Flying
2026, July, Issue 208
Imagine
Imagine you are an eagle
Waking up in a dream,
you, this eagle,
having no idea,
no idea
that you once
held great knowledge,
that you once were
human in a bigger dream,
having no idea, not a clue
that you are an eagle,
waking up in this crazy
confused dream
as an eagle, not knowing
not knowing what eagles do,
Trapped, trapped I tell you!
There you sit
among the reeds and willows,
stranded without hope
on a small island,
not understanding,
not knowing what any of that is,
not understanding,
not knowing where you are,
not understanding,
not knowing
your true potentiality,
having no clue
about what you can do;
There you are,
this magnificent eagle,
stumbling around
sloshing in the water
tripping over yourself
in this tangled mess;
Do you want to know every detail,
Everything there is to know
About each blade of grass,
About the sky and wind,
And mosquitoes,
About the distance
to the far shore,
About every aspect
of your body, not being able
to swim or walk, or build a boat,
All these things, every detail,
Panic sets in, trapped!
Before you even move a muscle,
Before you devise a plan,
Before you even muster courage?
Do you really need to know
each detail, every subtlety
with this situation?
Clinging to the minutia,
infinite depths of microscopic topics,
Every single nuance,
All about this tangled mess,
And the way to escape,
Everything to know ad nauseum?
Or do you want to see this big picture,
that View from the sky?
Do you want to fly?
A poem by Robert Aho © 2026
Sometimes the way I teach causes confusion. I start with the big picture, relating the first step with the final result. I point out the similarity with having a strong Aspiration to Awaken with full Enlightenment itself. In order to benefit from my teachings, it is important to relax. It’s possible for you to see the similarity between a lit candle and the blazing sun. You don’t need to know every single detail in order to see that bright light has the same characteristics as even brighter light. You can relax in the knowledge that they are the same on some level.
Teaching is not something that I really ever wanted to do. It only became apparent that it was essential for me to teach while I was returning from the death bardo. Up until that point, I was quite content to do what I could without any sort of title or designation.
While people often look to teachers who are qualified, they also have difficulty realizing just what sort of qualifications are useful, relying instead on institutions for such designations. Real qualifications have to do with realizations. If you wish to understand emptiness, you need a teacher who has realized emptiness. If you wish to realize the Nature of Mind, you need a teacher who has attained great confidence in this realization. This has nothing to do with institutional authority. As a Spiritual Practitioner, we need to encounter Spiritual Friends who have genuine realizations. Those are the qualifications that matter. It has nothing to do with how many followers a teacher might have or which institutions have given them authority.
When we step onto the Spiritual Path, we Aspire to Awaken. With this Aspiration comes teachings that will help. If you come to me, I will show you the complete Spiritual Path, then ask you to deal with the details on your own. When I show someone the Spiritual Path, I am showing you your own infinite potentiality. It’s a big wide view of the inexplicable, starting with your own confusion.
When I tell you that the first spark is the same as full Enlightenment, I am telling you something about your own potentiality. I am telling you that you have the capacity to wake up, to become fully Enlightened. This is actually very simple to understand, if you hold that spark as something very precious. You don’t need to think about the details, you only need to plunge into Spiritual Practice, taking every available moment as an opportunity to Awaken.
We should not be timid about the Spiritual Path, simply because there is no time to waste. We must begin at once. We must take every opportunity to Awaken before it is too late. As humans, we are prone to procrastination, as well as underestimating our true potentiality. We waste time waiting for permission. We waste time thinking we need more information. We waste time thinking that we’re not good enough for this amazing journey.
In reality, the best thing to do is to simply take the leap. See what happens. When we don’t understand something, look at it. When we realize something, allow our capacity to increase.
When I was in the death bardo, I knew that I must return to teach, if only just a few people. I don’t rely upon texts, I rely upon my own realizations. I don’t seek approval from institutions, I commune with Buddhas as part of my realizations and ongoing Spiritual Practice. If you are seeking teachings from me, I want you to supplement whatever I tell you with teachings from other sources. You need to fly.
Blessings of Source,
Rigdzin Robert Aho
Robert Aho is the author of Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes. Both books, written after his death experience, give advanced spiritual advice regarding the complete Spiritual Path, inspiration for living each day and words of encouragement, with the intention of helping people to stay committed to their Spiritual Path, as well as preparing for death. This ultimately leads to discovering your own power within, which leads to Awakening. Both books are available on Amazon, Zenith Bookstore, as well as various other sources.