Chapter 16: Different paths; different Ends
It can come as little surprise to learn that the three Zones of Being not only manifest dramatically different characteristics while being enlivened by their respective members, but also engender dramatically different consequences (for self & for others) thereafter. When choosing any path’s new beginning, it can be most helpful to know of its probable end. With this in mind, feel free to humbly ponder (& then courageously pro-act) the following …
*While Zone 1 advocates think that a “successful life” is one regularly filled with emotional happiness (most often achieved via greater accumulations of wealth, pleasure, ease, &/or comfort … Such a “good life” is impossible to sustain even when occasionally acquired, and as such is a life that inevitably becomes a source of despair or frustration whether found or lost or found again) and Zone 2 acolytes believe that “success” comes from attaining a greater measure of “inner peace” (often via intense immersions into “self love” – meditation, visualization, affirmation, therapy sessions, “enlightened” literature etc. This is a life that seems to steadily approach “sainthood” and yet is a life that, due to its requisite soaking in self-centeredness, can never hope to attain any measure of the same), Zone 3 adherents are those who know real Success – a moment-by-moment rediscovery of personal perfection; a life repetitively ladled with deeds of unconditional Love & humble Kindness. Of these people, the journey knows no end – or, better stated, each & every decision to “Care anyway” becomes its own glorious destination.
*Whereas Zone 1 affiliates end up striving incessantly to attain desires &/or avoid their fears (a lifestyle that repeatedly leads to fits of exhaustion that require either physical rest &/or chemical reinvigoration) and Zone 2 disciples end up struggling regularly to achieve “higher” versions of the same (a choice that ultimately leads to bouts of fatigue &/or frustration that require either doses of “self love” &/or infusions of “balance”), Zone 3 enthusiasts refuse to strive or struggle at all; seeing their lives as a string of indelible instant – an almost infinite line of independent opportunities to serve others (not as a journey towards “becoming happy” or “getting better”). For these people, Love is given spontaneously & freely & fully – a choice that releases them from the energy-sucking shackles of fear and opens up vast resources of previously repressed power.
*Though Zone 1 patrons cave in to in the yearnings of the self (e.g. material comfort, emotional pleasure, the safety of friends, a stable sense of personal identity) and Zone 2 followers often strive to dismiss &/or dismantle the self entirely (by “being present” &/or engaging “thoughtlessness” &/or actualizing their “Christ consciousness”), Zone 3 champions know that there is more than one self within – that there is a higher, truer Self at the very center of their being; that their mission is not to either submit to or “defeat” the ego-self, but rather to sink that ego into the other, greater Self – to use the selfish temptations of the former to empower the selfless inclinations of the latter. These are the ones who have awakened their power to re-member (and thereby repeatedly re-experience) the Oneness they have known since their toddlerhood. They know & recognize the same in every one of their encounters – and as such repeatedly choose with an according sense of compassion & generosity.
*Whereas Zone 1 proponents think that life ends with the death of the body (&/or the salvation or damnation of the Soul – a state of being where the individual “drop” that was the individual remains an independent traveler for eternity) and Zone 2 devotees believe that life truly begins with the “death” of the self (and the supposedly ensuing peace that comes from “finally understanding it all” – a state of being where the “drop” that was the individual becomes unified with the portion of the cosmic “ocean” that is like &/or familiar), Zone 3 contributors know that life ends & begins anew in each moment of willing self-sacrifice; in each moment where an individual intentionally sets aside all personal wants in favor of becoming an active embodiment of the Whole (the state of Being where the individual has infused his or her seemingly independent “drop” fully & completely into the “ocean” nearest by – and thereby become One with the same). These are the ones who have finally come to understand that there is no final destination on the journey of Enlightenment. These are the ones who have come to re-member that Enlightenment exists only in the moment it is enlivened, and that it must be subsequently & repeatedly re-chosen in order to subsequently & lastingly Be.
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