VBT – Meditation 89.3
Start From A friend
When you read – LEARN TO INCLUDE MORE AND MORE OF EXISTENCE INTO YOUR BEING. DRAW ENERGY FROM THE ROOT SOURCE OF ALL EXISTENCE. BE INCLUSIVE EVEN OF YOUR ENEMY.
Naturally a question will arise – HOW CAN I BE INCLUSIVE OF MY ENEMY WHILE AT THE SAME TIME GOING FULLY INTO THE EMOTION OF HATRED? DOES THIS NOT LEAD TO SUPPRESSION?
I have said to be inclusive even of your enemy, but I have not said to start from the enemy. Start from a friend. As you are right now, you are not even inclusive of the friend. Start from a friend.
Even that is difficult – to include the friend into your being, to allow him to enter in you and penetrate you, to be open to him, vulnerable. Start from a friend. Start from the lover, the beloved. Don’t jump; to the enemy.
And why do you jump to the enemy? – Because then you can say, ‘It is impossible, it cannot be done,’ so you can discard it. Start from the first step. You start from the last. How can the journey become possible? You always start from the last step. The first has not been taken yet, so the last is only in the imagination. And you feel it is impossible. Of course, it is impossible. How can you start from the end? The enemy is the last point to be included.
If you can include your friend it becomes possible, because only friends become enemies. You cannot make someone an enemy without making him first your friend. Or can you? Friendship will be needed first if you want to make someone your enemy. Friendship will be the first step.
Buddha is reported to have said, ‘Don’t make friends, because that is the first step towards making enemies.’ Buddha says, ‘Be friendly; don’t make friends. If you make friends you have already taken the first step; now it is not very far from when you will make the enemy.’
Include, the friend. Start from the near, begin from the beginning. Only then is it possible. You don’t feel any difficulty. When you have to include the friend and be inclusive of the friend, it is difficult, because it is not a question of the friend or the enemy. It is a question of your opening. Even for the friend you are, closed; even with the friend you remain guarded; even with the friend you have not revealed your being totally, so how can you include him?
You can include him only when there is no fear, when you are not afraid, when you can allow him to move within you, and you are not making any security arrangements. Even with the beloved you are closed; you have not opened your mind. Still there are a few things which are secret, private.
If you have privacy you cannot be open, you cannot be inclusive, because then the privacy can be known, then your secrets can become public. It is not easy to include even a friend, so don’t think it is difficult to include an enemy – it is impossible right now.
That’s why Jesus’ teaching became impossible, and Christians became pseudo. They had to, because Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies,’ and you are not even capable of loving your friends.
He gives you an impossible goal. You are bound to become hypocrites, pseudo; you will not be authentic. You will talk about loving – loving your enemies – and you will hate your friends. I am not saying that.
So the first thing: don’t think of the enemy right now. That’s a trick of your mind. Think of the friend.
The second thing: the question is not to include someone; the question is to be inclusive. That’s a quality of your consciousness. Create inclusiveness, create quality.
Tags: Start From A friend
