Ten Thousand Bricks To Enlightenment

Imagine that I want to hike to the top of a mountain because i've heard that at the top of the mountain is lasting fulfillment and freedom.

Now imagine that every piece of knowledge and learning I acquire in my life is a brick.  

All of my ideas, longings, and beliefs are heavy bricks.  All these bricks are acquired with the presumption that they are necessary to make it to the top of the mountain. The bigger and more important the idea, the stronger I hold onto it, the heavier it is, and the more room it takes up in my backpack.

I seek, collect, and desperately hold onto these bricks because I believe that each of them are invaluable assets in my longing to reach the top.  I believe that without them it is impossible to reach my goal, and without that goal my life is destined for suffering and mediocrity.

I need to reach the top of the mountain for my life to have meaning and these bricks are essential in this ultimate attainment.

At a certain point, my need to aquire more bricks directly conflicts with my need to summit the mountain.  A challenging choice presents itself to me; either I keep aquiring bricks and be crippled in my attempt to ascend the mountain, or I can begin discarding my bricks in hopes of continuing my journey to the top and lose all the knowledge i've acquired.

This is a profound dilema because both of these choices seem to be the anihilation of what I want.  If I don't reach the top of the mountain I will not attain lasting fulfillment. If I let go of all that I know (if I discard all of my brilliantly polished bricks) I will lose the very keys to my salvation.

It seems that either choice I make is the wrong one!  Both choices bring despair and devestation to all that I've ever longed for. Each choice feels like I'm choosing my own death.

I sit down on the ground, exhausted and weary from my life-long battle for fulfillment. For no other reasons other than exhaustion and defeat, I temporarily take off my backpack and set it down on the ground.

Suddenly, a light breeze touches my face and I'm overcome with a sense of peace I've not known for a very long time. I'm somehow baffled to discover that life is teeming all around me. A deep inhalation of breath fills my lungs, and as I exhale it's as if I am seeing everything fresh and new for the first time.  For a reason I cannot pinpoint, a relaxed clarity and awakeness has spontaneously returned to me...

I wonder to myself, How is this possible? Which one of the bricks in my pack is making this experience accessable to me?  I put my bag back on to search through the bricks, convinced that the answer to my fulfillment lay in the heavy knowledge i've aquired. Without quite realizing it, a subtle stress returns to my heart, mind, and body.  The heaviness of the bricks instantly weighs me down, bringing with it feelings of confusion and overwhelm. 

I reach into my pack, eager to find the brick that will lift the fog of suffering. One at a time I take bricks out, inspect them, then set them down on the ground.  With each brick I take out a great pain moves through my heart.  I feel despair, and it's like i'm re-experiencing all the pain I had to go through to acquire that brick.  But, as I place it on the Earth, I sense a lightness and spontaneity that is strangely familiar... I am convinced that I'm getting closer to finding it though because for every brick I remove that familiar feeling of levity becomes more accessible to me.

The process of removing bricks from my pack becomes so ecstatic that I temporarily forget why I am doing it.  Each brick removed brings a deeper level of satisfaction and contentment. I feel lighter and more alive than i've ever felt.  I'm happy and I don't even know why...

Finally, when all the bricks have been removed, I take my pack off and lay down on the Earth.  A strange peace seems to be emanating from every cell of my body and being.  A peace that quenches any and every desire i've ever had.  A contentment that is free from the weight of any brick I can acquire...

A sun blooms in my belly and I smile at the pile of bricks stacked next to me.  I feel love for those bricks... I stand and pick up my pack.  It's light and wonderfully unencumbered.  I put it on and begin to walk down the mountain.

I am a happy man with an empty backpack, free from the weight of beliefs.  I don't know where I am going or what exactly I will do from here... All I know is that I am happy, empty, and free...



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