Picture by Steven Martinez

Awareness(8):

The greatest miracle in the world is that you are, that i am. To be is the greatest miracle and meditation opens the door of this great miracle. But only a man who loves himself can meditate. Otherwise you are always escaping from yourself, avoiding yourself. Who wants to penetrate into an ugly being? Who wants to go deep into one's own mud, into one's own darkness?

Who wants to enter into the hell that you think you are? Who wants to keep this whole thing covered up with beautiful flowers and you want always to escape from yourself.

Hence people are continuously seeking company. They can't be with themselves. They want to be with others. People are seeking any type of company. If they can avoid the company of themselves, anything will do. They will sit and watch movies for hours and hours. Play cards just to kill time-as if they have too much time!

We don't have too much time. We don't have time enough to grow, to be, to rejoice. But this is one of the basic problems created by a wrong upbringing: You avoid yourself.

Love yourself, says Buddha. And this can transform the whole world. It can destroy the whole ugly past. It can herald a new age, it can be the beginning of new humanity.