Love surrounds you

Love surrounds you

Tony de Mello tells us a nice story about some people who have suffered a shipwreck off the coast of Brazil. They had drifted for several days on a rickety raft, and were about to die of thirst. You know that we cannot drink the sea water because it is so salty that it is not drinkable for the human being. Instead of quenching thirst, it exacerbates it, damaging our body, and in the case of shipwrecks in the open sea, ingesting it accelerates death, instead of slowing it down.

Then, being in the sea off the coast of Brazil, they did not drink the water that surrounded them, and were about to literally die of thirst. However, these castaways did not know that the Amazon River empties its fresh water with such force on the sea, that for some kilometers the sea is “a sea of ​​fresh water”, before beginning to dilute and become a normal sea of saltwater. They had no idea that the water they were floating on was fresh water, water they could drink. They had no idea that this was their Reality.

It is like the fish in Kabir's poem, who says, “I laughed when I was told that the fish in the water was thirsty.” Of course, the fish do have an organism equipped to drink salt water. And yet the poet Kabir says, “I laughed when I was told that the fish in the water was thirsty.” You would have to talk to that fish and tell him, “Are you a fish in the water? Mm-hmm. Are you a fish? Mm-hmm. Are you thirsty? Oh, come on! It's ridiculous. All the ocean water surrounds you. How can you be thirsty?”

In the same way, freedom, love, happiness, peace, and wisdom surround you. They impregnate you to the marrow of the bones. But, if you're like most people, you have no idea about this. You have no idea that you are like the shipwrecked people with plenty of fresh water, fresh water everywhere. You are a fish and you are looking for the ocean.

If that's your case, it's as if you've been brainwashed, or hypnotized. You are sleeping. Imagine a magician in the theater who hypnotizes someone so that the person sees things that do not exist, that are not there (unpleasant emotions, which do not belong to the realm of Reality, but to false delusion). And the hypnotized person cannot see what it is there in Reality. Well that's what happens.

The Reality is that abundant freedom, love, happiness, peace, and wisdom surround you. They are like juicy and delicious fruits that are within reach of your hand at all times. Come on! Wake up and stretch your hand! There it is… there it is… Stretch your hand and grasp the act of loving, your freedom ... Love means to feel: “I am here for you.” Freedom means to feel love at this moment without attachments or unpleasant emotions… Smile. You have it. Do not let it go. It's yours…