Robby: Instead of going for Enlightenment, for most of us, life is what we do.

BeiYin:

 Life - to be lived

 Life is what we are
 life is what we do
 what we feel -  what we think.
 Life is what makes us cry
 what makes us laugh.
 Life is our mistakes
 and the finding of truth.

 Striving for a goal
 might motivate us
 life is the path
 wherever it goes
 Life is the stones
 hurting my feed
 Life is my suffering.

 What else can I do
 than keep going
 to wherever the way guides me
 can I do more
 than responding to what shows up?
 Goals might be just wishful fantasies
 losing their importance while walking

 The hurting stones remind me
 to pay attention to each step I take
 opening myself to details beside the road
 enjoying the shade under a tree
 and the beauty of a greeting flower
 I am becoming addicted to life.

 BeiYin
 14. 7. 1999

Robby: It ís an expensive habit. We are all too busy sucked into everyday life to use it to become enlightened. We are as addicted to our doing in everyday life as the junkie is to the heroin.
BeiYin: That's right, people are very busy with their everyday lives. They are sucked by it perhaps all their life time. That is their lives. Who is going to judge? One who has taken 'enlightenment' as a goal in one's life, might feel special and selected from the mass of lost people, but the path to this goal will show, that it is just another kind of survival technique for one's personality.
Robby: It ís easy to see that the junkie and the alcoholic are throwing life away, fix after fix and drink after drink. They are using those substances to avoid their feelings, or to feel ok with those feelings. By doing that, they are avoiding parts what we consider life to be.
BeiYin: We are all throwing life away by not responding to life, by not relating to what shows up in this very moment. But everybody does as good as he/she can. We all are avoiding certain feelings, what we have to learn is to deal with them in a creative way and not to hide ourselves or to cover those feelings. As long we are identified with our feelings (and thoughts) and living towards a goal, what is nothing more than an image, an idea or a concept, we will have feelings that we will not like; because these are reactions of what provokes the daily reality. So those goals are the cause for part of our frustration and we react in a negative, defensive way, to hold on our goals. It doesn't really matter if this is the sophisticated goal of enlightenment or just the simple wish to feel good.
Who is going to separate life into portions? The businessmen want us make believe that we can buy portions of life when we buy their products! And there are others, they are called 'gurus' and they want to sell us enlightenment, they are nearly as clever as salesmen, convincing us to adapt their techniques, philosophies, etc.
Robby: On the other hand, the effects of those substances are life for them. Do they evolve through pain and suffering? How different is that from others?
BeiYin: Right, it seems the only way humanity can evolve is through pain and suffering. What makes it so difficult is that humanity obviously is still on such a primitive level, that they have developed many survival techniques to avoid pain and suffering, instead of using reactions such as pain and suffering in a creative way. Is it that there is not yet enough information available to deal with it? There is information available, but obviously nobody is (yet) interested. (For example: I wrote about thirty comments in the last few weeks in various news groups and there was not even one response! )
Robby: Buddha said that existence is painful. 
BeiYin: For sure this is a mistaken interpretation. Existence is not painful. Existence becomes painful because of our personal reaction to reality.
Robby: We all want to escape pain, most people choose the path of denial/distraction.
BeiYin: Exactly, that's the reason why 'existence is painful', people haven't yet learned to relate in a creative way, not to what shows up in life and not to their own reaction.
Robby: Only a few of us choose the path of enlightenment to escape the pain. 
BeiYin: With the new age movement and the 'american spirituality' which is also using the Internet to find followers, the number is growing pretty strong and even their slogans are entered into the consuming world.
Robby: Enlightenment is the only sure way,  nothing else works.
BeiYin: This you say because you are convinced, and you have chosen this survival method. You can't say that nothing else works, or have you tried every thing available? For sure you haven't finished up to its end the method of 'enlightenment', otherwise you would know that you are trapped in an illusion and there isn't another way to enlightenment than life itself.
Robby: The most powerful drugs, the most lavish lifestyles all fail eventually. Not even death brings relief. The unfulfilled desires from this life require more lives to bring them to completion. The path of denial/distraction involves turning away from the pain of existence; that is why it fails. Everywhere you turn, there is existence, so there is no escape from the pain. 
BeiYin: You have adapted a certain quite sofisticated dogma, check if this is really still valuable.
Robby: The path people have taken becomes a matter of numbing themselves. It's death of one's life plan, no matter what one choose as the numbing agent, there can't be success on this path, failure is guaranteed.
BeiYin: Failure is guaranteed on whatever path, as long there is a goal in one's mind. 'Personality' is bound to goals, success, motivation, defense, confirmation, etc. Failures are stepping stones on our path. We move creatively forward and we are not loosing energy by fighting against unfavorable circumstances because they might be in contrary of our images, goals, etc.
Robby: Existence is everywhere as we are turning around ourselves, so then why does enlightenment work? It works because it produces non-involvement with existence. Paradoxically, it is the total involvement with existence that produces the pain in the first place. No involvement, no pain. Pain doesn't get generated, so no denial/distraction/numbing is required. It is the involvement of the denial path that requires lifetime after lifetime. Without involvement, no lives are necessary. Its a matter of choice. On the path of enlightenment, existence itself is an illusion to be dispelled, nothing more. The engine of existence runs on the fuel of desire. It doesn't matter if that desire is for true love from another person, a Rolls Royce, a yate, a new toy, or anything else. 
BeiYin: Pretty week dogma you are presenting and this seems to be clear by now so no further comment is necessary.
Robby: On the path of enlightenment, they are all equally illusion producing.
BeiYin: Your dogma of the 'path of enlightenment' is also 'illusion producing'.
Robby: Does this mean we should cease all activity and go into navel gazing? No, we are all here for a purpose, and one of the first steps on the path of enlightenment is to discover that purpose and get
on with it. 
BeiYin: To be able to find out about the purpose of life one must be enlightened and as this is still an illusion, so let's drop this idea and go on with our lives just in the ways we are capable. Just as normal, simple not yet enlightened human beings, nevertheless being responsible and trying our best. But we will avoid to follow anybody who is promising too much and using words which sound great but are part of misty concepts.
Robby: After all, where we live is the manifested universe! We have inner stillness in the midst of activity and chaos to keep things in perspective.
BeiYin: Indeed, good for the one who has inner stillness and even those who don't have it can look forward and trust that life will contribute all they need to fulfill their purpose - whatever this might be!
Robby: Guess we need a new paradigm that isn't based in duality. Any suggestions?
BeiYin:

 Drop your head - let go
 let your heart be aware - beam
 no words needed - no digm
 relate to what shows up - now
 connect your hands with your heart - go on
 take a bucked and water the plants - do it
 expressing life through your personality - be it