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Spelling Bee

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Amber. She was so nervous for the big day. Her school’s spelling bee was the next day.

She asked her mom how do you think I will do? Where her mother replied what will be, will be.

Amber woke up with ambition and was ready for the day. Her time in the spotlight came, standing there in front of everyone that mattered, her word was “future” where she quickly responded F-U-T-U-R-E and she got it right, the crowd cherried.

She sat back down, and all she could think about was winning. She tried to clap for her friends, but the desire to win overtook her.

Now it was her turn again, her word was “past” she quickly spelled out P-A-S-T, and she got it right, and the crowd cherried. When she sat back down all she could think about was her selfishness. She had guilt for wanting to win so badly. She regrets being consumed by her emotions.

The next word and she was on stage again, she was ready, and her word was “island”, she thought to herself that is the easiest one, she spoke I-L-A-N-D, and when she heard the judge say she got it wrong she was devastated and started crying.

When she got home she was so embarrassed that she started crying, it kept bothering her. Her mother said that “island” is a hard one, most people don’t get it and they forget the same letter, the letter S. And then Amber felt a little better.

Years passed and she barely remembered the spelling bee, but one thing for sure is she knew how to spell island and she never forgot that letter, the letter S.

The Original Story

Magic is real. Spells are all over the place. Spelling of words that turn into stories, which is the magic that rules our societies. It started many years ago with the first spell, in the beginning humans first stories or communications. Letters were used to form words then turned into stories which controlled what people think should be.

Before magic there was only one original story, a story that every human knew by heart, a story that has been lost through time.

Before communication we all knew that we were the same, once spells and stories came about, comparison, power, good, evil, jealousy created the individual, our own identity, our own individual story to share and communicate with each other.

This was not a bad thing, so much beauty in a story. So much beauty in who we are. So much diversity in the world, which makes each and everyone of us special. But slowly we forget the original story before communication. And that story connects us all.

It is the story of being a human being, the story of just being, and emphasis on being. The acceptance of what is. Where are all living this original story, think about it, we are all human beings by definition. We are all going through life just being.

Being in our emotions, being in our desires, being in our aversions, and being in our peace. We are just living. The other side of the coin is the human part. We are all human, we are all different. So in a sense we are all the same and at the same time we are all different.

In Daoism, they talk about the power of the dao. They say it is indescribable with words. The original story is describing the dao in my opinion. I have described it here, but if you really want to truly know the original story, you must feel it. The original story existed before communication, before words, before stories, before spells.

There is a duality in this, the self and non-self. We should cherish both sides of this duality and once we understand both we realize that peace is no duality.

We keep collections of these spells or stories, and when we are young those spells that we receive are the most powerful. We use these spells, use them on other people, combine and divide them to create new spells.

We are so vulnerable as children. Parents try to protect us from magic, or stories they do not like. They choose who they expose you to, maybe only friends who have the same kind of magic. Your parents care about who you hang out with, and what kind of magic you are getting into. These early spells help to protect us from other spells, and can also teach us how to use spells to hurt someone else.

This magic, the stories we tell ourselves, is embedded into our culture. Every community has its own magic, its own story, its own values and beliefs. We even fight with magic, like religions. Countries fight to declare their magic is the right magic, the right story, the right values and beliefs.

Stories dictate our laws and rules. Yes we have courts, but stories are the real magic that holds our societies together. In stories, we all agree what is right and what is wrong. There are global stories, country stories, city stories and we program our children through stories.

Our personal stories are influenced by our parents, friends, media, society, and world. The most powerful story is our own personal story, we judge ourselves, sometimes harshly. If we believe certain values and beliefs of how it should be, and we go against that, there is suffering.

What can we do? What can we do to understand our suffering? We must understand duality and find the original story we have forgotten. We have forgotten the original magic, the original story, of just being.

The Buddha said enlightenment is no suffering. What I think he really meant is to know suffering, like understand it and understand the duality of suffering and happiness, that one creates the other and you can’t have one without the other. Once we understand the duality of the situation, we know that we are just being, just living in both suffering or happiness. We are learning a lesson when suffering, and we are appreciating in happiness either way we are being, just living. Once we understand suffering, or to know suffering as the Buddha sneakily says, suffering will transmute into enlightenment.

So I think anyone can achieve enlightenment. You don’t have to be a monk, you don’t have to be a meditator. I believe some people are enlightened and they don’t even know they are enlightened. Just know or understand suffering.

Your emotions are like the weather. Don’t try to control the weather, listen and watch the weather. Learn the seasons, and plant when it is the right time and harvest at the right time. Bundle up when it is cold and enjoy the breeze or seek shade when it is hot. Study your emotions, and learn to be in harmony with the instructions and teachings your emotions indirectly bring.

If you have troubles of the mind, like regrets and emotions. These are desires, wantings of something, something in the past. Sit with these emotions, don’t run away. Look for the lesson to be learned. Study hard, think, look at the situation from different perspectives.

Once you learn what is to be learned, you will grow, you will have gained perspective and in result you will be able to let go of the regrets, able to let go of the trouble, able to let go of the guilt or shame. Understanding the duality of situations will transmute suffering into no suffering as the Buddha said.

Don’t look towards anyone else. These are your lessons. Your mind, your ego, YOU, decide what troubles you, unconsciously or not. There is this unseen wisdom in you that guides you to the emotions and ultimately to the lesson you personally need to learn.

We knew this original story by heart when we were a child. We were pure, pure love! A sense of oneness with everything in the universe. But once exposed to magic, or stories, we started to develop the self. I think that is the human journey, to start off pure, develop the self, then come back and find that original story that we all share, the story of just being.

Think about it, before spells, communication or stories, humans were just there, living, just being. With no communication we just were. Just human beings.

It is a story as old as time. Remember the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve? God put them in the heavenly garden of Eden and could eat from the bountiful trees, but could not eat from the tree of good and evil, the tree of knowledge.

Once they ate from the tree of good and evil, spells and stories, which created the concepts of good and evil, they were banished from the garden of Eden and were ashamed of their nakedness. I am suggesting that to get back to the garden of Eden, we need to remember the original story, the story of just being, one without good and evil, one without judgment, one without spells and personal stories.

I am not telling you to forget your personal stories. I am not telling you to be complacent and do nothing and just be. All I am doing is making you aware of the duality of self and non-self. Self is your personal stories, your ambition, your desires, your aversions and non-self is the original story, no individual, we are all the same just being.

Once we understand the duality or know the duality our struggling transmutes into peace. In our struggles if we can know we are just being, in our struggling. There is no shame or guilt that we place on ourselves. We are not so attached to our personal story. This is a way to be contently ambitious. Go after your desires, stay away from your aversions, but know that you are just being, just living through these human emotions, like everyone else.

And as you will see, we are our human emotions, contrary to contemporary spiritual teachings. We are our mind, we are our ego. And our desires and aversions are our teachers in disguise. They teach but do not instruct. Our ego leads us astray on purpose, it knows what we need to learn. It teaches by letting us live the mistake and learn.

When we follow our desires or aversions, our ego is trying to show us the duality in the situation of our desire and aversions. It is the lesson we need to learn. Desire kickstarts an adventure, we want something, so we go out there and get it. And the point of our adventure is to learn a lesson to grow, so concentrate less on the trophy at the end of the journey, just enjoy, learn and grow.

So unlike other spiritual teachings, I say follow your desires, follow your aversions, listen to your mind. There is an unseen wisdom to your human traits and they will lead you to learn the lesson you need to learn at that time. Once you realize you are right where you are supposed to be, and we are just being, just living through our situations, we can find some kind of peace.

In Zen teachings, it is accepting what is! And our human emotions are valid. Our ego is valid. They are a part of us. They are who we are. But we must let go of our story. Let go of any shame or guilt. And just be, just live.

I have always admired the presence a 5 year old child has. They are completely honest and will tell their friend if they smell funny. I said my share of weird or offensive things when I was 5 years old, but I can’t remember there being any shame. It was like I could just be.

I believe we come into this world pure and when we grow we are programmed to learn what duality is from the stories of our societies. When growing up some of the most simple stories highlighted who was the good guy and who was the bad guy.

These stories, this magic or spells tried to teach us what is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing to do. And we definitely benefited from this social construct, which helped us navigate the real world. But it has also taken the purity from us. What replaced that purity is the word “should”.

“What should be” when we use the word should it creates guilt, shame, but also motivation and ambition. These stories also show us the options of what we can desire. The Buddha's teachings try to eliminate the desire to find peace, and I disagree. I think we need to follow our desires as humans.

I often am personally pulled between ambition and contentment. Ambition is a form of desire, because when we desire something we become ambitious to obtain that desire. The name of the book Be More is supposed to represent this duality. Be More, as in ambition. And Be More, as in just be.

The fear of death, the question of did I live my life to the fullest? Keeps us attached to our story. So much so that we cannot find peace of mind. Think about it, the greatest thing we have is choice. Did I make the correct choices? Decisions are what we can control, and what dictates our story.

In order to have peace, we must let go of our story. Stop judging if our personal story is good or bad. The real reason we have a personal story is it is like all stories, it is a tool to teach and learn. Some spiritual teachers say we must detach ourselves from our ego and talking mind, but I say we need our ego and talking mind. We are our ego and talking mind.

They say we are not our talking mind, but I think we are. Our ego and talking mind is our greatest teacher in disguise. They teach but they do not instruct. They are like tricksters. Our desires and emotions push us into situations where we will learn and grow.

As of writing I don’t want to be a monk living in some isolated mountain, nor do I want to be a slave to my passions. When we realize we need both ambition(desires) and contentment, we will be at harmony with the universe.