Some people don't understand life, they do not think about things under the surface. They're as if in a jungle; but they don't know where they are, or that they need to take a journey, or in which direction.
Some people will understand they have a trip to make and know in which direction to go. However, the jungle is so dense, that getting anywhere can be difficult. It is a case of walk if you can, but slash ferociously at the flora in front of one if not. One can sense where one needs to get to, but there is much stuff in the way. It can enrage one and make one slash in random fury at these hurdles. You know it is right to be where you are headed, and you try so hard to reach that place, but all this stuff stops you. Things of life, other people, law, society in the modern world… You just don't seem to ever reach where you are headed, yet you know you should be there.
Some people find a path through the jungle. There is less in the way of obstacles, and it is a smooth run. You only have to want to travel the road, then you can. You might encounter a fallen tree, or a patch of puddle, but it does not deter you as much as the thick undergrowth or impossible barriers of greenery in front of you.
When you have both knowledge of which direction to head and the road to take you to your destination, it is so much easier to travel - and much quicker too! I spent so long knowing the direction but having no clear road ahead of me. I was constantly fighting life, just to take a few more steps towards my goal.
Then I was introduced to Buddhism. Everything suddenly fell into place. I was no longer slashing at ferns, brambles and tangled trees, with a fury at the injustice of their being there. I was now walking along a pathway, a clearing without very many obstacles. People look, and they compare me to how I was just 12 months ago. They see dramatic changes and wonder how come I managed to travel so far, so fast. I agree that I have changed considerably, but the pace was always within me, I simply had no ability to use it advantageously, prior to discovering the route to my destination. If you have spent many years amidst the frustration of knowing which way to head, and being desperate to get going but prevented from taking that hike, and then suddenly you found yourself on an open road, headed in exactly the right direction, you might also run along happily. The energy you formerly used to fight the problems and pestering life can now be used to propel yourself along the road you always wanted to take, now that it has been found.
I stand still, just for a moment, and look at what I have become, then take a glance behind at what I used to be, and I compare these two extremely different versions of me. The literature I read for the first time at the beginning of 2007 appeared somewhat confusing, strange if inviting, a little beyond me in experience yet something felt right. Now, re-reading these same books again, I realize that much of what I read before with beginners eyes has now been lived in actuality. I have experienced this feeling, that reaction, this attitude, that way of viewing things. What was once good reading that I felt was truth but had no personal connection to, has become words I might myself issue to describe my path through 2007.
