It's Not a Journey, It's a Hot Bath

This isn't so much about getting somewhere, as stopping here. Everything gets so simple when you realise this.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Ijuno.

Many people see this life as a journey,

As heading towards some goal,

As almost like the climbing a mountain,

Becoming from one state to another state.

From one base,

Ignorant state,

Transcending it to rising up the mountain,

To seeing clearly,

To becoming better.

It's a wonderful vision,

It's a nice picture,

But I was talking to somebody yesterday and they were telling me,

You know,

I keep falling down the mountain,

I keep messing up,

I keep slipping and falling into my base nature to the bottom of the mountain and it's so demoralizing.

What's the point?

I'm never going to get it.

I'm never going to become that person I want to become.

And it's a struggle,

It's a real struggle for these,

When you see life,

When you see this as some sort of evolution,

Because you right now are no good,

That's your belief,

And someday your hope is that you will become better.

Accept,

Accept,

You already are exactly what you're searching for,

You already are.

Your true nature is fully formed,

Fully existing within you.

It needs nothing.

It just needs,

The only thing it needs is the smallest,

The slightest of tweaks just for you to remember it,

For you to be it.

And the only time you can experience it,

You can't think about it,

It doesn't work like that,

The only time you can be it is right now.

Right now.

And so life becoming that greatest version of you,

Becoming free,

Becoming enlightened,

Whatever you want to call it,

I have no idea.

But it's definitely not a journey.

It's not a progression.

It feels like that.

I know it feels like that,

But that's only because of your mind and your picture of it.

I want to give you another metaphor,

Another picture for this.

Now Buddha called it the razor's edge.

And I'm going to put my own interpretation on because I'm not a Buddhist,

I haven't studied the text.

I wasn't there when he said it.

So I have no idea what he means.

To my idea,

The idea of a razor's edge is that it's like a balancing act.

There you are.

I'm fully present to that inner truth.

In this moment in time,

That sense of quiet,

Still awareness is here.

I'm immersed in it.

Then through habit,

I forget.

I fall off.

I fall off the balancing,

The tightrope,

The razor's edge.

I start thinking,

You start getting wrapped up in all of the mind and the emotions in the body.

No deal.

You fell asleep.

You fell off.

What do you do next?

You jump back on.

You just jump back on.

And there you are.

All is well again.

If you fully give yourself to this moment,

To your presence,

Fully and completely with integrity,

That is all there is.

Through habit,

Through your addiction to thinking,

And you have an addiction,

You fall off.

You get wrapped up in some stress.

You forget.

You yell at someone.

You don't yell at someone.

And you chunter and you complain in your head for days after.

I should have said that.

No deal.

Just jump back on.

Jump back on.

In fact,

It's not even a razor's edge.

It's not.

It's not at all.

It's more like a bath.

You slip into the bath,

You're soaking in the bath,

This present moment,

This bath of now.

All is well.

This bath that never gets cold.

This bath that has your rubber ducky sitting right there,

Your favourite friend.

Now,

Just to humour me,

Do it.

Just become present.

Immersed in your own being.

If you know how to ascend,

Use the ascension attitudes.

Let those be your anchor.

If you don't,

Use the breath,

Your mantra,

Whatever you got.

Or just tune into now.

Wow.

Now,

You,

Your ego,

Your small self,

Your limiting habits,

Patterns,

Beliefs,

Addictions,

All of that stuff,

Consider that like an ice cube,

A block of ice.

Block of ice just melting in this hot bath of now.

Oh,

Good stuff.

Now is the one place where all that stuff disappears.

Where it just melts away.

Alright.

Now,

Here comes your habit of forgetting your addiction to the past,

The future,

To stress,

To drama.

You jump out of the bath.

You jump out.

Why did you forget?

Who cares?

Why don't you just slip back in?

Keep it that simple.

You were asleep.

You may have done something stupid.

Go apologise.

From the bath.

But the whole point of it is just slipping back into the bath.

There you are,

Fully formed.

Exactly what you need.

Ah.

Perfection.

All is well.

If there's any transformation,

It happens because you're in the bath.

If there's any becoming,

It's because you're relaxing in the bath.

All the stickiness that you've picked up over the years just melts away in the bath.

Thinking about it,

Processing it is being out of the bath.

Right?

Now,

There are people here who would rather discuss what the bath might be like when one day they learn to sit in it.

You can talk about being in the bath.

You can speculate what the bath may be like.

Or,

You can simply jump in the bath and fully experience it.

Be in the bath.

Just give yourself fully to the bath.

Concern yourself not with the times that you get out.

Because simply the bath is right there in that moment.

The moment that you remember you can slip back in that easily.

With that smallest of tweaks,

You can tune back in.

So,

If there is a journey,

That is it.

Realizing that the bath is wherever you remember in its entirety.

There's not a shallow end or a deep end to this bath.

There's not you in the shallow end,

Kind of with your water wings splashing around,

Getting used to this.

You know?

And you look down the deep end and there's Buddha and Krishna and Jesus playing water polo.

It just doesn't work like that.

You're either in,

Immersed in the water.

The same water that all the great teachers throughout all time are immersed in.

Or you're not.

You're on the outside looking for something else.

Alright?

Keep it that simple.

And it will be just a joyous discovery.

A joyous discovery of how now,

Bath time makes your whole life so much more.

So much more complete.

Getting in the bath is so much more pleasant than running around trying to secure,

Trying to predict,

Trying to find the perfect banana like that monkey.

Monkeys love baths.

You know?

They melt.

They melt.

So,

I'm done.

Jump in the bath.

As soon as you remember,

Get in the bath.

You have,

You are,

Everything that you need already.

Alright?

Good luck.

Go well.

If you need anything,

Get in touch.

Cheerio.

Have a good day now.

Reviews

I am new to this and not so new. I meditate everyday to many teachings. I’m now reading your 200% book. Thank you for your teachings and the hot bath, Namaste..

Wonderfully spoken. It is perfect!

Thank you.
It totally makes sense.

Really liked re-imaging the image from being on a path or journey, to being in the bath.

Such a wonderfully simple way of making the struggle no struggle at all! So easy! I am in the bath!🛀 Thank you so much!

This sort of down to earth simplicity is just what I need. Thank you!

You made me laugh!!! And it's SO true. I love the simplicity. Thank you!

Thanks for the reminder! Being such a goal oriented person all of my life took me out of the perfection of Now. I was always striving for the next moment to be better. Life is so much more beautiful setting my intents and then surrendering to what is, in this moment.

I LOVE the hot bath metaphor! So soothing and serene 💗

Once you’re in the bath you realize you are the bathing, the melting, and the slipping away ... and nothing matters ... cause you are the laughing, ty

Thanks a lot Arjuna for this conversation. It helps yo remember simplicity. Greetings an ascender from Mexico

Perfect! Thanks so much ☺

So fun and great to do in the bath 😉

Brilliant as always

I love this, thank you for sharing! 🛁🛁❤️🙏🐤

Made me smile, good concept and fun, thank you

Thank you🙏🏻hoping to be in my warm bath all day🦋💫✨

Very cheerful voice and a really good image! Thanks 🙏🏻💕🌟🌿✨

This in it simplicity explains everything and thank you also for mentioning Jesus🙏🏼

Haha wauw, very nice metaphor about the bath brought very positively! :D