...are always sort of "just below the surface." IOW, we go about our ordinary everyday life without thinking about any of these states, and periodically they rise to the surface and there is a poignance to what we see and feel. The important thing is that after traveling this imaginary path long enough, the mind is no longer a cruelly dominant taskmaster, thoughts no longer keep us mired up, the future and the past cease to have much importance, and life becomes free-flowing without being imagined as free-flowing. Coming to the end of one's spiritual search is a wonderful thing because then life can once again be lived as an ordinary person without internal conflict and without the intense need to understand what's going on. We look around, smile, and say, in effect, "Oh, how funny. I am not a human being; I am THIS!" Then, we go off to McDonald's and enjoy a hot cup of coffee. While sipping the coffee, "love," "peace," "emptiness," "stillness," "happiness," and "enlightenment" are nowhere to be found. There is just sip sip slurp slurp. "Ahhhhhh."
