7.2 In terms of your own life, how do you measure the success or failure of this teaching?

Any statement about reality, if it is to be of general relevance and usefulness, must be subject to a simple practical test to establish its validity. If any individual or group makes an observation on an aspect of reality which is not susceptible to a simple test to establish its validity, then either the observation needs refining until such a test can be found, or the observation is irrelevant in the face of reality. This teaching of the clear setting face to face with reality must satisfy such a simple, practical test to establish its validity.

You can only establish the value and accuracy of the description of reality contained in this book through your own experience. Your intellectual views and personal beliefs are irrelevant distractions in the face of reality. Just as you are subject to the law of gravity, regardless of whether you think about it or approve of it, so you are subject, in the same way, to the implacable implicate laws of reality, regardless of whether you accept these teachings or not.

You are set on the path to experience reality fully only after you have attained the first stage of enlightenment. Then, as your confusion and uncertainty about the meaning and direction of your life diminishes, you will be able to confirm the validity of this teaching through your own experience. You can use a simple test of the validity of this teaching to provide you with a measurable goal during the period of uncertainty and confusion about your life.

This test, to be applied by you in the course of living your life, is simple and straightforward. The key to the validity of this whole teaching is attaining the first stage of enlightenment. The test is this: after one hundred days of committed daily practice of meditation, understood within the context taught in this book, have you attained the psychological stage of enlightenment?

If the answer is yes, then you will know with the certainty of experience that there are indeed two such things as enlightenment and a path. If the answer is no, then you need to establish whether the failing lies in yourself or in the teachings. Committed practice of the teachings given in this chapter should set you back on the path to the first enlightenment; if that fails to help you, then you must draw your own conclusions about the validity and relevance of this teaching for you.