My ego is a pit of quicksand, which I stepped into long ago, when I was just a child. And there I’ve stayed, sinking…slowly.
I’d heard rumors that if you find yourself in quicksand, the only way out is to lay back into it and relax. But the mind fights, resists. It told me that I needed to struggle against the things that were “bad” and move towards the “good”. It told me to reject the quicksand, to fight until I was free.
And I trusted my mind, just like I was taught to do. So I fought. And as I fought, I sank. And I sank. Deeper into the quicksand of my ego. Eventually the notion of laying back became like a dream which faded from memory.
One day, when I was fighting particularly hard, I found myself sinking so quickly that I knew I would be completely devoured by nightfall. So, against my will, I was forced to relax. I was forced to lay back. I had no other choice…so I surrendered. As I readied myself to go under, something incredible happened…I began to rise, to float to the surface.
My mind was unable to comprehend it. But as I experienced the releasing tension, the suction of the sand giving way to a sensation of floating, so my beliefs began also to release. I paid no heed to the screams of my mind to fight and resist, and soon realized that its advice was in vain…that its advice had been what had gotten me stuck from the start.
