The Game Is To Be Where You Are

Image of the Week
Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
Image of the Week
Le jeu est d’être là où vous êtes
-- de Ram Dass

Quand je suis né, j’ai revêtu une combinaison spatiale pour vivre sur cet avion. Cette combinaison était ce corps, et il y avait un mécanisme de direction qui était mon lobe préfrontal avec mon cerveau qui aidait à coordonner le tout. Tout comme d’autres qui vont sur la lune et apprennent à utiliser leur combinaison spatiale et comment saisir des choses, j’ai aussi appris à faire cela. Ensuite, vous êtes récompensé de petites étoiles, de bisous et toutes sortes de choses lorsque vous apprenez à utiliser votre combinaison. Vous devenez tellement bon à cela que vous n’arrivez plus à vous différencier vous-même de votre combinaison.

Vous marchez sur la rue et vous êtes quelqu’un. Vous vous habillez comme quelqu’un. Votre visage ressemble à quelqu’un. Tout le monde renforce sa structure de l’univers encore et encore. Vous vous rencontrez comme deux choses qui se rencontrent. Nous entrons dans ces conspirations. Vous dites, je vais vous faire croire que vous êtes la personne que vous pensez être si vous me faites croire que je suis la personne que je pense être.

Votre vie entière est un parcours d'éducation. Tout ce dont vous avez besoin pour aller vers l'Eveil est contenu dance que la vie vous présente. La beauté de cette conception est à couper le souffle. Lorsque vous enlevez votre masque, il est plus facile aux autres de le faire.

Dans notre culture, nous avons été entraînés à faire des différences individuelles pour se démarquer. Vous regardez tout un chacun et pensez, « plus brillant, plus bête, plus vieux, plus jeune, plus riche, plus pauvre », et nous faisons toutes ces distinctions dimensionnelles, formons des catégories et traitons les personnes de cette manière. Et nous ne voyons les autres que comme une séparation de nous-mêmes. L’une des caractéristiques dramatiques de l’expérience spirituelle, est d’être avec une autre personne et de voir soudainement les différents traits qui sont similaires aux vôtres -- non différents des vôtres.

Comment savons-nous qui nous sommes ? Nous sommes peut-être à un souffle de l'Eveil ou de la mort, qui sait ? L’incertitude est remarquable. Ca laisse tout ouvert.

Lorsque vous allez dans les bois, et que vous regardez les arbres, vous voyez tous ces différents arbres. Certains sont courbés, certains sont droits, certains sont à feuilles persistantes, et certains sont quelconques. Vous regardez les arbres, et vous l’acceptez. Vous voyez pourquoi c’est comme ça. En quelque sorte, vous comprenez qu’il n’a pas eu assez de lumière, et c’est pourquoi il est devenu ainsi. Et vous n’en êtes pas affecté. Vous l’acceptez juste. Vous appréciez l’arbre. A la minute où vous approchez les humains, vous perdez tout cela. Et vous dites constamment « vous êtes trop cela, ou je suis trop cela ». Cet esprit de jugement arrive. Alors, je pratique en transformant les personnes en arbres. Ce qui signifie de les apprécier de la manière dont ils sont.

Le jeu est d’être là où vous êtes. Soyez le avec autant d'honnêteté et de conscience que vous le pouvez. Votre vie entière est un parcours d'éducation. Tout ce dont vous avez besoin pour aller vers l'Eveil est contenu dance que la vie vous présente. La beauté de cette conception est à couper le souffle.

=====

Questions pour faire germer la réflexion : Quelle est votre relation avec le fait que le jeu est d’être là où vous êtes ? Pouvez-vous partager une expérience personnelle d’une fois où vous aviez apprécié quelqu’un exactement de la manière dont il était ? Qu’est-ce qui vous aide à apprécier les gens comme vous apprécieriez les arbres ?
Seed Questions for Reflection

What do you make of the notion that the game is to be where you are? Can you share a personal experience of a time you were able to appreciate someone exactly the way they were? What helps you appreciate people like you would appreciate trees?

Moved by this reading? Join a live Awakin Circle to discuss in community.
Join this week
More ways to connect

Add Your Reflection

20 Past Reflections
SC
Jun 17, 2024
This captures so much of how I have come to understand the world and my unique curriculum. Thank you!
MS
Michael S. Bell
Jan 19, 2024
Mercury, my youngest son, sends this to this me for the Bardo years, in the living ears.
DB
Jul 18, 2023
Live like trees ... being ... rooted ... expansive ... interconnected ... towering ... simply complex .... without judgment ... reaching for the sun ... exchanging compost for oxygen ... giving and receiving.... truth/tree
BE
Belinda
Jul 18, 2023
My husband and I are about as different as night and day... seriously. We have carried the burden of many mountains never understanding. Each time we decided to put a boulder down...we could climb together. Although I find when I take down my stuff and lay it at my feet, it encourages others to do the same. We played the back and forth game 'till we realized that that behavior had no value was predicated on living a life with no value.... for either one of us. We are still different...very different. It has created a good balance for us.
RA
Feb 10, 2022
There is no past and future and life happens in the here and now. i met my guru/mentor in 2010 and till date i only see myself expanding from within. i have no judgement and opinion of this person and just accept him the way he is. when i truly appreciate all aspects and versions of me thats when i can appreciate other people like i appreciate nature. Am still work in progress...
KA
Katy
Oct 28, 2020
OH! Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!!! Just brilliant!!! 🤗❤️🙏🏼
CL
Claudia
Oct 27, 2020
What a powerful message.. making people like trees so we can rid ourselves of the judgment mind. I respect how the "judgement mind" is a thing, it gives us control over when we choose to use it or not use it.. gives us a choice. It is up to us to make the choice.
Jul 18, 2023
Exactly!! Trees make life so much easier - on sooooo many levels.
DP
Oct 27, 2020
The ripple touches me from this reflection. I can get so wrapped up in my pre-conceived notions and impressions from experience with a person. I forget we all are connected as part of one universal consciousness. Going out in nature naturally guides me to be in the moment, soaking in the ambiance around me. This reflection nudged me to be that way here, and now, in the middle of work and routine, I might have to go on. A couple of other thoughts came up to me while thinking about it. One, let the present moment be, as it is. Allow it, accept it without expectation of framing it to be something else from my past or future. Two, this moment, right now, is new. It is fresh. See it with a beginner’s mindset to embrace possibilities it can bring. Let the magic unfold without judging it. I learned about this from mindfulness related readings and teachings. I see synergies with those to be where I am. Smiles and gratitude for this insightful reflection and reading, Deven... View full comment
UA
Oct 27, 2020
I resonate with the words - "we might bejust one breath away from enlightenment ordeath or who knows."
Truly it's the mystery of being in the NOW as Ram Dassbeautifully mentions in this context " the game is where you are ".
Realize it is the most difficult thing to do especially during this pandemic, as the mind gets pulled in different directions of the happenings around. That said, it is also the best time to practice being in the "NOW" and accepting " All that IS". The authenticity is to play the game being fully present to oneself.
LO
Louise
Oct 27, 2020
I really really enjoyed reading the article and your comments very thought-provoking and I really do aspire to acceptance of where a person ( and self) Is at
My mind however turns to the question how do we appreciate someone where they are at if that place is hurtful or dangerous to somebody else ?
Yes we don't have to accept their behaviour and can state that however how in our hearts can we accept the person that has caused so much damage ?
Your thoughts and reflections are welcome
DD
David Doane Oct 30, 2020
Louise -- Your question is hard to have an answer for, especially a fullysatisfying one. Thanks for the invitation to say my thoughts, which are: There would be no experience without contrast. Every thing has its other side or back side or shadow side, or we wouldn't experience it. There would be no front without back, or east without west, or good without bad, or safety without danger. Another thought is that we and everything are 'parts' of one whole -- I am part of what is hurtful or dangerous, it is part of me, I contribute to its presence. I think it was Mark Twainwho said the town drunk is an elected office. Everything exists and happens in relationship. I accept all that.
MA
Oct 27, 2020
Ram dass always makes me smile. Make people like trees. So simple life can be : )
HT
Oct 27, 2020
what causes me even more sadness is the behemoth corporations that have convinced all of us that the" prescribed being" that they dictate to us is the real way to live. So now we are all sheep or chickens following or flocking to protect ourselves hoping that we're not chosen to be the next meal for these predators there is no better way to control the nation then Create the illusion of separateness and then when the sickness comes swoop in and medicate us for every normal human reaction to this mass manipulation of our "space suits and perceptions " They don't have to "kill the trees".. we are doing it for them in the misguided belief That it will save us individually from the masses Who aren't even the enemyanyway😥
RA
Oct 26, 2020
The metaphor of the body as the space suit we don for this human experience is soothing one, especially if you follow the data around how we are undermining the capacity the planet to support human society as we've known it. Learning to see our fellow humans like trees-- basically all the same with more in common than not-- is the first small step for man even as its a giant leap for humanity. The next small step is to see all of life as having more in common with us than the rest of the vast universe, which appears mostly inert and lifeless from our present definition of life. Until we can see nature as ourselves and ourselves in nature, the natural world is condemned to be both a source of raw material for our egoic machinations and the dumping ground for the waste of our collective shadow. Anyone without the vigor to seriously get right with Nature and bow their head in reverance had best be prepared to make themselves at ease with losing the privilege to don a human space suit ... View full comment
GA
Gayatri Oct 26, 2020
And to realise& get this statement ofRam Dass executed by itself is the experiment of dimensional transformation through Silence!!!! Do experiment with it dear ones with the curriculum of Life!!! In deep gratitude & love!!! 😍🙏🎶
GT
galia tyano ronen Oct 27, 2020
dear rahul
always a pleasureto read you
we are unique in our sameness
take care

DD
Oct 23, 2020
It makes total sense to me to be where you are, which is an important issue, not a game as Ram Dass calls it. The alternative, to be where you are not, makes no sense to me. I've never known anyone totally, including myself, and I believe we never know anyone totally, but I have had times of appreciating the person I see and know. What helps me appreciate people like I would appreciate trees is awareness that we are all part of one whole, the other is me, and when seeing the other I am seeing me, knowing that we are different but not separate and separation is only an appearance, and that I and the other are just alike. I live all that awareness only sometimes and to a small or large degree. It helps me to remind myself to be compassionate, not judgmental. It helps me to remind myself that I am not better or worse than the other. It helps me that I experience a joy when I appreciate the other as he or she is.
JP
Oct 23, 2020
Reading Ram Dass'spassage The Game Is To Be Where You Are reminds me a beautiful poemCome As You Are written by Rabindranath Tagore. When we love someone, we don't love the outer form of the beloved. We love the inner being of the person which is just like us. Ram Dass uses the metaphorof taking the mask off to see the beauty of the original face without any makeups. I love the Zen Koan: Find your original face before you were born. The Indian poet Mira sings: Remove the veil and you will meet your beloved. This is the way I relate to the notion thatthe game is to be where we are. I have had several experiences of being loved as I am. My mother did not have any conditions for loving me as I was. She planted and nurtured the seeds of unconditional love as I was growing up. She was a role model for me. I was blessed to have her in my life. I learned from her how to love and relate to people in my life as they are. As years passed I have been able to cultivate spiritual maturity i... View full comment
NM
Neelam.mandhani Oct 27, 2020
Profound!