I have asked myself this question many times and I’m sure many people who have hit the point of success in their lives by everyday standards definitely have too.
I know from my own experience that no matter how much “spiritual work” you’ve done or money you’ve made, it doesn’t matter. When I got the house, the cars and the amount of money I wanted thinking this would be the answer to fulfillment, I learned that making money was definitely not it.
Although I had read that success is not about the material things, I had to experience it for myself, and this was confirmed to me in my readings. I then swung the other way and immersed myself in studying meditation and spirituality, but it was really interesting because I did this at the same level as when I was going after materialistic things. In my quest for liberation and enlightenment I was going after a goal that was no different from the material goals I had gone after.
Then one day I decided to hit that goal of “liberation”, whatever that was, and impact the world in a positive way. One of the ways I saw to measure this was to speak on stage with thousands of people about transformation and business. I did this and also had the privilege of sharing a stage with other thought leaders such as Tony Robbins and Richard Branson. However, when I got off the stage I felt no different than before I got on the stage.
So now I’d tried three ways to find happiness and fulfillment. I had made a lot of money, I’d tried to become spiritual by meditating and following spiritual practices, and I’d tried to make a bigger impact in the world, but none of these worked.
In fact it reminds me of a very wealthy investor I met. He was feeling really down as well because he had all the accolades and level of recognition he wanted, so he thought that if he gave enough money away, he’d feel happier. He kept giving money away but it didn’t change how he felt. So I knew philanthropy wasn’t the road to fulfillment either. I discovered that all roads lead to nowhere when it comes to fulfillment. Anything external outside of yourself is not the answer.
I then decided that some people put themselves through tough challenges so I put myself through some really rigorous trainings and hard core initiations. I was really hard on myself. Instead of competing against the world I competed against myself by doing very long meditations and initiations using plant medicines and things of that nature. Although these medicines were amazing I was actually pushing myself too hard.
I was listening to Alan Watts and he said that sometimes people will compete for liberation in the same way they compete for material things. And I had found myself unconsciously competing with other people and then competing with myself and realised how ridiculous it was.
He then talked about how fascinating it was that people say “I want to have no desires” and so they would go to a teacher and ask “how do I have no desires?” I have a desire called “no desires” so I went through some of that as well thinking I would have no desires until I realized it’s impossible to have no desires as even the desire to have no desires is just another desire.
So then they just give up and from that point there’s this path called no path, and that path is quite an interesting path because there’s really nowhere to go. I also found it fascinating how he talks about how sometimes Buddhist monks will go away into the monastery and then come back out into the world after they have spent time there versus just spending time in the monastery. There are also specific people in India who will do whatever their task is in the world and then they’ll retreat into the forest to have time in solitude. During this time they really develop and when they return they become unclassified.
I guess this is what we call being nameless. I learned that some of the greatest gifts we can give to this world happen when we become unclassified, so I find that I have now become a little more unclassified. This is where there’s nowhere to go and no path to follow, and when I ask “is this all there is?” I answer yes it is, and it’s good. It’s good because there’s nowhere to go and that’s the point I feel is the next step after success by society’s standards. It’s just all there is and that’s okay, in fact inside of this there is so much more.
I once saw a picture of a brain lit up and found it fascinating that there was only a very small amount lit of someone’s brain who thinks they know a lot, whereas someone who doesn’t know a lot but wants to learn or who knows that they don’t know a lot, their brain is totally lit up.
So is this all there is? Perhaps, and I do know that this is a mystery I’m still discovering for myself. The inflection point past the point of success where you’re asking yourself “is this all there is?”, is a beautiful place to be because if it is all there is, then potentially you’re on the road of the unknown. In this place our relationship with the unknown and the ability to dive into it is the biggest quest, the biggest mystery and nature seems to reward courage.
Terence McKenna actually said that it’s like nature. It’s like when you dive into the unknown there’s a fluffy pillow there but you have to trust, and it takes courage to trust the unknown. I know for myself that I sometimes want to control so much in my mind but when I’m able to let go of control and really surrender into that unknown quest, then what bubbles up seems to be the truth of my own path.
So for those of you out there who are asking if this is all there is, congratulations for hitting that point. It’s a beautiful point for you to discover the mystery of what’s behind “is this all there is?” Maybe it’s time to no longer try to solve the truth of the universe. Maybe it’s time that we realize we are the mystery of this universe and no longer try to solve it because it’s not a problem to be solved. It’s actually something to become.
This is just my interpretation so you can take what you like and enjoy all that it is.
Take care,
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