the unified field of being, you offer it not just for yourself but all other beings!

When, as the ideal human being, you realize that the outer world is not ‘out there’ but within you, you cease to reject it, to quarrel with it, to distrust it, no more than your eye would quarrel with your finger, your liver distrust your toe!

When, as the ideal human being, you, the Knower, feel the power and presence of every object, every piece of information, every movement, every situation, every ‘Known’ because each and everything is of the Unified whole, of the Unified You, the unified Self, you think, speak and act as an integrated whole, with infinite potentiality!

Now that is powerful.  That is liberating.  That is creative.  That is living in harmony with the truth of your true nature.  That is being the ideal human being.

Can we learn how to do this?  Can we teach our children how to do this?  Can we breed world leaders, educators and entrepreneurs who know this?  Can we start now? 

You bet. 

Every meditation practice offers us the opportunity.  Every moment of conscious breathing offers us the opportunity.  Every moment of awareness where Knower, Known and Knowing are one offers us the opportunity.

Are you ready to become the ideal human being?

PS If not, what's the alternative? J