Part IVi
Knowledge versus Realization

Imagine that you are driving home from an evening out. Imagine further, that you are driving on a four-lane highway in your natural inclination to stay in the right hand lane. After a short while, you begin to notice that the right hand lane has a lot more potholes and cracks than the left hand lane does. In addition, cars in the left hand lane are driving at twice the speed of the cars in the right hand lane.

As you travel along, you begin to realize that you have got to switch to the left hand lane to avoid damaging your car. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for your car to move fast enough to respond to switching lanes. In addition, it remains imperative that you keep your eyes forward, in order to avoid the endless potholes and cracks on the road ahead. Now the inner talking starts up. Perhaps you become enmeshed in your heated, internal dialogue. Perhaps you retreat into your imagination, but somehow, before you realize it, you are home, exhausted and dented from the long, bumpy ride.

In the above scenario, the problem was not an intellectual one. The intellectual center processed both elements of the problem as well as a solution to the problem. Instead, Eve (emotional center), did not realize what was required of her in time. Because Eve (the soul or emotional nature), did not realize that she was the prime mover, she sat idly by, traveling as just another passenger in the car. Eve needed to switch lanes and not to simply recognize that switching lanes would be a solution.

One of the obstacles we all face on the path is that our emotional center tends to stare passively at various forms of incoming impressions, rather than being able to intuit what proper actions should be taken at the time. As long as Eve does not realize that 'it's her move', she will remain passive to life. It is only when our own emotional nature learns how to make life her teacher that we will be able to further ourselves beyond mere necessity alone.

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