The Peaceful Way

You are having a dream. In this dream some people are fighting and some people are meditating. Some are social workers. They open schools and hospitals and give food and medicines to the poor and the needy. Some people find the dream to be a violent place and strive to make it more peaceful.

You see someone fighting in your dream, so you go up to them and say, ‘Fighting is not good, You should not fight with each other. Why don’t you try to be more peaceful?’

You may even go up to them and force them to stop fighting. And after you have done it you will have the idea that you have made the world a more peaceful place. Then, suddenly you wake up and understand that everyone you saw in your dream was just a projection of your mind. When you have this knowledge, you know that no one was helping anyone else because they were all dream characters.  They were not real. After you have woken up, can you honestly say that anyone was really helped by all the dream characters who were trying to improve your dream?

So I say, ‘Wake up to your own reality.’ And if afterwards you still feel that there is a world, you will not worry about it. You will know that there is a power that looks after it whether you work for it of not. Your presence alone will help the world, but you won’t have to think about it or do anything. It will all happen by itself.

If you think there is a world, then be compassionate in it. Tell people not to fight among themselves. Demonstrate by your own example how to live in a compassionate and peaceful way. But don’t forget it is all a dream. If you forget, it will turn into a nightmare. Remember that nothing you perceive is real. If you can manage this, your dream will never turn into a nightmare.