I was about to ask Andy another question when he suddenly lifted his hands in the air, shook his head and said, “Please, no more questions. Stop asking question after question. Give yourself a little peace to absorb what we have been talking about.”
Then he suggested to Janet and I,
“Have some faith in yourselves and know that somewhere deep inside,
Beyond your ego, beyond the personal self, lies a beautiful flower waiting to unfold,
And it is the light of true knowledge that will make it blossom
With these words, he walked away leaving us with many things to reflect upon.
Chapter Eleven
Simplicity
Our next meeting with Andy found the three of us relaxing by a riverbank and watching a couple in a small boat as they rowed by Occasionally one of us would comment on the beauty of the scene, but mostly we just sat quietly, in a contemplative state, enjoying the day Eventually we began another conversation in which I told Andy that there was so much in life I had yet to learn that it felt like I was a student all over again.
“Eric, we are all students of life, seeking answers to many things, and we always will be as long as we have the breath of life in us. I am happy to know that you are not like so many people who think that once they have graduated from university, they are at the end of their search for knowledge. The search for such knowledge is endless as time itself. The beauty is, each time you find a piece of this mystical puzzle it brings you more answers. It assists you to see beyond the word, to the true meaning. It is with your realization of this true meaning that the metaphors of the wise become a living reality.
“Will you two do me a favor?” Andy asked.
“Of course,” we replied, “anything. What is it?”
“The next time you go down into a low mood, don’t try to analyze why. If you do you will drive yourself crazy as you find a thousand reasons you can adopt to explain the why. Analyzing yourself is like a dog chasing its own tail; it’s the perfect weapon for the delusionary ego to manipulate your belief in the phantoms inside your head.
“I would like to bet you five pounds to a penny, that when you began your profession as therapists and were first introduced to analyzing, it almost drove you and all your friends crazy.”
Janet hung her head momentarily, and then with a huge smile remarked how embarrassing it was to even think about what she had put her parents through. “How they put up with me, I’ll never know. I analyzed them night and day. My poor father thought at one time that I was becoming a little touched in the head and he strongly advised me to choose another profession. I hate to admit this but all the time I was studying, I’d go to bed and my brain would start analyzing all sorts of different situations until I was so confused, I felt like screaming. I seriously thought about taking my father’s advice.”
I couldn’t help but smile, as I admitted, “My story was much the same as Janet’s. The only difference was that it was my older brother and a few close friends who were the guinea pigs.”
Janet feigned a look of shock. “Eric, I’m surprised at such behavior from you.”
“Andy,” I asked, “what do you do when you go into a lower mood, if you don’t analyze—how do you discover the cause—unless of course the cause is blatantly obvious?”
“If it isn’t obvious to me why I’m in a low mood, then I look for simplicity,” Andy replied.
His answer didn’t make any sense to me and I asked him to clarify what he meant when he said he would look for simplicity. It seemed to me that if he were looking for simplicity he would only discover causes that were blatantly obvious.
My question brought a gleam to Andy’s eyes. “I told you not too long ago that the answer lies in simplicity, and it’s all connected to the quality of your thoughts. As simple as it sounds, I would look and see that the quality of my thoughts had dropped to a lower state, creating a mood change. Upon realizing this lowered state, I would be open to allowing my mental state to rise again, automatically. I can guarantee you, Eric, if you do as I suggest, you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.”
Janet asked Andy if he could explain to her just one more time about the Power of Thought.
Andy sighed deeply as if to say “Here we go again,” then began another explanation. “The Power of Thought is spiritual in nature and is an element that can never be broken down into components. On the other hand, personal thoughts can be broken down endlessly. A very important point to consider is how we use such a magnificent gift to guide us through life. Now again I ask you to note that I am not judging anyone, I am simply saying: Use your free will and the Three Principles wisely.
“Use them with integrity and harm no other human being. If you do these things, then you will be guided through life on an even keel. To put it simply:
“Universal Consciousness is purity of consciousness,
Universal Mind is purity of Mind,
Universal Thought is purity of Thought.
“And based on these three statements we can see why the wise have always told us that love is the answer.”
The gardener’s statement that love is connected to Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought shocked me and I told him so.
“Why should that surprise you?” he asked.
“Andy, please don’t get me wrong. I’m captivated by some of the things you’re saying, but I’m afraid I fail to see the connection between love, Mind, Consciousness and Thought”
Andy smiled at my remark and then answered. “Let’s put it this way. The purer your Mind is, the more loving, caring and understanding a person you will be. Right?
“The purer your consciousness, the more understanding and loving a person you will be.
“The purer your thoughts, the more thoughtful and loving a person you will be.”
“Andy,” Janet asked, “please be patient with me, but we’re going back home soon, and I’d like to get this as straight in my mind as I can. Would you please, one more time, differentiate between personal consciousness and Universal Consciousness?”
Breaking into another of his knowing smiles, the gardener replied, “Now, that’s a tricky question to answer. Let me try to express it this way.
“Universal Consciousness is a gift that we are all blessed with at birth; it allows us to realize the existence of creation and to be consciously aware of the reality we live in. It’s very important to remember, Janet, that every day of our lives we use this gift called Consciousness to understand and observe life.
“Universal Consciousness is the divine understanding of all things and does not belong to you or me. However, our personal selves have the honor and privilege to use this gift to guide us through life.
“Now then, what you are calling your personal consciousness is the sum total of whatever you and your own private thought system are aware of, or ever will be aware of in this lifetime.
“And one thing well worth taking note of is that our personal consciousness can change from moment to moment and, at times, can become quite unstable.