“We can only know God well when we know our own sin. And those who have known God without knowing their wretchedness have not glorified Him but have glorified themselves.” ― Blaise Pascal

There was one great priest called Wingate (which means divine protector).  A thief came to him. The thief admired him because he had never seen such a beautiful person, such infinite grace, such contentedness, such peace about him.

The thief asked Wingate: “Is there some possibility of my growing to be like you? But one thing I must make clear to you: I am a thief. And another thing: I cannot leave it, so please don’t make it a condition. I will do whatsoever you say, but I cannot stop being a thief. That I have tried many times–it never works, so I have left the whole sport.  I have accepted my destiny, that I am going to be a thief and remain a thief, so don’t talk about it. From the very beginning let it be clear.”

Wingate said, “Why are you afraid? Who is going to talk about your being a thief?”

The thief said, “But whenever I go to a religious priest, or to anybody religious, they always say, ‘First stop stealing.'”

Wingate laughed and said, “Why should they be concerned? I am not concerned!”

The thief was very happy. He said, “Then it is okay. It seems that now I can become your follower. You are the right priest.”

Wingate accepted him and said, “Now you can go and do whatsoever you like, but on one strict condition.  You have to be constantly aware! Go, break into houses, enter, take things, steal; do whatsoever you like, that is of no concern to me, but do it with full awareness.”

The thief couldn’t understand that he was falling into a trap. He said, “Then everything is okay. I will try.” After three weeks he came back and said, “You are tricky–because if I become aware, I cannot steal. If I steal, awareness disappears. I am in a fix.”

Wingate said, “No more talk about your being a thief and stealing. I am not concerned.  Now, you decide! If you want awareness, then you decide. If you don’t want it, then too you decide.”

The man said…

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, serenely, divinely aware. Henry Miller

“But now it is difficult. I have tasted awareness a little, and it is so beautiful–I will leave anything, whatsoever you say. Just the other night for the first time I was able to enter the palace of the king. I opened the treasure. I could have become the richest man in the world–but you were following me and I had to be aware. When I became aware, diamonds looked just like stones, ordinary stones. When I lost awareness, the treasure was there. And I waited

"There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa".~ William Makepeace Thackeray

and did this many times. I would become aware and I  could not even touch it because the whole thing looked foolish, stupid–just stones, what am I doing?
Losing myself over stones?  But then I would lose awareness; they would become again beautiful, the whole illusion. But finally I decided that they were not worth it.”

LESSON: Become alert to what your actions truly mean to you, others and God. What is beautiful and true will always stand out as diamonds for you. And all the vices will also be revealed; they will make you uneasy and stand out us just stones, not worth your effort. The truth is written in your heart, if you just look inward with awareness!

We are not what we do, what we say, what we think, or even what we feel; which are usually a matter of external conditioning. There is something beyond thought, beyond feeling, beyond speech and beyond action. It is a place of awareness; of consciousness; of truth of what really is: the fearfully and wonderfully made you!

Are you really aware or, are you a person who knows not that he knows not?