The Fountain of Eternity!

Age has become a crucial aspect of today’s society. People are constantly looking for something to help prevent or at least retard the aging process. They have surgery to help change the way they look, as they get older. People can take a number of chemicals to retard the aging process. Just read any magazine and you will find articles on aging. Of course, wanting to prevent or retard the aging process is not something new. Just look at Ponce De Leon. He was searching for the fountain of youth. He never found it, but that did not prevent him from searching. An obvious question then arises, “Is there such a thing as the Fountain of Youth?”

The very idea of a fountain of youth is restrictive and debilitating. It is restrictive because it limits your view of eternity to your body, your physical form. It is debilitating because it prevents you from asking the right question. The question is not whether you can prevent aging, but instead, “Are you eternal?”

There are two answers to the right question. They are both yes and no. How can this be? The answer is simple. When you look closely at you, you will find that you are actually composed of three you’s. What is amazing is that the same three you’s that are found within you are also found within the universe and existence. You are a microcosm of all that is. You are like a drop of water taken from the ocean. Although the drop of ocean water has been separated from the whole, it is still part of the whole and the whole is still apart of it. You, the ocean and the universe are all one.

The most obvious of these three you’s is your body. Now the question can be asked, “Is there a fountain of youth for your body?” As far as is known today, everything in the universe ages. There are no exceptions. Trees, mountains, oceans, stars, and even the universe itself ages. Your body is no different. From the very moment of conception, your body will grow, age and ultimately die. Yet, do you have to die with your body? If you believe that you are simply your body, then the answer is a resounding yes. The question then arises, “Are you your body?”

I can only speak from my own experience; you will have to look into your life to discover your truth. What I have discovered is that your body is nothing more than a vessel that contains the other two you’s. Your body is simply the physical manifestation or form, taken by the other you’s. It is the you that you see in the mirror. It is the form that is compared against your past and future. The fact remains that your body will do what it is meant to do: develop, grow, decline and then die. Even though your body is one of the three you’s, it is the most superficial. Your body is not eternal, and more importantly, your body is you, but you are not your body!

The second you is closely associated with the first. It is what identifies your body as being a part of you. It is your personality: your mind, emotions and behaviors. It is your ego. This is the you that has been developed, shaped and molded into what you believe that you are. A key word is believe. You have created this belief system based on what you have been taught and what you have swallowed: hook, line and sinker. It has been taught to you by your religions, peers, parents, experiences of reward and punishment, and by your total life history. Your personality creates your perception of the world. It is a conglomerate of all your belief systems. It defines you as you. It causes you to be who you are. It is your perception of you: physically, mentally and emotionally. It is a world of dichotomies and continuums: birth to death, pretty to ugly, good to bad, this to that. The personality is your ego.

“Is there a fountain of youth for your personality?” The answer is a booming no! You not only age physically, but your personality also ages. Your personality is not the same at age 2 as it will be at age 42, or 82. It is constantly changing as a function of time, events, desires, wishes. It is changing as a function of how you perceive your world in relationship to your expectations and beliefs. Even the concept of aging is developed through the aging process. When your body dies, so does your ego, and with it your personality.

You have created dichotomies, which have divided your existence into many parts, such as birth and death. In fact, it is only through the personality that death even exists. When opposites and continuums no longer prevail, death vanishes. Only when you are into the past and the future, does death seem to be a reality. And yet, the death of your body and personality are inevitable.

“Are you your personality?” It is not often understood or accepted, that just like you are not your body, you are not your personality. Your personality is nothing more than a creation of your thinking, your ego. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” This is the view of a rationalist. The truth is, “I am, therefore I think.” Amness always comes before thinking. Thinking cannot exist without an I doing the thinking. Even this does not go far enough, because before there was I, there was simply Am.

There is a you that defies all dichotomies. This third you cannot be defined as being really you. It is your being, your spirit, your soul, your very essence. This you has no definition, description, shape or form; it is not even an I or a you. It is beyond all that has been or can be said. Words only limit it to what has been described. The world of opposites and continuums do not exist with this you. Only when your mind enters, does the third you appear as a concept, a belief and an entity. The real you disappears. Only when you are coming from your ego, does the real third you vanish into thin air. Not to fear, the true third you will return. The death of personality is inevitable. The death of the body is unavoidable. Yet, the third you, the Am that is you will never die. What remains is your amness; that which has always been, is and will always be.

Christ said (John 8:51- 58), “...Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death....” The Jews then asked if this meant that He was greater than Abraham and the prophets, because they had died. He then said, "...Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am....” Amness was before Abraham. Amness cannot die. Amness cheats death. It cheats death, because in this Amness there is no dichotomy of time, and only time can create death.

The concepts of youth and age are meaningless. This continuum requires the mind to divide existence into young and old. It automatically sets up the battle between two opposites. In the world of the third you, the battle ceases. There is only NOW, and NOW is all that can ever be. NOW cannot be divided, nor can it be thought about, or even talked about. It can only be experienced. NOW is eternal. NOW has been and always will be. The third you is this NOW. When the third you blossoms, you, the ocean and the universe, are one.

The Fountain of Youth is a myth. Only Awareness brings you to the true fountain, The Fountain of Eternity.

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