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.