Not too long ago I sat down with Gay Luce, the founder of Nine Gates Mystery School and a wonderfully awake human being, who is now in her 80’s. We spoke of many things and eventually I asked if, given her many years of teaching and practice, she had found one teaching or principle about the spiritual path that seems the most useful and important to impart.

“Relax.”

The simplicity echoed in me with the unmistakable ring of deep truth and I was surprised that I found myself deeply moved. Relax. Could it really be that simple? What about all my striving? What about the discipline and the manifestation and the devotion? I looked at her face, serene and calm and gentle, and her eyes holding mine and I realized again that the true awakening is with the world as it is and myself just as I am.

Relax. Nothing need be different. You don’t need to have had a different childhood or different friends. You don’t need a better community or better politics. Wars don’t need to stop and the environment doesn’t need to be saved. Right now, in this moment, you are all you need. Relax.

Of course, it is the most simple things that are the most challenging. We need one another, guides and teachers, mentors and friends to keep proclaiming the simple truth. Relax. You are right where you are. There are practices that support this but nothing more transformational in my experience than having a guide to share the way and help us see who we are and to be the melting snow.

Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There’s no need to go outside.
Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
~ Rumi