The Treasure from Steven Kaufman's blog

What profit it a man

if he gains the world

and loses his soul?

 

What profit it a man

if he gains the Treasure

as it appears in some form

and in so doing

loses sight of the actual Treasure

that is his own formless Nature?

 

We seek the Treasure

in this or that form,

and because we occasionally find it

we think that in form

is where it must always lie.

 

The Treasure is there

where there is both success and failure.

 

But we only allow ourselves to find the Treasure

when the form of the moment

takes the shape that we call success,

when the form of the moment

takes the shape that we call wanted.

 

For when the form of the moment

takes the shape that we call unwanted

then we deny ourselves access

to the Treasure that is always there,

where there is both success and failure,

where there is both wanted and unwanted.

 

But we promise to once again

give ourselves access to the Treasure,

but only once we have arranged

the form of the moment

into that which is wanted,

into that which we define as success.

 

And so we strive and strive

to arrange the moment

into a form that is wanted,

into whatever form we define as success,

so that we can have access

so that we can grant ourselves access,

to the Treasure that is always there

to the Treasure that is our birthright

to the Treasure that is our essential Nature.

 

And so we become our own slaves

driven on by the carrot

that is the promise to ourselves

that we will be given access to the Treasure

when the wanted is attained,

and driven on by the whip

that is the promise to ourselves

that we will be denied access to the Treasure

when the unwanted is obtained instead.

 

And both the carrot and the whip

are held by the master

that we call ego,

by the slave-driver

that is our form-identity.

 

For no one but ourself

can deny us access to the Treasure

that is our True Nature.

 

But the ego can only wield this power

as long as we believe

that form is what we are.

 

For once it is realized that the ego,

that some form,

is not what we are

then we have found the Treasure

within our Self,

then we have found the Treasure

that is our true formless Self,

unobscured by the wanted forms

that it only appeared to be.

 

And then it can be realized

that the Treasure that was found

that the Treasure we gave ourselves access to

in all the wanted forms,

in the pile of money,

in the promotion,

in falling in love,

in a baby's eyes,

in the sunset,

in the sunrise,

was all the same Treasure

appearing in different forms.

 

And then it can also be realized

that the Treasure that was hidden

that the Treasure we denied ourselves access to

in all the unwanted forms,

in the lack of money,

in the demotion,

in the loss of love,

we always really had access to

because it was always still there,

we just could not see it

because we were too busy

following the orders of the ego

trying to get rid of the unwanted,

trying to make room for the wanted,

and in so doing placing ourselves

in opposition to our Self.

 

For why does the Treasure

only seem to appear

when the wanted arises

and seem to disappear

when the unwanted arises

if the Treasure is always there

underlying both these forms?

 

Because when the wanted arises

we do not resist it,

and so we do not enter into

the relation of Self-opposition

that hides the Treasure from us,

that hides our formless Self from us.

And because when the unwanted arises

we do resist it,

and so we do enter into

the relation of Self-opposition

that hides the Treasure from us,

that hides our formless Self from us.

 

It is that simple.

 

In each moment we are involved in either

a relation of Self-allowing or Self-opposition,

and so in alignment with the Now,

or in conflict with the Now.

 

If you are not in one

then you are in the other,

and if you are in one

then you cannot be in the other.

 

But as long as we think that we are some form,

then even while involved in the relation of Self-allowing

that reveals the Treasure to us,

we still do not recognize what has actually been revealed,

because as long as we think that we are some form,

then the Treasure still appears as whatever wanted form

we are unconsciously and reflexively allowing,

and not as the Formlessness by which all form is known.

 

And from this position of form-identification

the Treasure is easily lost, easily hidden,

because as soon as some unwantedness arises,

which it always does,

then the unconscious and reflexive Self-allowing

that causes the Treasure to appear as some form

is replaced by the unconscious and reflexive Self-resistance

that obscures the Treasure

and leaves only suffering in its wake.

 

The ironic thing is,

by trying to make the unwanted go away,

we only create more of it,

and in the process only obscure more deeply

the Treasure we then seek

the Treasure we then have lost,

even though it is always here

right here where we are

as the Consciousness that seeks

the formless and endless Treasure

that is Itself.