It seemed to me Andy was being a little too evasive, yet my curiosity was getting the better of me and I asked him, “If you had been searching in India as I was, what would you have done differently?”
“My word, Eric, that is a Golden Guinea question. To begin with, I wasn’t with you in India so I have no idea what you did or didn’t do during your Asian trip, except for the little you’ve shared with me on your visits here.”
“I realize that, Andy, but use your imagination. Tell me what you would have done if you had been there.”
Janet listened intently, waiting for Andy’s answer.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?” Andy asked.
“Yes, I really do,” I replied.
“In that case—I wouldn’t have gone to India to find Truth because I know it’s in my own backyard. But I would love some day to go to India and Nepal and experience a different culture from England.
“Do you know something, Eric? You are as close to Truth right this second as you ever will be. Why don’t you just learn to relax and appreciate what you have in life? When you do, I guarantee that you will stand a far greater chance of finding what you are looking for than by running all over the world looking for it.”
I was a little put out by his remark about my lack of readiness. I asked him why he felt that way
“First of all, Eric, I can see that you have taken what I said personally and I wish you wouldn’t. Remember I told you that such knowledge is impersonal and pertains to all human beings on earth.”
“Andy, how can you be so sure that I wasn’t ready to hear when I was in India?”
“Elementary, my dear Watson,” he replied. “Simple logic. If you had been ready, you would have heard what they were trying to convey to you—the very fact that you didn’t, is surely the proof!”
The way Andy put it startled me, but he was dead on target. Then he said, “I guarantee you, Eric, if you had met the wisest person on earth, you wouldn’t have known it because you were thinking and listening with your own preconceived, egotistical ideas and understanding. Believe me, this is one of the biggest pitfalls to befall most searchers for such knowledge.”
Dumbfounded by his words, I asked, “How can anybody possibly seek without thinking with his own ideas and concepts?”
“Just be,” he replied.
Janet shook her head from side to side signifying her bewilderment. “That’s seems like an impossible task. How do we accomplish it? What do you mean, Just be’?”
“My advice is: Still your mind until you reach the state of no thought. If you do, you will find many of the answers you seek.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and sat there totally speechless, once again struck dumb by what seemed to me to be another of Andy’s outrageous statements.
“What do you mean, the state of "no thought’?” Janet asked.
He replied, “The state of no thought is when the personal thought system finds perfect stillness, transcending time, space, and matter and finds the true nature of Mind.”
“Andy,” I asked, “what would you say is the true nature of Mind?”
Without any hesitation, he replied, “You haven’t been listening to me. Haven’t I already told you many times before?
“Mind is the universal intelligence of all things, whether inform or formless.”
Andy smiled gently at my obvious consternation, “What say we get ourselves round these sandwiches and sweets, then take a stroll and forget all about Mind, Consciousness and Thought? You never know, we may even discover a state of no thought!” he chuckled.
Chapter Eight
What Is Truth?
The following day was glorious, the weather was lovely and sunny with temperatures just over seventy degrees and we asked Andy and Emily to join us for afternoon tea at the highly recommended Silver Nutmeg Teahouse. We arrived a little early and, to our delight, discovered it was a quaint old Tudor-style house that had been converted into a restaurant. A young lady dressed in a maid’s costume showed us to our table. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the table reserved for us was in a very elegant glass solarium. Between scattered British India rugs, clean, dark marble tiles glistened. Outside, there was a stunning display of shrubs and other plants surrounding a courtyard where a mermaid fountain played in a small pool. The yard attracted numerous little birds that flew in and out of the surrounding bushes.
Janet and I sat enjoying the beauty and relishing the atmosphere of the place. Suddenly, I was shaken with an overwhelming longing for Norma. I knew how much she would have enjoyed the experience of high tea in England with such delightful hosts and I wished I could share it with her. We ordered a drink while waiting for Andy and Emily to arrive and discussed our earlier talks with the gardener, how many of his answers seemed somewhat ambiguous and difficult to understand. “As far as I'm concerned, I'm picking up more of a feeling than an understanding,” I admitted.
“I know what you mean, Eric. When I listen to Andy, it’s more of a good feeling than anything else. As a matter of fact, when I arrived home last night, his words started to come alive, and to a degree, I got an inkling of what he was talking about, but then it would vanish and I couldn’t remember one word he’d said.”
“That’s exactly what happened to me,” I responded. “But it was also as if I had come to my senses all of a sudden, and realized something deeper and more profound about how our thoughts really do have a direct tie with our behavior—and then I would start to wonder why I didn’t see this before.”
This conversation somehow made Janet and I laugh so hard that the tears streamed down our faces. Finally, after we had exhausted our fit of laughter and regained our composure, Janet said, “You have to admit, Eric, this is really weird. Here we are, two professionals who have travelled all the way from the United States, sitting in an English teahouse waiting for a gardener to tell us something that will enhance our knowledge of our own profession.”
The very thought of it sent both of us into peals of laughter again. Each time we regained control, our mirth would burst out again; the merest glance would send either Janet or me into another paroxysm of merriment until we sat exhausted and helpless. Finally we calmed down sufficiently to continue the discussion we had been having on the plane regarding our separate beliefs. We wondered if there was such a thing as one truth, as many sages and mystics throughout the ages have believed.
After some further deliberation we came to the conclusion that what is considered truth can vary from person to person, and therefore, there can’t possibly be only one truth.
“Of course,” I declared knowledgeably, “this is why we should accept each other’s opinions and beliefs without getting too upset or too opinionated.”
“Most definitely,” Janet agreed. “I accept what you envision as your truth and, as you just said, Eric, you respect mine, regardless of the fact that we know we will differ in our beliefs and opinions from time to time.
“Imagine being so stubborn that you believed that your truth was the only truth that existed? No doubt, such a person would have quite a few problems in his or her life. I guess you and I have seen many people in our lives who fitted that category and everyone of them was very unhappy”