from Letter Twenty-Two “Appreciation”

[So beautiful, this sunset! I feel it penetrating my skin. The warm, soft air of
Jerusalem on my face; you are holding my hand as the vision fades.]

“Oh. I’m back at my computer. I’ve lost you once again, O.”

No you haven’t. I’m still right here. You have not lost a single thing. Look through
the illusion, my friend.

“But the illusion is that I was dreaming of being 500 years in the future, with you in
Jerusalem. The reality is that I’ve been sitting here typing at my desk all along. You
say look through the illusion, but…”

The illusion is that you have an ego and a mind that are limiting your awareness.
That is the only illusion you need to examine. Yes, there are dreams and there are
adventures into the unknown; there are forms of things, some bright and shining,
some dim and dusty. Let go the identity with all that, and see through their passing
parade. Just simply see through. It is no illusion that you and I are together, here in
this word!

“I like that. Together in a word. I’m not sure what it means, but it feels right. Is that
appreciation?”

You have it. In the beginning was the Word. Let’s speak of the word appreciation now.
It comes from Latin, meaning ‘to appraise, to set a price, value or reward’. In studying
the derivation of words, we are reaching back into history to find clues to the
moment. Let me use the words in the meaning I just quoted, to illustrate. When we
appreciate, we reach deeply within our being to find the reward that is beyond any
price. Appreciation always draws us fully into the moment of Now, into full alertness.
When we practice this, we are identifying with the Now, in its formless space. There
is no greater value than this identity. All derives from it.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert Potter