whereimat

I’m at the beginning of the first step: discipline. I have little consistent discipline. I want to learn to be disciplined regardless of whether there is a carrot in front of my nose or not.

There are four pathways to mastery. The first, the lowest pathway, is what is called the pathway of Discipline. This is the time in our lives when we train our body. We think of ourselves as having to go to practice; we have to really work hard at whatever it is we want to learn, just get some discipline.

The second pathway is the pathway of Wisdom, which is the application of the mind to the discipline of the body. When we send our kids off to school, most of the time we want them to get through these first two pathways. We tell them to get some discipline and use your head, and then you’ll be educated. And that’s true-that’s basically what education is-it’s a practice of getting some discipline and using your head. But it’s not mastery.

The third pathway is called the pathway of Unconditional Love. You have to reach a stage or place in your life where what you are doing is something that is consistent with your sense of love for it. If you’re not doing that, then you’re stuck at the first or second pathway. An example is someone who’s absolutely at the top of their game—when you watch Pavarotti singing, for instance, he has great discipline. Obviously he’s been to practice. And he has great wisdom; he’s obviously studied. But he’s not the greatest tenor on the planet because he’s been to practice and because he studies more than anybody else. He conveys a great sense of love for what he is doing every time he sings. You see the bliss, you see the joy. I think you have to get to that place. But that’s still not mastery; that’s approaching mastery.

The highest place is called Surrender. This is when you ultimately reach mastery—when you let go and let God. When you surrender the little mind to the Big Mind, and allow for the idea that it’s not you who’s doing this. You are not what you have, you are not what you do, you are not your reputation. You are the Divine, you are connected to God, and you have reconnected to your Source in such a way that it is really God working through you, or you working with God. I think that’s ultimately what mastery is. I’ve been able to get there on occasion in my writing and also in my speaking, when I really just let go. I’ve also been there in marathons, in tennis matches and so on, when you absolutely just let go.

Last week. Amazing. I’ll go back in a few days for session 2.

4 classes are in this series.