"What Is It?"

       There is an Unseen Force which governs all things, which sustains all life, which is our beginning, and our end.

       The great Zen master, Ma-tzu, when he sensed a student was on the verge of enlightenment, would often use the technique - in an attempt to help them "penetrate all the way through" - of suddenly shouting, "What is It?"  For that is what enlightenment is, the perception of This One Great Fundamental Thing, the realization of the one fundamental Truth.

       The Bible opens with the words, "In the beginning, God...".  If one only truly grasp this truth, then one hardly need bother to read any further.

       We are not the Sun, the source of Light - we are like the moon, only giving light as we reflect it from the Source of light.  The great masters spoke of this, saying, "If I cease to exist, Tao would yet Be.  But if Tao ceased to exist, then nothing would be."

       Poets and songwriters have echoed this truth throughout the centuries.  Carole King penned the words, "Only love is real...everything else is illusion."

       Apart from love, there is no meaning.  Apart from love, there is only darkness.  Apart from love, life is not life at all, but merely a living death.  Love is the breath of life.

       "Therefore, seek, above all things, love, and light, and life."