People who work on themselves develop their inner vision so that they can perceive their essential nature. This is analogous to looking at matter in a microscope: If you look through the microscope, you will see the molecular structure of the material; if you don’t look, you will not see what it is made of. The more people see the essential nature they are made of, the more the actions in their lives are informed by that perception. If you don’t perceive your essence, it does not affect you or your life very much. A lot of work is required to refine one’s perception to become aware of Essence at all, much less to become aware of it as the essence of one’s consciousness itself. Because this is a very subtle perception, most people don’t have the sensitivity to see it or to understand its nature. Those who do perceive it usually think of the experience as a bit of grace that God throws you once in a while, like a blessing that happens to hit you occasionally.

The situation of giving birth is real; it is not social, and it cannot be faked. For a woman to do it in full consciousness, without the aid of mind-dulling medications, she might have to pull out all of her resources, pool all of her strength and determination, and be genuinely present. This full presence of the woman also may be sensed by others. One may see it as the presence of intensity, of intense feeling and sensation, or of intense energy and attention. One also may be aware that the woman is present in a way unusual for her. She seems to have a fullness. She seems to have a glow, a radiance. The presence is unmistakable, beautiful and powerful. The experience of presence in this situation may be seen, if one is sensitive and aware, not to reside only in the mother. If all present are fully participating—and this often happens in such situations because of their dramatic intensity—then the presence is seen to pervade the room, to fill it and impregnate it. There is an intensity in the room, a palpable aliveness, the sense of a living presence. The experience of presence is most clearly felt when the baby is born, when it is out into the world. One may then experience a shift, an expansion in the energy of the room. One feels that the room definitely has a new presence, a fresh presence. The baby is experienced not only as a body but something much more, something much more alive and much more profound. One may, if sensitively attentive, behold the newcomer as a clear and definite presence. The baby is a being. A being is present, with no name, no history, no extras. And there is blessing.

It is true that guidance is a grace, a benediction, a blessing from beyond, from the source that is unseen; however, blessings do not arise if we are not open to them. Blessing does not try to bore into us like a power drill. It is very delicate in its operation. It doesn’t come to us when we are defended, doubtful, resisting, and disbelieving in guidance. It arises only when we relax, open up, and don’t take positions against it. This has to do with the very nature of how our consciousness functions. Guidance is not something sitting over there saying, “Pay attention to me—I’m here to guide you.” It has to do with our own inner Being opening up and revealing some of its possibility. Only when we open up through whatever means—necessity, calamity, or true sincerity—does the blessing arise and guide us.

Our blessings and realizations are not simply for our enjoyment, but also for our guidance and transformation. And there is no true transformation unless we recognize the limitation of the lollipop stage and have a real motive to go beyond it. The balanced approach to experience is exactly what is needed to actually do the work. The more we have that balanced attitude, the easier the work is, and the more naturally and spontaneously it happens. We need to remember and be aware that it’s not simply the experience that matters, but how we relate to it. If we approach our experience with an attitude of greed, the experience will likely be used to feed an endless emptiness that can never be filled. But if we approach our experience with a balanced attitude, the experience could expose that bottomless chasm without trying to fill it. So our orientation toward experience needs to be one of learning. No matter how painful, pure, or wonderful, all experiences are good when approached with a correct attitude. Approaching an experience with the attitude of learning is an ultimate attunement to reality. Learning this attunement to reality is a challenging process that requires us to approach our difficulties with humility and detachment.

Another element of our vulnerability which can be seen as a mixed blessing is knowing we are vulnerable, and being able to conceive of the implications of that vulnerability. This leaves us in a very precarious position: We know we can die and we know what kinds of things can kill us. We know we can be hurt and we know what kinds of things can hurt us. For example, just the fact that we know of the existence of nuclear energy leaves us vulnerable. Animals don’t even know there is such a thing and they don’t fear being destroyed because they don’t have that vulnerability. We have it. But that vulnerability also gives us a certain ability to work with the environment. Animals cannot do anything about the things that threaten them which they don’t know about, while we can deal with these same threats because we know about them. And we know about them because of our vulnerability. So we can see how the human element is a mixed blessing. It’s a vulnerability, but in a sense it’s also a strength. It gives us the capacity and flexibility to deal with the environment. We have a greater range of responses, possibilities, feelings, and experiences than other creatures. Human beings are so vulnerable that they can be psychic. They can know there is an approaching danger without having to even know it consciously. Animals have this capacity to some extent, but only in terms of the immediate environment. Vulnerability here means sensitivity, as well as permeability.

The Guidance is not simply a path to the truth, it is the manifestation of truth, the knowingness of truth, and a discerning intimacy with the truth. So the attitude in the soul that can most directly invite this blessing of truth to arise is one of heartfelt love. This is not only the heart’s openness but its active love and interest in knowing and being intimate with the truth. To love to know the truth means to love the operation of the Diamond Guidance. And to feel the love of truth for its own sake means at the essential level, “I’m happy to surrender to the Diamond Guidance.” That’s why this love is an attitude that more than any other calls the Diamond Guidance to arise and operate. The heart gets what it wishes for much more often than we think. What the heart deeply wishes for, it ends up having in some way. So if we wish for the immediate and intimate knowingness of the truth, that’s exactly what will happen. Diamond Guidance will arise and operate by revealing the truth. The love of truth is not the only necessary element, but it is a basic and fundamental one.

The soul is not only malleable, giving her an infinite range and freedom of experience, but also impressionable, making her vulnerable to conditioning. Her experience can condition her, can create indelible grooves in her field that may last a lifetime. This property of impressionability is clearly a mixed blessing. It gives us the possibility of infinite freedom and flexibility, of the openness necessary to unfold and actualize the infinite potential of our spirit. Also, the capacity to retain impressions gives us the potential for learning. The human potential for learning is unparalleled by any other life form. This potential is the basis for all learning. Actualizing this potential in the form of our great capacity for learning requires the capacity to retain impressions, and this capacity also allows our learning to become growth and development, whose source is both unfoldment of the great inner potential of the soul and interaction with the world. At the same time, this capacity for retaining impressions—where memory is only one form of such retention—is also our vulnerability to influence and conditioning. The influence and conditioning involved in learning can become fixated in such a way as to limit or even preclude further learning, or the kind and range of this learning.

So, as you see, the tendency of the mind to reify in order to create stability, a fixed center, or a particular orientation is unlimited. The mind, then, is a mixed blessing, a double-edged sword. And that is the condition of humanity: Our intelligence, our mind, can liberate us but it can also ensnare us. Our learning, our maturation, and even our realization and enlightenment, require the capacity for discernment, for clear discrimination, of what is true and what is not true. But it is this capacity for discernment that also becomes the basis for reification. Reification cannot begin without the recognition of something, without discriminating it as distinct from everything else.

In other traditions, the Diamond Guidance is sometimes called the angel of revelation, the holy spirit that brings the word or message from the source. It is the angel that guides us to the Beingness that is our ground, our nature, our source. It is the true friend, the total friend, because the Guidance’s only concern is for you as a soul to go back to your source, to be who and what you can be, with total acceptance, total support, total guidance, total kindness. The soul needs to place herself in the right attitude for this kind of blessing to come. You have to do the work of correctly orienting yourself. Basically this means harmonizing your consciousness with the mode of presence and operation of the Guidance. This is what we are exploring when we discuss inquiry—the right orientation, the right posture, the ways of being and functioning that will invite the Guidance. When we are learning the proper attitudes of inquiry, it is as though we were building the platform, the flight deck, where our spacecruiser can land. Then our inquiry becomes illuminated and guided. It is inseparable from the actual unfolding experience, the actual revelation.