Here are a few points about this speech.

  • Rawat repeats his story about Kahlil Gibran's "cup of joy" from "his book". I only have 3 of Rawat's speeches from that period (1989) and he repeats this story in them all. He doesn't know that Gibran wrote many books and was an alcoholic fantasist who knows no more about God that Rawat does.
  • He repeats his story about his cab ride in the slums of Dakar where he saw this dirt poor kid with nothing who "was incredibly, incredibly happy" and all the other people living in the slum were happy because they had no idle time and didn't think about philosophy and the meaning of life whereas "us" (and I think he's talking about himself) have nothing to do but be bored after the good TV programs finish at night. If the poor Africans are so happy already why should they bother with Rawat's 'Knowledge'?
  • He talks about being worried whether his selfish children will be happy with the presents he's bringing them when he comes home because their mood depends upon whether or not they like the present.
  • "We endure and we feel our pain, we feel our suffering and yet we need to know that we can enjoy, enjoy this life as well. And that Knowledge makes it possible." Actually most people enjoy this life including all those Africans in Dakar. Rawat's Knowledge is not required.

It's time to invest in life !

Maharaji / Montreal, Quebec / 6 March, 1988
Public Program

Prem Rawat 1988Thank you. Thank you. I suppose I'd like to add my welcome to it. And what are we here to discuss or talk about or to understand? Well, interestingly enough, it's about life. Interestingly enough it's not this subject that is so far removed from all of us. And is this really a philosophy or is it something that really exists? And, yes, this evening it may all seem like a philosophy to you, but I assure you there is an outcome to all this, if one intends to pursue.

One thing we all share

So, what about this life? What is this life all about? After all, one thing that we all share is existence. We exist. And what takes place in our existence? What are some of the things that happen? Well, sure, one of the things is that we all share a very common base of this existence. We all go through the same routines, pretty much. I mean, either you were born in the hospital or you were born at home. Maybe in the freeway, maybe in the bathroom, but percentages get less there. Mostly either home or hospital or in taxicab. But, essentially, we come out, we breathe, we change color and the doctor looks for that. We transform from that stage to where we start taking our

Life Force July-September 1989 9

first steps, basic process of evolution that has led us to the point where we can walk. We start doing it, we look around and from there on we go to our schools.

Now, this may sound mundane, but bear with me because believe me, you all have to go through it. And so I'm just trying to shed some light on that in about a minute and a half where it took you years to go through this. Nobody jumped a stage, either. Then we end up in our schools, we end up at that one certain stage where our eyes become huge. It's called puberty. And everything looks very interesting. Everything changes meaning. Everything changes perspective. And you're not you anymore, you never will be. You'll go through things that you never imagined existed. And from that, somehow, we graduate as well. Settle down in the next phase of time, get a good steady job and then the struggle seems to be to con tinue to succeed in this occupation, to become good, to have a career and so on and so forth.

We all want to leave a
mark behind–We're
all inherently after
something good, we
want to do something
in this life but what
does life want to do?

Then it seems like that that's pretty much what one will call the "prime," so to say. I mean, the word "prime" is used in many contexts and people seem to use it when they're young and when they're old and so on and so forth. But let's say that that's pretty much a peak time. After that, a person starts to realize that they're starting to change. Things are becoming different for them again. And it comes to a point - where you are and you do end up in a very contemplative stage. You have your whole life to look back at. You know that a certain inevitable fact, time, is approaching. And this time will hit everybody. It's not a question of anybody being exempt from it, it'll hit everybody. And you don't even have to think about it. You don't have to make an

10 Life Force July-September 1989

appointment, you don't have to worry about it, you don't have to look at a diary… You don't even know when it's going to come, but it's going to come. It's guaranteed.

The mark we leave behind

And yet, what has happened? Let's take a typical human being. Let's take a typical person who has been through all of these processes. And then one day he finds himself on the road out. And then, it depends on which religion you belong to or what your ideas and beliefs are; whether you would still like to retain a lot or not, you end up either getting buried and they put a little stone there and they put one date and it's the year that you were born. And they'll put another date and that's the year you went away and in the middle will be a dash. Now, I'm very intrigued by this dash because that's your life. That's where it all happened. Question is: What happened? What took place?

We all want to leave a mark behind. We all want to accomplish something. We all – we're all inherently after something good. Maybe there's an inventor that wants to invent the incredible, perpetual machine: Or it maybe a simple person who wants to become rich…We want to do something in this life. But what does life want to do? And is there a distinction between the two things? Is there a distinction between everything that we want to do and something that goes on without our notice?

Many people say, "I'm a doctor," or "I'm a lawyer," or "I'm a pilot." Are you? Really? And I'm going to say something, and I hope you don't get offended by it because I don't really mean to offend you, I am just here to provoke your thoughts, not provoke you … but when you're sitting on the john, who are you?

I know every six months I go to this academy, this flight academy and they have a men's room and sooner or later, especially in the morning, coffee calls, in backwards stage. And everybody enters this room, especially in the morning. And it doesn't matter whether you're an instructor, whether you're this pilot who has got 21,000 hours, or you're somebody who's just there to look

Life Force July-September 1989 11

around with a visitor's pass … You all end up looking at the wall and there you are. And it doesn't make any difference. Nobody can say, "My God! You're type rated, look at that." You know, "You can fly G-2s." No, you don't care. You're not there for G-2s.

Oh, you're Alive

Is there a distinction
between everything
that we want to do
and something that
goes on without our
notice?

So, obviously, there is a point, somewhere, where distinction has to be made in what we conceive ourselves to be and who we are. That we measure ourselves, that we weigh ourselves, by certain accomplishments. Now, this would be all fine if the accomplishment of life itself would not have taken place. What I'm trying to say is this in a nutshell: You already are something greater than a doctor could ever be. You already are something greater than a lawyer could ever be. That you are alive. The fact that you can have these professions, that you can achieve these things is because you're alive. And does it mean something to be alive? What significance, if any, is there in this simple, simple thing called life which will be, which will exist, for a given period of time?

Nobody knows what the end is, when the end is. Birth is inevitable, then when birth has taken place you have already accepted the end. They go hand in hand. One is one side of the coin, the other is the other side of the coin. And is this coin just going to flip around, flip around, flip around and then just fall down? Or is there, is there something greater?

And this for me has been an incredible evolution, if you will. An incredible search in my own self that has borne some fruit. That, yes, there is .something that is incredible, that is beautiful. And yeah, it's all easy to lump it all together and say, "Yeah, here is another person speaking who's talking about the world being a bad place." No, world is a terrific

12 Life Force July-September 1989

place. I don't have any problems with this world, really I don't. I really don't. I think so far as the earth is concerned, which is one of the components of the world, it's a magnificent place. In fact, you will have to travel for over, at least so far it's known, billions and billions and billions of light years before you could find something like that, if it existed. So far I'm concerned, nobody knows of a more appropriate place for you than here. Maybe, you know, moon's got cheap property, but you can't breathe. But here we are and it's magnificent. It is beautiful, it's incredible.

And what about the human beings? Not too long ago, when I was in Madrid, a gentleman asked me, he said, "What about the misery in this world? This world's a miserable place." And this is an example that I have been giving in New York and in Miami and in L.A., so I like it. It happened to me very recently and I thought it was a profound experience for me. Because it was. The memory is fresh of that gentleman asking me this question. And I gave him an answer, I said, "Yeah, there's misery in this world, but there's beauty as well. So don't worry about it."

I took off, and I ended up in Dakar, Senegal and it was a very interesting place. And I got in there in the afternoon. I took a shower and got cleaned up – and I said, "Take me for a ride." And they wanted to take me downtown Dakar. And I said, "No, no, no, I don't want to go downtown. I want to go to the suburbs." That's where the action is. That's where you really get to find out what's going on. I said, "Don't take me to the tourist spots." I hopped in the car and off we drove. Here we go and all of a sudden, you know, there was that touristic spot where everything was nice and clean and the city and its hustle and bustle and so on and so forth … And then, after about forty-five minutes we got out in the suburbs and everything was very different. There weren't any huge buildings, there weren't any sky scrapers, there were no Sheraton Hotels, there were no Intercontinentals. It was just little huts. There were no limousines, not even real taxis, just these buses in

Life Force July-September 1989 13

Does it mean any-
thing to be alive?
What significance, if
any, is there in this
simple, simple thing
called life which
will be, which will
exist, for a given
period of time?

which people would pack themselves in. Miserable things from outside and then it was very noticeable to see that these people were actually singing as they rode in these so called "miserable" buses. And everybody was going about their business and having a wonderful time.

The wonderful joy of living!

And then I saw this little boy. He hadn't taken a shower for awhile, uh, you know. He wasn't in his best clothes, you know, well dressed or anything like that. Let's put it this way, he wasn't exactly wearing a Blue Boy uniform. He was bare feet, torn T-shirt and that was about it. Hair's all messed up, whatever…but he had made himself a toy, a very simple toy. Took something like a coat hanger and he put a wheel at the end of it and he was running. He was running next to the road and he was trying to keep the wheel centered on the road, at the edge of it. And he didn't care if Reagan and Gorbochov get along together or don't get along together. He doesn't even know that there is a magazine called "Time." He doesn't even know that there is a magazine called "Newsweek." He doesn't even know about the nuclear arms. He doesn't even know that there is possibly a threat. He doesn't even know any of this and, in fact, he doesn't even know that there is a whole bunch of people in the western countries who got nothing better to do, so they sit there and think about how miserable the world is. He doesn't even know this. All he knows is that that wheel should stay on the road. And he was having so much fun. He was incredibly, incredibly happy. What were his reasons?

I mean, tomorrow I'll be seeing my kids. I have bought them a present each and I am concerned that they like

14 Life Force July-September 1989

Stop for a minute. Back up. What haven't
you been given? You have been given eyes
to see and most incredible, most wonderful
things have been placed for you to look
at … you have a potential, the power
to make judgement.

Prem Rawat aka Maharaji 1988

them. Because usually it's their mood. Sometimes, "Oh, I like it, Daddy." Or, "Why did you get that for me? I don't like it. I already have it." Now, this kid, his father never bought him anything. He didn't even make the little toy. And yet, this kid is fine. He's happy. And all of a sudden I started realizing everybody was going about their business. Nobody had idle time to sit around and get into these philosophical issues because they were too busy going on with their life. Us, sometimes on the other hand, all the good movies are finished on the television by about 9:00, 9:00 to 10:00, we have got nothing else to do. We have created an environment for ourselves in which we merely close the curtains and turn the lights on and

Life Force July-September 1989 15

we don't know the difference whether it's dark outside or it's light outside. We don't know if the sun has set or it hasn't set. And then we sit there and we're kind of bored with ourselves and what do we do? "Ah, look at this. Look at this."

"Why am I here?" people ask. "What is the purpose …" I mean, the ultimate philosophical question is, "What is the purpose of life?" Hey, stop for a minute. What do you think has been happening? Think of what has been happening since you've had life. I mean, after all, what has happened? I'll tell you what has happened. You have been living since you've had life. That sounds utterly too simple. Not philosophical enough. Or not challenging enough. But it's an utter fact. It just so happens that you are living since you've had life.

So, now I wonder what could be the purpose of life? How about living? Existing? Being? And what have you been able to do since you have had this life? What has happened? Just look at the record. Well, you've smiled. And you've laughed. And you have bitterly cried and wept in sorrow that you didn't know was ever going to end or not. And when you wept in your sorrow you prayed, you wanted to get out of it. And sorrow was never agreeable to you. You never liked it. Joy, you did. Happiness? That's good stuff. This is what's been happening. The struggle. And yet, who has created the struggle?

The Cups & the Conditions

To me, I'll give you this quote from Kahlil Gibran which I find is very appropriate. Kahlil Gibran writes in his book that "God," (it's about soul), that "God created soul." And he writes that "in the soul God placed a cup of joy." Okay? That sounds good. That's interesting. As we hear that or we read that, it's like, "Wow! That's fantastic." But, it's that stuff, you know, you can only get to by – it's kind of nice to hear, it doesn't make any impact on you. It's just "God placed a cup of joy. Great." It's like knowing that there is a clock tower in Dehradun, India. Well, so what? You can't see it from Montreal. And it doesn't set the world standard time, either. It probably

16 Life Force July-September 1989

is broken by now. So, "God placed a cup of joy," and this is where it gets interesting. "And he said, 'You may not drink of this cup." And a lot of people say, "Well, that sounds just about right. Very typical for God. Places a cup of joy and says, 'You may not drink of this cup.' Okay, so what's new?"

Those of us who are willing
to take on the endeavour, who
are willing to make their
search from subconscious or
unconscious to conscious,…
It is those people and only
those people who can benefit
from what I am talking about.

Then he says, "You may not drink of this cup save, except, that you have forgotten the past and renounced the future." And it's like, "Oh, boy." You know? It's like, you can have anything you want so far, you can take Mt. Everest and make it into powder. And it's like, "That's fantastic." "Ah, how are you going to take Mt. Everst and make it into powder?" That's a monumental job, that's a big mountain. And to some people it seems the same way. "You can have this –" First of all, you got a cup of joy and you, just by the time you start getting happy about it, the next piece of information comes which is you can't get hold of it, and then you say, "Why not? What's the condition?" And here's the condition: "Forget about the past and renounce the future." Us? A human being living in 1988? Are you kidding? Do you know how big the audio industry is? Video industry is? Cameras? What do you think cameras are for? To preserve the past. You can go and see what happened. Everybody has cameras. Click,click. Everything they look at, you know?

One time I was talking to this person, they had been to Egypt and they were showing me all these pictures that they took. And all of a sudden they came across a picture of camel and they looked at me and they said, "And this is a camel." I said, "Oh, really? Wow. Which one is the front end?" I

Life Force July-September 1989 17

mean… you know, where I was born there're plenty of camels. Camels, camels and more camels. And they were so much into this past thing of where they had been and how it had been and there problems and their troubles …So, we love that stuff. We love, our past. Even the treacherous part of it, we get a kick out of it somehow

There is a saying,
"Yesterday is a
cancelled check.
Tomorrow is a
promissory note.
Today is the only
cash you've got, so
spend it wisely."

And then the future! Forget it. Future? Everything depends on future. Bonds, stocks, securities, your job. You're all looking towards future. I mean, let's face it…Take a person who's about ready to die. He knows he's got two minutes. But he is in complete control of his faculties, he's not going to die of a violent death, and he's lying there quite comfortable, but he knows that in two minutes he's going to be gone. Now, ask this person, say the wife of this person comes up and says, "Honey, I'm leaving you." Let's think of the possible reaction. "Okay. Have a good time." The son comes up and says, "Dad, I got bad news for you. I ruined your car." What do you think this person is going to react as? "Oh, no, really? I can't leave, I got to get my car fixed." No. You know you're leaving. You're going, you're gone. Two minutes. You don't care, you know. Your wife comes up to you and says, "Honey, can you fix the leak in the sink? You know, it's leaking all over the place." "Hey," it's like, "I'm not going to be using it. You want it fixed? You fix it." You know, the banker comes and says, "Sir, you've been behind in you payments." "So? Big deal. I'll really be behind in my payments from now on. This is just the start." I mean, think of that mental state. You know? It would be very different. It'd be extremely different.

And yet, we go on planning for our future, living this life in a very different way and here is Kahlil Gibran saying, "God placed–in the soul

18 Life Force July-September 1989

he placed a cup of joy," and he says, "You may not drink from this cup of joy unless you have forgotten the past and renounced the future." And then he says something that will make a lot of sense to the people of this world. Then he says, "And in this soul he also placed a cup of sorrow." And people say, "Now you're talking." "He also placed a cup of sorrow," and he said, "Drink. All you want. No restrictions. Don't be inhibited. Drink. All you can." Why? "So that you may understand the meaning of joy." So you may desire that cup of joy that has been placed within you. So when I looked at this quote, I finally figured out what happened. We start drinking from this cup of sorrow and at first we realize that the reason why we are drinking from this cup of sorrow is so that we may know the meaning of joy. But we end up drinking so much from this cup of sorrow, we get addicted to this stuff. Pretty soon somebody comes along and says, "Hey, there is a cup of joy." And then you go, "What? So what. I like this stuff. Forget about the joy. This is good. I've gotten used to it. I'm familiar with this stuff. This tastes good to me now."

Our Capabilities

And to me, what does it mean to have joy in this life? What is joy? After all, stop for a minute. Back up. What haven't you been given? You have been given eyes to see and most incredible, most wonderful things have been placed for you to look at. Not just that you were given eyes and nothing to see, that would be a bad joke. But you were given eyes and wonderful stuff to look at. Wonderful. You were given ears so you could hear and then most amazing things to hear. What haven't you been given? What don't you have? You have in you the potential, the power to make a judgement. You can say, "This is bad." And you can say, "This is good". You can smile and you can cry. Not just cry, that would be a bad joke. We feel happy, we cry. We feel sad, we cry. Pretty soon people wouldn't know what we're up to. They just kind of back off and carry tissues. But no, you can smile and you can cry. You can know, you can rationalize,

Life Force July-September 1989 19

After all, my God,
you are alive! You
exist. And that is
the most incredible
thing happening to
you right now.

Prem Rawat aka Maharaji 1988you can say "Why?" You can look at the moon and say, "Isn't that exquisite!"

Not too long ago it was full moon. I don't know if you saw it or not, might have been cloudy here if the front was passing by, but Florida, where I was, you could see it. And some people looked at that full moon and stood in awe. In absolute awe. In absolute admiration. And some people looked at that moon and went, "Whoo," you know, pretending they were wolves. And some people heard about the moon, "Look how beautiful the moon is," and they said, "I haven't got the time. I'm too busy." And some people looked at that same moon and said, "So what?" And you see, that's what makes us unique.

All the rabbits must eat. Rabbits are cute, but all day long they do exactly the same thing: nibble, nibble, nibble, run, run, run, nibble, nibble, nibble, run, run, run. And then, once in awhile they do something else, but, what you get to see most of is nibble, nibble, nibble and run, run, run.

And to me, the question is … We have made tremendous progress in terms of this technology. We've gone to the moon, drove around, you know, come back, sent probes into outer space, tried to calculate how much water there is in the Pacific Ocean, I don't know why, but somebody's done it. Approximately how many sharks there are, a approximately how

20 Life Force July-September 1989

many this there are, that is that. But we, of all of these things that we have a potential–Sure, we have this thought, this power, this capability in us to make those two world trade centers or send man to the moon, but .there is another ability that each human being inherently has within him and herself.

The fact of the matter
is this existence is the
tops. This is really
what's happening.
This is that festival
of life that we are
all a part of.

And that's what I'm talking about. I'm not here to condone anything. I don't need to. I mean, after all, what am I condoning technology for? Tomorrow I'm going to hop in an airplane that's there because of technology. And I'm glad. This morning I had a session with those people who wanted to receive Knowledge, this way, this gift, through which you can experience a joy, a feeling that is within inside of you. An hour later, actually just about a little bit less than an hour later, I was in the air. And two hours fifty-one minutes later I was in Montreal. So, I'm not here to say, "Ah, look at this disgusting technology," and then go fly an airplane. Say, "God, look at all these buttons, switches and gauges. Aren't they wonderful?" No, I'm not here for that. But there is something which is inherent in each human being and it's already within you.

And there's something more !

Now what difference does it make if you find out what that joy is within you or if you don't? This is the difference: None. You can live the rest of your life without it. And you can live the rest of the life with it. And I know that there are some of us who are willing to take on an endeavour to say, there something more?" You see, there are people who don't care. They don't care. They don't even care if they're in the right airplane. They don't even care where they're going, they're just going. "What's

Life Force July-September 1989 21

the problem? We're moving, aren't we?" I mean, when you think about what some pilots do, it's absolutely amazing. Absolutely. They don't care, sometimes. There they are, they're going to fly the airplane, they walk out to the airplane, and I actually saw thi–one pilot came out to the airplane, took the wing, shook it, didn't fall off, climbed inside and took off. Say, well, that's I guess, one way to figure out if you're going to still be alive at the end of the day or not. But then there are those amongst us who do care. There are those amongst us to whom Mona Lisa is a picture and you can take a better one. You see some people, you know, "Hey, I could do a better job than that." And to some, to some of us, it is not quite enough. It is not quite enough to just look at that, but there needs to be adoration. To some of us living this life is a rat race and that will suffice. To some of us there is the question, "Is there something more?" And to those of us who are willing to take on the endeavour, who are willing to make their search from subconscious or unconscious to conscious, "I want to know, I want to feel, there must–there has to be something more to this life…" It is those people and only those people who can benefit from what I am talking about. The rest? It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't. You get lost? So what?

There are people, you know, I see them, they've got a hamburger in one hand, they've got a newspaper, they've got coffee on their dashboard and they're driving and they're looking …"You see? Is he going to eat?" "Yeah, of course, he's going to – that's what he's doing, he's eating." Is he eating or is he throwing down food in his stomach? To him it may all well be that everything comes in a little pill that he can conveniently take and not feel hungry, which they have too. This kind of stuff you take for dieting and it kind of expands in your stomach and then you don't feel hungry. So for him, he's almost better off without. It's like they have this commercial in the United States, "Snickers satisfies you." What does it satisfy? I know it satisfies the company when you buy it, but how does it satisfy you? And there is this guy

22 Life Force July-September 1989

We endure and we
feel our pain, we
feel our suffering
and yet we need to
know that we can
enjoy, enjoy this
life as well. And
that Knowledge
makes it possible.

saying, you know, "Between my meals and my – between – before I can go home and eat…" Hey. You know, you can't go to a person, that same guy who's got two minutes left, and say, "Here is a Snickers bar for you. It satisfies." It won't work.

We live in this world which is kind of, like all foam padded. And everything is a certain way and don't change it. And everything has a purpose, but you will never know. And, yes, this whole business about feeling good is just whatever makes you feel good, otherwise it's this mysterious stuff that Kahlil Gibran describes, that there has been a cup placed inside of you and you'll never get to it unless you throw away your past and throw away your future. "Well, may God," people say, "How can I throw away my future?" Well what is in your future except anxiety? And you know that the future can only come to you in one form. Only in one way can the future actually come to you and it's called now. No other way, it can't take on any other shape for you.

There is a saying, "Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you've got, so spend it wisely."

But, do these things actually make a difference? Do we care? Do we – Is there something at the end of this whole conversation? Yes, there is. Yes, there is. At the end of all of this, there is Knowledge. And some of us have been privileged to have it.

The gift I share!

And this gift, I share. I mean, this is what I was doing this morning. Actually, all day yesterday and this morning. And it was so beautiful. This was my second session and there were people the first one we

Life Force July-September 1989 23

had eleven, second one we had ten, one was in California and one was in Florida, and it was beautiful. Why? These people weren't idiots. And I wondered, at one point I was talking to them and I said, "You know, we're all very simple people." And we are. We're just good, simple people. Believe it or not. Oh, yeah, we got our ties and we've got our neat and clean haircut and, you know, we've got our little facade, a portable castle, everywhere we take, we park it. "This is me," you know, and that's–that's not you. All the businessmen in the business meeting, so proper! It's like, relax. We're on the same boat. Exactly the same boat. There is the bow and there is the stern and the stern isn't going anywhere different than the bow. And when the bow goes up, stern gets ready because it's the same wave that's going to come in the back and pick you up and drop you down. And it's not going to get there any faster, so where are you going? Oh, yes, you have to make a presentation? Make a presentation. But what's this castle for ? What is the door for? Who are you protecting from what? And I see that stripped away of all of those other things we are just simple, two-legged on which we haven't yet mastered yet, anyway, it seems like, we still stub our toes. And walking is one of those chancy businesses, especially on ice, you know? It's amazing. I mean, it's amazing. We walk all our lives and we still go around falling off, you know? I find that simply amazing. It's like the one art, we haven't gotten it yet. Here we are, we've got two eyes that don't see everything. Only things we want to see sometimes. Stripped away of all of that, who are you?

Have you ever seen yourself in the morning? You know, I mean, in the evening, my God, going out to dinner, you know? Best tie, best shirt, cuff links, jacket, shoes, da, da, da, da, da. You know, "Do I look good?" Can you imagine what this world would be if there were no mirrors? You know, I realized, I went, I was going to find a tie to wear this evening. And I have a few ties. And it was like, 'Which tie am I going to wear?" So I was taking this tie, one tie, and put it next to the suit, "Does this look good? Or this look good? Or this look

24 Life Force July-September 1989

The clock
is running.
And it's
going to
stop, inva-
riably. But
right now,
you're alive.
Enjoy. Enjoy
this existence.
Enjoy this
love. This is
the deed of
incredible
compas-
sion
that you are
here on the
face of this
earth.

Prem Rawat aka Maharaji 1988 good? Then I realized what I was saying a few day ago. Who are you wearing this tie for? Because the fact of the matter is, to see this tie I have to go like this. Or like this. Now, I don't want to walk like that, somebody is going to take offence and I don't want to walk like this. And this is the critical part of a tie. And guess what? There is no way, there is no way I can actually look at it, unless I can see it through my mouth, and there's no way. So who am I wearing this tie for? You. Not for me. For you. But I wear it. And it's not yours, you can't have it. You can look at it, but you can't have it. Kind of strange. I spend the money so you can look at this, but you can't have it. I find it very strange, but that's the way it is. That's – so many things. I mean, everybody has to have

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a good paint job on their cars. Why? You're going to sit on the inside, not on the outside. But this is the way we live. This is the way we exist. This is the way we do things. And maybe it's not going to change. Maybe it ought not to change.

You have invested
in many things.
Maybe won.
Maybe lost.
Maybe it's time
to invest in life.

But know, know the simplicity of life. Know the joy. Know the celebration. Know this privilege that you have. It is a unique, unique privilege. After all, my God, you are alive! You exist. And that is the most incredible thing happening to you right now. It's not your bank accounts rolling over and it's not your making fifty million. No. The fact of the matter is this existence is the tops. This is really what's happening. This is that festival of life that we are all a part of. And we endure and we feel our pain, we feel our suffering and yet we need to know that we can enjoy, enjoy, enjoy this life as well. And that Knowledge makes it possible. Knowledge. A way. A very simple way, indeed, that can allow

you to connect to something that is inside of you, if you so wish. Otherwise, think of it, it's at least warm in here, it's cold outside. You came. Maybe somethings have been provoked, maybe somethings have been evoked, maybe somethings have been not done that to it at all. Maybe that's completely possible. But think. Know. Enjoy. Feel Live. This is yours. You're the captain here. You're not the boss, but you're the captain. This one is yours.

You know, I see some people and they're standing and they're going, "God, look at this! This one is going to go and hit the coral reefs." And I come along and say, "Yes, it is.And you're the captain." And they go, "What?" "This one is yours." "Really?" And it's like, nobody can accept the fact, "Get over there, get over that helm and start steering this thing." Take control.

There's something going on here you can be a part of. You don't have to see this thing run up on coral reefs,

26 Life Force July-September 1989

It's important to
invest in this life.
Because what you
invest here will
always be yours.
What you invest
somewhere else –
easy come, easy go.

one-time after another after another after another. This one is all yours, You've got it. And the clock is running. Know that. The clock is running. And it's going to stop, invariably. But right now, you're alive. Enjoy. Enjoy this existence. Enjoy this love. This is the deed of incredible compassion. Incredible compassion that you are here on the face of this earth. You have invested in many things. Maybe won, Maybe lost. Maybe it's time to invest in life. It's important to invest in this life. Because what you invest here will always be yours. What you invest somewhere else Easy come, easy go.

Ask any business person. You know? They'll tell you. Yeah, you work hard and then either Uncle Sam or, you know, whatever the government is, comes along and takes it. "Give it to us. It's Ours." Well, whatever the scene may be, this life is still there.

So maybe something has come of this evening and if you are interested in finding out more, there're some

cards available out there that you can pick up as you leave. For those of us who do have this, who do have this gift, perhaps this is not a time for observations, say, "What's he going to say to all of those who don't have it? No. Our time is there too, you know. Our clock is ticking, too. It's not just of those. We need to be inspired and we need to do and we need to recognize and we need to move as well. Because it is a precious privilege that we have been given a way to enjoy, to appreciate. It's the same boat. Exactly the same boat.

Enjoy, enjoy what we all have. Thank you very much. Goodnight. And enjoy this life life. Thank you.

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