I’m watching a drama unfold before me, totally immersed in the drama my guarded emotions aren’t helping. Always working on detachment I push away for distance so I don’t get dragged in on this roller coaster. I need distance so I go in, and in to myself for separation.

All of a sudden a light turns on and I see my predicament. I’m in a theater, it’s just a movie, that drama doesn’t matter at all, and it has nothing to do with me because I’ve been over here all along, that was just a move of my life. Thank God it wasn’t a big deal to begin with.

The Soul is sitting in the theater of life watching the show. Laughing and crying until the light turns on and the images disappear, you realize none of this is you, it’s just images on the screen. I know I will never die, just the movie ends. This is enlightenment. This is the reason why the great ones call life an illusion.

Part of the original story :

“Oh no you’re not, I know better than that,” said the venerable old man, “you never left your theater seat.” What! What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind silly old man? “No!” He said, “You’re the one that lost your mind, because you lost control of it. When you take control of it and realize where your seat is, which is your natural identity, you’ll find out that you never really left your seat, and you’ll start talking like this as well.” “Really, tell me more” replied the visitor . “Well, I found out that we don’t really die and we were never born, as a matter of fact I never left my seat and went anywhere, it was all a theatrical play and I thought I was in it playing a staring role. Then I found out the joke was on me, because the lights came on and the show ended, then I saw the gravity of my mistake. I realized I didn’t even have a part in the show, just thought I had. Now, I help others in finding that light switch, so they can see their position in the theater of reality.”

That’s strange, what else did he say?

“He told me I was making a grave error in believing that I was a fragile human, when I was Eternal and indestructible.” After a long discussion and follow up meetings he said I was ready, and sent me off with a method and clues, and retorted, “figure it out”….“no one can do that for you”…. “Believe in me and what I say and don’t look back, keep searching for the theater until you find it, and see for yourself, what all the great ones saw, you won’t be disappointed. Because in knowing your true position, you find your own anchor of stability on the open seas, and it is a most valuable asset, for you’ll never be lost again. Look within and away from the theatrical world of images and energy, you’ll find yourself sitting in the pure still sea of Eternity.”

This was all so new to me, I was taken back by the statement, but I was also very curious, crazy or not he had me hook, line and sinker. Walking to the station I asked him, what is the theater? And, how do I find this switch to turn on the light?

“The theater is the grand arena of Eternal space that our Soul resides in, permanently, you’ll find the switch after fumbling around in the dark for some time. But when you do, you will see the source of all, and you realize this play was an illusion, which you had bought into, with a ticket called birth. You never find out where the switch is, or how you turned it on, but by following a simple formula, detaching yourself from the play mentally, you start the search for the switch and eventually the theater will be reveled. You’re in essence moving away from the foreground of sensual involvement in the play, to the background darkness of the theater, you stay until the light turns on. So, sit back in your seat and know your seat is still, energyless, feelingless, and not perceivable, and what you perceive is the show. When you’re able to look away from the show long enough, the show ends and the theater is visible. Your relentless noninvolvement in the show switches on the original Light in the theater, in Absolute space, your eternal home. But remember, when you’re caught up in the show, your not looking for the switch.”

The simple man decides to follow his friends counsel and became his number one disciple. After a couple of years of training his teacher told him, “stop searching for the switch, for the switch is your ability to surrender everything in front of you for the Light switch. So, sit in the stillness of the theater seat, which is your rear most point of observation, and in the darkness which is in-between the observer and the observed, lies the switch. Become the thoughtless observer from that seat, and stay there in that pure Awareness of nothing else but being, and in that place you naturally cast your moorings aside for what’s beyond.”

The simple man showed up three years later at his teachers clinic, got down on his knees before him for and said, “That which I thought was real and tangible is shallow and superficial in comparison, you have opened my eyes. You are one of the great teachers of all that is timeless, I have to give you my deepest thanks and repay my debt by passing on your teachings of the true and timeless words of Spirituality.” Tears welded up in his master’s eyes as he said in a tender voice, “You have already given me the greatest gift of all with the second most glorious day of my life. It is truly one of the best days on earth to receive such a precious gift in return, and now you know we are That, and not this.” The master held out his hands and helped the simple man off. “God has bestowed his grace on you with the glorious vision of his Kingdom, now go my friend and help other seekers, for now you are beyond the need of further help.” A long embrace and a few tears dropped from the great joy of the moment, and a sense of awe hung in the air due to the rarity of such an event, and they were basking in it. They parted and never saw one another in form again, but the simple man turned into one of the best spiritual teachers of his time.