The Guru and the Student were sitting together in quiet contemplation, and the Student spoke up, saying, "I know we've covered this before, but I'm going to ask this question once again but with my new understanding behind the question."
The Guru whispered: "Go right ahead."
Student: "What am I?"
Guru: "You are the Creator localized."
Student: "Who am I?"
Guru: "Do you mean right this moment?"
Student: "Yes."
Guru: "You are the Creator localized who just spoke the word 'Yes'."
Student: "And nothing more?"
Guru: "So much more you do not have the capacity to comprehend."
Student: "Why am I?"
Guru: "You are God's desire for expression in form, and you are your creation and your creation is you, of you, by you and for you."
Student: "What is the purpose of creation?"
Guru: "More to the point: what is the purpose of its opposite?"
Student: "If its opposite is destruction, its opposite has no purpose."
Guru: "Yes, which means that if something has no purpose, it has no existence, leaving One True Thing. If there is only One True Thing, it and its purpose are also one and the same."
Student: "So what is creation?"
Guru: "It is simply the act of creating."
Student: "But why?"
Guru: "What else is there to do? I think, therefore I create, a process that never, ever, stops. Without it, you have nothing. And who wants nothing when you can have something? Creation is thought in action. So whatever you think about, you create."
Student: "If there is but One True Thing, that which is created is one and the same as that which created it."
Guru: "Well said."
Student: "What precedes Creation?"
Guru: "Desire."
Student: "What precedes desire?"
Guru: "Nothing."
Student: "So desire is cause?"
Guru: "Desire is the only cause, first cause."
Student: "How do I then create?"
Guru: "One, desire it; two, picture it; three, command that which you picture to come into being. Desire, imagination and the ability to command are God's trinity of primary attributes. If you can do these things, then you are God, and therefore are the Doer, the Doing, and the Done."
Student: "Then I am not a co-creator with God, as all these New Agers like to say?"
Guru: "'Co-' implies two, does it not?"
Student: "I guess so."
Guru: "Are you unique in all the world and are able to serve two masters, when not even the Great Being Jesus could serve two masters?"
Student: "No, nobody can serve two masters. So, if I AM God, then the act of creation could only be for giving, and implies that giver and receiver are one."
The Guru smiled a little. "'Receiver' implies there are two different beings involved, 'giver' and 'receiver', does it not?"
The Student's eyebrows raised with astonishment as realization overtook his expression. "So," he said quietly, chuckling to himself and shaking his head, "if creation is giving, and I AM the giver, and there is no receiver, then there is only giver, giving and that which is given. But if there is no receiver, then how does the object of my desire come into being?"
The Guru shrugged: "You simply accept it."
Student: "Simple acceptance? That is all it is?"
Guru: "Yes, and of course you must act in some way."
Student: "You said a minute ago that 'desire', 'thought' and 'command' are God's primary attributes. I thought that 'Love' is God's primary attribute."
Guru: "If desire is cause, and thought is creating, and command giving, then Love is simply the desire to give, and God wants nothing more, and has never wanted anything more, and will never want anything more, than to give you all you desire."
Student: "Ohhhhh, I get it. I AM, in fact, God's desire! My desire is God's desire! If I am not, desire is not. Without me, desire does not exist! So desire has the creative force built in! If there is desire, there is the power also within it to bring it about. I AM that power!"
The Guru smiled: "If you say so. Consider this also: if you falsely believe that you are not God, then you live exclusively in the world of effects, which is precisely the source of every problem on Earth, this illusion of separation, but if you know yourself to be God, then you live in the world of causes, and God expresses only perfection."
Student: "So our illusion of separation is the source of all Earth's problems?"
Guru: "Can it be any other way?"
Student: "No, of course not. But wait! If desire is the first cause, and Love is the desire to give, then didn't Love come first? Isn't Love the precedent?"
Guru: "'Cause' implies sequence, a series of events. In computer language, it's stated as, 'if this, then that.' There was nothing, then desire/cause, and as a result, something. Sequence implies something before and something after. If there is something before and something after, then beginning and ending are also implied. If beginning and ending are implied, then so also is the concept of existence as being finite. But as it is simply not possible for existence to be finite, then what is Love?"
Student: "The Infinite, Eternal Being. Existence itself - the circle of causes. That existence is, Love is. Love is the only thing that . . . just is."
Guru: "Now, having realized all that, the only question to ask is...what?"
Student: "What do I want?"
Guru: "Yes. And when you can answer that question, all other questions become irrelevant, because…"
Student: "…because I AM the desire to give, and I have to know what I want before I can give it. To give it, I must create it, and to create is my only purpose. It is the only possible purpose."


CHAPTER 2

The Guru and the Student were just finishing practicing archery, and the Guru, wiping her brow with a cloth, asked, "So, what do you want?"
Student: "Mmmm. I've been thinking about that. It's a fascinating question because in this exploration it's easy to develop a mindset that you are in want and need of nothing, and therefore you can only want for others. And then you get thinking, well, does that make me a Saint or am I missing something? But, for the sake of argument, I'll just say that I want...I want all the world's peoples to live in peace."
Guru: "How could you be so arrogant?"
Student: "Come again?"
Guru: "How could you be so arrogant as to presume that you have the right to want on behalf of others, who themselves are also God's desire? What if their desire is for anything but peace?"
Student: "But..."
The Guru pointed at a lotus in the pond. "Do you think this flower wants you to be at peace?"
The Student thought for a long moment, puzzling. "No. I don't think the flower has a desire for anything but itself."
Guru: "Bravo. If you want peace for others, can you therefore be at peace?"
The Student started so abruptly he nearly toppled into the pond. "No! Oh, goodness! How could I be?"
Guru: "In order to create, must one be able to clearly see that which one wants to create?"
Student: "Yes, yes, of course!"
Guru: "Then what do you want?"
Student: "Peace, and since I can't possibly see it when I view the world, and I can't possibly want on behalf of others, I must want it for myself, and to create it for myself, and to give it to myself, and if I AM God, then I AM...then I AM giving to All in the same act."
Guru: "And the Circle of Causes Closeth."
Student: "But how does that bring about change in the world? Change must come, mustn't it?"
Guru: "What do you want?"
Student: "I want to change the world!"
Guru: "How could you be so arrogant?"
The Student's eyes shifted to and fro, probing the air between them for the trap.
Guru: "Well?"
Student: "I don't want my children to...I, uh, I want my children to...whew...!"
Guru: "To what?"
Student: "Well, I want them to live in a changed world!"
Guru: "Oh? And what do they want?"
Student: "I...I honestly don't know."
Guru: "And do they know what they want?"
Student: "I don't know. They're so young. I don't think so."
Guru: "Then perhaps they should be subjected to today's lesson."
Student: "Well perhaps they should!" he almost shouted.
Guru: "What is the only possible purpose for being? You have already said it just a few days ago."
Student: "To create."
Guru: "Then what is the solution to this dilemma?"
The Student inhaled mightily, his mind twisting as it raced through all the possible answers, for which, of course, there was only one. And when it came to him, he started to cry. Face buried in his hands, he whispered so quietly, "I must create a New World, and if those living in the old one would like to live in the new one, they are most welcome to join me."
Guru: "And who but you can create this new world?"
Student: "No one."
As the Guru hung her bow in the shed, she asked, "So, what do you want?"
Student: "It's really very simple, isn't it?"
Guru: "Yes. Yes, it is nothing if it is not that. How about some lunch?"

The next day the Student accosted the Guru quite abruptly on the trail to the Mountain, a knowing yet suspicious glint in his eye. "You didn't tell me everything yesterday, did you?"
Guru: "Yes," and she wandered off.
The Student gave chase. "Wait, please...I know you didn't..."
The Guru abruptly stopped and the Student literally plowed into her. "Perhaps you'd like to rephrase the question."
Student: "Did you tell me everything?"
Guru: "No," and she again wandered off.
Student: "Tell me just one thing! Anything!"
Guru: "As we discussed yesterday," she called over her shoulder, "does desire have within it the power to bring it about?"
Student: "Yes, because desire is the cause."
Guru: "Then what's next?"
The Student slammed his palm against his forehead. "To ACT! Of course!"
Guru: "Have a nice day."
The Student, now shouting at the receding figure: "Is there more?"
Guru: "Have a nice day."