You Already Are What You Want

What do we most want?

Shall we make a list of great possibilities? Start with happiness, and then on with: health, a sense of always being safe, good friends, a lover who won't leave, skills and meaningful work, a sense of deep purpose, and maybe a vision of God and of an after-life of bliss...

What would you add, and what would you settle on as your "most wanted"?

Now, imagine the old American Wild West... you are there, walking through a small, no-account, town somewhere... and you notice a group of folks huddled around the Sheriff's Office intently gazing at the Wanted Posters: curious, you join the group... Looking back at you, they part, and stand aside: you step forward because you recognize your face in the center poster. How can that be? You are just a solitary traveler looking for a home, a place to set down your roots: you've never really done much of anything and certainly nothing to get your name and picture on a Wanted Poster... You see now that this is not an ordinary Wanted Poster: in bold black letters it says "Most Wanted" above your picture. You start sweating and say there is surely some mistake! Someone in the back of the growing crowd shouts, "There is no mistake! You are the one!" Your eyes go blurry and you can't read the small print at the bottom of the page: you turn to face the crowd...

For the slimmest of seconds you wonder if they will gather you up and take you to the nearest tree for a going away party... you rub your neck... a woman standing just a few feet from you smiles and says, "Welcome home, son!" A cheer rises from the crowd and everyone is shouting, "Welcome home! Welcome home!" Completely overwhelmed, you begin to glance back at that "Most Wanted Poster" wondering at the meaning of these last few minutes... when a door opens and out steps the Sheriff: when you first hear the door beginning to open, your fear grabs you once again by the throat... but when the Sherriff strides into view, your surprise at the day doubles...

The Sheriff is a young child, maybe six or seven years old: and instead of a badge is wearing a big red button that says "No Sheriff" on it: she says simply, "Well, it appears we can take another poster off the wall." She walks to the collection of posters and asks for a nearby gent to lift her up because she can't reach your poster... he does, and she carefully takes down your poster and as she is set back down, she hands it to you and says, "Here, you can keep this. Most folks keep theirs in case they ever forget again: then they can read it and remember." She reaches out a hand and shakes yours and says, "Welcome. Now somebody get the party started!"

So, what is it that we most want? No, it's not a party! We want to -- not believe -- but to know that we are "Most Wanted"! We want our few, incredibly few, precious breaths on this incredibly precious blue Planet to be noticed by someone... we want to hear "Welcome Home!" Most of all, we want to hear the One Love Consciousness tickle our ears and our very fragile consciousness with these exact words, "You are my beloved! You are so very dear to me!" And as our fragile consciousness merges in Oneness with Oneness, we want to be part of a crowd shouting to our loved ones and to absolutely everyone, "Welcome home! You are so very dear to me! Now, let's get this party started!"

The truth is we are all the same. We live, we struggle, we collect a series of successes and failures, we laugh, we cry, we get sick, we recover, we win, we lose, we hope, and we give up... and maybe we try again... and, of course, we cease to breathe... There is no truth greater than this. However, you just might consider giving some attention to this particular elder who is exactly the same as you: there are three keys to clarifying reality: 1) serve others, freely, without expecting or needing anything in return. Make service an essential aspect of your reality and daily life; 2) surrender your heart to Love. In every way possible, love others and love Love: make Love your self-definition and your driving-force in life. Give your heart over to Love: adore the One Love Beloved; 3) live in solidarity with every other: especially with those for whom to live means to suffer. Work for justice, equality, and peace. Build the Earth in reverence for all life and creation. Create beauty and practice beauty. Change all economics, politics, culture, and religion to be only about service, surrender, and solidarity: in Love... Love is the voice of the One Love saying to you, with your every breath, "You are my Beloved! Welcome Home!"

Practice... and listen...

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