Success

One of the strong energy that drives people to do this and that is the energy to be called success. Going school in childhood, attending university course in adulthood, to pray in the old time, almost all aimed to get recognition from others. Some people even so extreme just to be called success.

Success Similar to Opium

As soon as one grows mature spiritually, very few of people who are fully satisfied merely because of someone else recognition. Mainly because the conclusion of success that comes from others is very temporary. Without deep awareness, success can bring people into the valley of ego and selfishness which is very harmful. It easily makes people addicted and even addiction. Similar to drug addiction which makes people can not get out, then make life ended helplessly. This explains why many people who are sick because of post-power syndrome. Some people even died not long after retirement time. Some political rulers was so addicted then destroying people's lives just because of wanting to sit in the seat of power forever.

Deeply learn from this troubling experiences, the inward seekers are not much interested in the  recognition of others, then work hardly finding a deeper and holistic life as well. Deeply realized that all saints were called to enter the gate of spirituality by symbolical language of pain, many inner seekers started the journey by believing that there might be secrets hidden behind pain. And while most people run away from pain, these meditators using pain as a direction pointing the way. That's why many deep inner seekers choosed to be at home in the pain.

Once pain was excavated, on the surface pain appear to be caused by excessive expectations to others. Hoping husband to be patient, hoping wife to be well-devoted,  hoping that children study diligently, hoping that body is always healthy, expect the government without error. And the more the expectations the more painful the disappointment will be. Anyone who cultivate deep enough will see, behind hope is fear. It can be fear of failure, sickness, old age, or fear of death.

Ocean of Smiles

Some inner inquiries dig even much deeper and find that fear is driven by pain. Either pain in childhood, trauma during adolescence, the wounds of adulthood. Companions in the field of hypno therapy even traced it  in to previous lives. In the mids of these pains, almost all flee from pain. Some run to drugs, free sex, divorce. Even spirituality becomes a refuge despite relatively safer. And as already noted in the diary of many people, every human being who deny the pain will experience prolonged suffering. The situation is similar to someone who want to put out the fire using gasoline. The more gasoline of rejection they put, the  more burning the pain will be.

The beauty of meditation, it does not try to kick pain.  Pain is treated like a crying baby. Crying baby does not need a kick, but requires a gentle hug.  For this reason, meditation spends a lot of energy to accept, embrace, love pain. And one of the many meditation tools that help us to embrace pain is awareness that is combined with loving smile. Some diciples like these steps of meditation, no matter what happen in life and meditation never tired to accept, flow and smile.

Awareness is similar to ocean that embrace whatever that comes without any discrimination. Awareness will go much deeper when it is combined with inner loving smile. As experienced by many advance meditators, loving smile does not only indicate that ones accept things as they are,  it is also a mirror that one has become a "master" of his/her own life. Above all, loving smile that is combined with perfect awareness bring energies healing. It has been proven by many researchs and the direct experience of many meditators as well.

Connectedness that Give Birth to Love

When  someone has been fully cured - especially at the level of ultimate healing - success has a different face. Success is no longer the fruit of collecting something for oneself, but the result of the sincere giving to someone else. Success is no longer mattered how much care we receive, but how many hands that we provide to help others. In twitter, many friends were happy when reading at this message: "success is what is going on inside here when you say thank you after helping the others". Anyone who arrived here understand, as the nature of water which is flexible, as the nature of grass is soft, the nature of the soul is connectedness that give birth to Love. While most people love because of the fear of sin and hell, soul who returned back home already, carrying out Love because Love is the nature of the soul. In this stage, Love is done without agenda and without effort. It is like trees that bring umbrella to all without any discrimination, It is similar to birds that keep singing to entertain all without discrimination.