The narrow and wide gate

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. [Matthew 7:13-14]

It is not difficult to find out what the wide road symbolizes in this allegory when we realize the wide range of worldly pleasures offered to us daily. It is a bit harder to understand what both the spacious and narrow gate represents. The question is - would this allegory be useful for us if we do not know exactly what it means? Do not await any sweet talks and look at it yourself.

It is written that the strait gate leads to life. First of all, we have to realize that life is a movement. Try to move your hand. Do it now! It is a sign of life. Our wanting precedes it. And when is this movement made? At the moment of doing this action, of course! Anything that has ever happened or will happen takes its place at the presence. But what does the presence mean? Anything that happened a year ago, yesterday or even a few minutes ago, is already the past. And anything that will happen in a second, minute, day, year, and anything that has not happened yet, is the future. Therefore, the presence lies somewhere between the past and the future, and what is happening at the moment is part of the human being's scenario made by his desires. In such a wide range of time a moment of the presence resides in a very narrow time unit. And in order to understand the allegory, we must know that the understanding dwells here. But let us not stop here.

As life is a real thing, it cannot exist in memories about the past, or in ideas about the future. The past is a broad entity - it contains centuries, millennia, whole ages, as well as the future when our sun will probably shine even one million years from now. Thus, time is a wide gate. Yet, life takes place in an immeasurably short period of the presence throughout which we can find the way to the source of life. This short moment is that strait gate. Everything that is happening, which happened or will happen, takes place in the presence. Only in this short period of time do our life take place, nowhere else.

And what to do now? What is it all for? Let's have a look at how to use the above-mentioned allegory in our everyday lives. As long as we realize that the past and the future actually do not exist, if yes - only in our memories and ideas, it is not difficult to realize that meditating over the past and the future is simply a wasted life. You follow such a wide road that leads to destruction, for the past and the future are lifeless. You feed the past and the future with your thoughts. On the contrary, when you live in the presence you fortify your attachment to life.

Why are there only a few people who find this narrow gate and follow the narrow path in direction of the eternal life? Almost nobody is interested! Most of people choose rather the more comfortable path - the wider road. Dreaming about the future and "living" in memories is more important for them than the conscious - awakened life in the presence. Don't you believe? Why then do you always keep your thoughts flowing in your mind without actually having the power to stop them? Aren't they the proof of your strong attachment to the past and to your desires you expect to take place in the future? Don't we do this rather on purpose in order to stop seeing the objectionable reality of the presence and keep our ears away from the unwanted truth? Otherwise we would not be able to live as we are living now. The human being rather pretends not to hear a voice asking for help and closes his eyes in order not to see the consequences of his or other people's deeds, for this is more comfortable. The humankind rather prefer building of monuments for the dead and investing into the "future" than taking care of the contemporary urgent problems. Don't understand this please in the way that we should throw away our past, or forget about the future. All I want to say is that we weave the future in the presence and purely in the presence we are able to learn lessons from previous mistakes. However, the reality of the presence shows that nearly nothing of what I say here happens. Thousands of children die of hunger daily and nobody cares at the moment. They die even today. Every second... It is more comfortable to live your own selfish life without noticing the reality...

On the other hand, it is not at all difficult to find the narrow path. It only requires a little wish and to do something about it. But instead of this, man sits in front of his TV screen and parasites on other people's lives, or better to say it, he enjoys how the actors and entertainers only receive big money for pretending the patterns they should have rather acquired for themselves. Man does not go for a walk to the woods, he prefers looking at photos or watching films... The world created by God does not interest him at all; he is only interested in the world of "crooked mirrors" - the one he has created in his thoughts. If this whirl of thoughts does not quiet down, he will never hear the God's voice by which He speaks to him through his conscience, or the frequently repeated Biblical knock on the door. He will neither find the narrow gate that shows the way to life. In other words, unless you behave like children, you will never enter the heavenly kingdom. Children live in the presence until their parents bury them under the loads of information and until they make them into their own image. Also the words such as, "Let the dead bury their dead..." and, "So do not be anxious about tomorrow; tomorrow will look after itself. Each day has troubles enough of its own..." (Matt 6.25-34...) emphasize the fact that we should not live in the past but in the presence.

The best way in direction of the strait gate is LOVE. Only then is man naturally in the presence, his thoughts calm down and the room for the spirit's life and emotion comes into view. In the same way, when man is spiritually happy, he does not think about the past, he does not desire something to happen in the future, but he lives in the presence. Another possibility is to become caring about all our actions - it is because such caring develops human consciousness and awakens us from the mortal spiritual sleep. Therefore, live at the present moment and seek out for the strait gate that shows the way to life. Let us not perish.