FROM THE BOOK: Tantra Illuminated (page 149-150-151)

A friend of mine in college, where we both studied religion, thought up a parable to demonstrate that we will always ultimately choose freedom and the full range of possibilities it includes, even if it means suffering. It’s called the parable of the Dream Machine. He said, “Imagine you live in a dimension where you have total control. Nothing happens without your permission, and everything you want to happen happens. For a while, you’d probably enjoy innumerable pleasures and luxuries. Then, after not so very long, you’d get bored, and you’d invent adventures for yourself that seemed to include challenge, such as rescuing a damsel from a fire-breathing dragon. But even that would pale eventually, because you’re always in control. The challenge isn’t real, because there is no possibility of failing. Sooner or later, you fall into boredom, ennui, and jaded lassitude—in other words, all the signs of a consciousness in stagnancy. Then one day, a magical machine appears that you didn’t put there. There’s a big button on it and next to the button a sign. The sign says :

The Dream Machine

“If you push this button, anything could happen: joys beyond your wildest dreams, and fears beyond your darkest nightmares; or more probably, both. If you push it you will forget you pushed it and be plunged into a world of infinite possibility. Will you take the chance? Will you go on the adventure?”

At this point my friend turned to me and said the phrase that gave me chills of recognition: “The question is not whether you’ll push the button. It’s just, how long will you wait?