January 6, 2011 (#54)
Student: If there is no self, who sets goals and where do these goals come from?
Michael: Goals arise just as all else arises: from Emptiness. They also eventually die back into Emptiness. This basic rule applies to everything, including the self who sets goals in the first place. An appropriate response to this ebb and flow of existence is to allow that basic rule to become a conscious expression of giving. So, as an example, if my goal is to win a tennis match, I try to kick ass, take no prisoners and start at least one fight, knowing that everything is temporary. And I do this for the benefit of all beings.
Student: What?
Michael: That was a joke.
Student: Thought so but wasnt sure. So its not that we dont exist. Its that things arise and cease in order to create us?
Michael: Very good.
Student: So to undo whatever fear we have regarding no existence or death we should just fling ourselves into the absolute horror at the thought that we actually dont exist. Isnt this letting go, itself, a form of control?
Michael: If there’s flinging and horror, there is separation rather than letting go. If the impulse underneath, or prior, to the flinging and horror is uncovered for what it is, we simply recognize the One Song that’s always playing. That One Song us utterly out of control. Like this dance I am doing.