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Several months ago I heard John Sherman say in a podcast, "The purpose of life is life." When I heard those words, the remaining false beliefs that had been lingering around in my mind seemed to have been washed away. What remained and still remains is this: I am here. Incredible!

It seems that most of my conflicts and suffering at that point in my life had boiled down to some subtle perfectionistic "spiritual" beliefs that were still tugging at my attention now and then. In that moment those got swept away. Now such beliefs mean nothing to me. If beliefs come, if existential fears come, they mean little or nothing. I've discovered that if we give something (such as fear) significance, then it can easily loom larger in the mind. Yet even this statement has little significance because the fact is, we're simply here. It's just important to note though that whatever we give our attention to, then our mind looks in that direction. If we're giving power even to some noble belief, then we'll often find ourselves trying to overcome something or to correct something about our lives, and we can get caught in the perfection trap again. If I look inward at myself though (as John urges us to do), then false beliefs eventually go away and fear becomes of little or no significance. Then I'm free to enjoy life.

We're here, and it's a miracle. It's always been a miracle, but now there's nothing to interfere in the recognition of this.

There is nothing to be found in the future that is more miraculous than just here. "Here" is the entire substance of being.

I would like to add that for me personally, "here" and "heart" are one and the same. This isn't meant to be poetry. I find it to be actually true for myself.

With all my love, thank you John, thank you Carla.

E.