The Perfect Trap: Auspicious Love

By Karl Renz

“And I tell you, you are That what is, in spite of it. You were, you are, and you will be what is, in spite of any experiencer, experiencing, ever. You were never dependent on any experience. You are absolutely independent. You were, you are, and you will be That what is, Absolute, independent of any experiencer. And you can only BE That... you cannot BECOME That. You cannot attain That as you never left That.

“But by now trying to attain That, you confirm that there’s one who needs to attain That. It’s a perfect trap. The more you try and succeed in something, the more you confirm that there’s one who needs it. You always confirm the needy phantom in front of you...

“So any advantage you have in your so-called way is a disadvantage because you confirm someone who needs an advantage. It’s crazy! Even getting enlightenment is a disadvantage because you’re still one who needs to be enlightened. What an idea! Even waking up is a disadvantage because there’s still ‘one’ who needs to be awake. Crazy! It’s such a perfect trap. And there’s no way out.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karl Renz
• Release date: Jun 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9789393254450

Karl Renz

Karl Renz was born in Germany in 1953, and, after some years of rather unorthodox "seeking" (including time spent in Mexico looking for Don Juan), experienced an Awakening in the late 1970s. He travels around the world talking about, well, what can't be talked about -- and does pretty well at it. He's visited Santa Fe each fall the last five years or so, offering evening "Self-Talks" ("the self talking to the self", as he puts it) at the home of a friend.

Book preview

By you trying to stop this imaginary

movement of reincarnation,

you keep it running.

You’re self-guilty.

By trying to get enlightened,

you confirm one who is unenlightened.

By trying to wake up,

you confirm one who needs to wake up.

It’s a perfect trap.

I adore myself for this trap.

– KARL RENZ

The Perfect Trap: Auspicious Love

By Karl Renz

Copyright © 2024 Karl Renz

First Edition: June 2024

Published By

ZEN PUBLICATIONS

A Division of Maoli Media Private Limited

S-131 Moongipa Arcade, Gate No. 4,

Second Floor, Ganesh Chowk, DN Nagar,

Andheri West, Mumbai 400053. India.

Tel: [phone]

eMail: [e-mail]

Website: www.zenpublications.com

Book Design: Red Sky Designs, Mumbai

Cover Image: Detail of a painting by Karl Renz

Photographs on Pages 4, 10, 46, 122, 162 : Alex Wolter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author or his agents, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

CONTENTS

Trying to be happy, instantly makes you unhappy

Needlessness is what I’m pointing to

You fail permanently and failing is joy

Clarity is a big trap

Oneness creates separation, and separation creates oneness

Other Books by Karl Renz

•May It Be As It Is

The Embrace of Helplessness

•Am I - I Am

•Heaven and Hell

•The Song of Irrelevance

Meditation of what you are

•Worry and be Happy

The Audacity of Hopelessness

•Mythen in Tüten (German)

ES macht nix

•Echoes of Silence

Avadhut Gita Revisited

•The Lies About Truth

•A Little Bit Of Nothingness

81 Observations On The Unnamable

•Undecided: Neti-Neti

•Commentaries On The Gospel Of Thomas

Excerpts from the Marsanne talks

•Peace Off

And Be What You Are

•Soy Yo - Yo Soy (Spanish)

•Blisstears

Bliss, the root of all suffering

•Without A Second

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Publishers wish to thank Anjali Walsh, for her invaluable help in making this book possible.

Trying to be happy, instantly makes you unhappy

Q: The other day you mentioned that there is no before or after enlightenment…

K: The nature of enlightenment is that there is no before or after. Whoever claims that he had this moment before and after, that’s doubtful.

Q: I see enlightenment more like an insight, like an ‘aha’ moment, like you say something and that ticks in my brain, that’s enlightenment. But I can’t help but wonder what you talked about yesterday about the experience of peyote and the black hole…

K: Yeah. So many aha’s and nothing happened. So what? I’m happy that in the beginning there was no unenlightened one and out of that unenlightened one there was never anyone who would become enlightened. There was never any life that was unawake, so life will not wake up and for that what is asleep, being awake is still sleep. So, an unenlightened enlightened one, is still unenlightened. [Laughter]

Who cares about a phantom who thinks he is unenlightened and a phantom who is enlightened? It’s a little aha phantom. It’s a fleeting experience. I like enlightened ones because no one needs them.

Q [Another visitor]: But you seem to abide in That…

K: I don’t abide in anything, come on. I take a bite from my cookie but not a bite of myself. It hurts to bite into yourself. [Laughing]

Q: For most people here, there are moments where we can speak from where you are speaking from, but for you it seems to be lasting. So, what’s the difference?

K: Here it is fuck it all and you still give a fuck. [Laughter]

Q: Exactly. So, how do you get that fuck it all?

K: You don’t get it. By being what you are, you anyway fuck it all. You are the Absolute fucker, the fuck, the fucking, and the fucked. That’s fucked! So you are that fuck it all! So, be that what fucks it all!

You are the dreamer who dreams the dreaming that can be dreamt. You are That. By being That, there’s no need of abiding in anything. Just be what you cannot not be. That’s all. So, what’s there to get?

Q: I get it but at the same time I don’t…

K: You want to have it, that’s your problem. You want to own it, that’s your only problem. As Ramana said, drop the mind and you will be fine because without a mind you are That what is the Absolute owner of existence. You are existence, you are the Absolute but there is no ownership in it, no controller. You cannot take the helplessness of your nature. It’s helplessness because there’s no control possible. As there’s no second, there’s no controller who can control anything and by you being just what is, just living itself. But you cannot decide how you live yourself and you’re still afraid that something might happen to you. You’re still in love with your body, your existence. Love is the only hindrance. Loving what you identify yourself with. It sounds strange but I tell you, love is the obstacle.

Q: It seems like there are some experiences that are more me…

K: It makes you a moron… more-on, running for a shelter. There’s always existential fear because you believe in existence. You believe that you exist, and you believe that you have to exist to exist. That you have to be to be. That makes you fragile and vulnerable.

The basis is existential fear, and that comes when the ‘I’ thought is taken as real. The false is taken as real and then you are fucked by yourself! You are something that is fucked. The trap is perfect. There are eight billion trapped selves, you’re not the only one. You cannot help it. You fall in love at first sight. That’s the Awareness ‘I’. You fall in love with a self, that’s false. You become a lover loving your beloved – yourself, – instantly. And you cannot stop that trap. The trap is as perfect as you are. Perfection falling in a trap for imperfection. It’s not your fault. You cannot NOT love yourself!

And now out of love, you want to get out of that love affair. It’s all out of love! Because of love of what you are, you fall in a relative love affair and then you’re trapped. Now trying to get out of relative love makes the relative love true. Whatever you now try to get out of, confirms that there’s one. It’s crazy! Whatever you try to do now, it’s too late. It’s all too late! All the fire for truth to get out of this, is all futile. It only confirms that you need it. You confirm a phantom who needs to get out of something, who needs the truth of existence. And the more you want to confirm yourself, you unconfirm yourself. What a trap! I adore myself for that Absolute trap. It’s such a perfect trap. Fantastic! Wow! But I don’t want to be in it. [Laughter]

So any advantage you have in your so-called way is a disadvantage because you confirm someone who needs an advantage. It’s crazy! Even getting enlightenment is a disadvantage because you’re still one who needs to be enlightened. What an idea! Even waking up is a disadvantage because there’s still ‘one’ who needs to be awake. Crazy! It’s such a perfect trap. And there’s no way out.

Trying to be happy instantly makes you unhappy. Whatever you try. We can stop now. [Laughter] Any questions about that? Then you ask, what else can I do? Do whatever you like, enjoy yourself.

Q [Another visitor]: The heart breaks for the relative love?

K: Yes. The relative love breaks because there’s absolute disappointment that you cannot control anything. There is no control possible, that makes you totally disappointed. There’s no point anymore, whatever you do or don’t do. That’s why I sit here saying what to do? because I tried the same. But now what to do? Whatever you do or don’t do will not make a difference. So, you’re totally disappointed. You cannot point to yourself anymore. You cannot find yourself, neither inside nor outside. Not knowing where you are or what you are. Then who fucking cares? Then the mood inside is like – fuck it all! If I cannot… okay. Then may it be as it is.

Then surprisingly there’s the peace that you were waiting for. It was always there without any interruption. But peace was not found, neither outside nor inside. You ARE the peace that was never lost. So, what can you do? That’s why I say peace off and be that what you are because what you are doesn’t need any peace and that what needs peace is too much pee. You’re in and you’re out.

Q [Another visitor]: Could you say something about honesty?

K: Honesty. [Laughter]

Q: When I think I’m honest with myself…

K: That’s too much. You claim something that you can never be. You failed again. You will always lie to yourself, you know that, even by trying to be honest. It’s trying to be honest, but you’re not honest. If you’re honest, you’re quiet, there’s no ‘trying’ to be honest. But if you already say that you tried to be honest, it’s too late – honestly! [Laughter]

Q: That’s what I think, it’s impossible…

K: The only thing that’s impossible is that you become what you are! Everything else is possible, but by none of that you become what you are. It’s impossible that anything can satisfy you. There’s no satisfaction, but you may try. It’s like Mick Jagger… ‘I can’t get no… but I try!’… I’m not John Lennon, ‘Imagine all the people’. How heavy it gets! ‘Living in peace…’ Whoa! [Laughter] It’s already overcrowded if one is in peace. Peace never allows anyone inside. Imagine if all the people are in peace! [Laughter] Peace would kick them out right away.

That’s honesty, that whatever you try to be is a lie. You try to control something, honestly. Even by honesty, you try to control the circumstance. What else can you do? It’s a tool of the mind, it’s meant to control. You cannot help it. It is its nature, like the scorpion always stings or like Indians driving, they cannot help it, left or right or anywhere. [Laughter] If you take it personally, you have a problem here, honestly. Go with the flow if you want to drive here, especially in Tiru.

Anything else from an honest seeker?

Q: Is it quiet inside and outside?

K: That what you are is honesty, because in being quiet there is no question of being honest or not honest. But if you try to be honest, you are already out of it. If you try to be what you are, you’re already out of it. When you are just what you are, what you cannot not be, whatever you call honesty or peace, it’s your nature. Nothing has to be done for it. Trying to know the truth is suffering. If you try to become what you are, it implies that you are not what you are; and any moment you are not what you are, you suffer. Any moment you imagine not to be what you are and trying to be what you are, that’s the nature of suffering. That’s the passion for yourself. Even if you have a passion for truth, it makes you suffer. What to do? It seems to be meant like that. ¨

When I look at myself, there’s a body or something, there’s compassion for myself, but not for the person. I see that the self cannot help itself in being identified with a false identity because the trap was perfect. But now I talk to myself and say, come on, nothing happened. You still are what you are. Nothing ever happened. Even by being identified with the body, you are not less, and you are not more by not being identified. Enjoy the body as long as the body is there, but you do not depend upon it. If you’re the body, enjoy the body. If you’re the spirit, enjoy the spirit. If there’s awareness, enjoy awareness but don’t depend on the existence of it. You are in spite of that what you experience, not because.

I don’t say that you have a chance to get out of it. I say you have no chance to get out of it. You are helpless. You have to experience yourself in a body, as a person… whether you like it or not. But don’t depend on it. Just by being what you are, there’s no dependency. Your freedom is unlimited, it’s not limited by the body. The experiences don’t limit you. Even the smallest tunnel view doesn’t make you limited. Even the brightest view of the Universe doesn’t make you unlimited. You are, unlimited and limited, what you are: the limited doesn’t make you limited and the unlimited doesn’t make you unlimited. You’re always Absolute. That’s what I’m pointing to. There’s no danger in anything. There’s no need to fear anything. Your Absolute nature cannot be trapped in anything. Even if you experience being trapped, you’re not trapped. So, yes you are, but you are not. There’s always this paradox.

And you have to experience yourself in every possible way. You cannot decide which way you like. You cannot even decide what you like or do not like, what food you like or whatever. It’s always the way it is. But just see that it cannot make you more or less as you are. So, there’s no disadvantage and no advantage in anything.

Q [Another visitor]: So, it seems like we are here only to enjoy this body?

K: You have to enjoy even the disease of the body. It’s a disease but enjoy the disease because you cannot get rid of the disease. That is Ramana’s pointer too. Being born is a dis-ease. You are the ease itself, but you experience yourself in a disease. Out of the comfort you are, you experience yourself in discomfort. But does it make you less? It’s not comfortable.

Q: We have to wait until this body goes…

K: It will be gone anyway one day. It’s just a glimpse of the Absolute. It’s just… pfff… nothing.

Q: These days many Advaita teachers come, and they say you are already it…

K: I don’t say you are already it. You ARE It, but you still have to experience the pain. There’s no way out. And that’s not Advaita. Advaita means you have a way out and then you’re happy forever. [Laughter] So, don’t call me an Advaita teacher, I have nothing to do with Advaita.

Q: Many people came to Papaji and asked…

K: I don’t like Papaji. [Laughter] Forget about him. What I did not like about the Advaita teachers is that they thought there’s a way out. That by knowing yourself, you will be happy. No, you will not be. [Laughter]

Q: Are you unhappy?

K: I’m absolutely unhappy. [Laughter] I’m sad, I’m unhappy, I’m the most miserable guy on Earth but still I am what I am. It makes no difference. I have to talk to all these people even if I don’t like it. [Laughter] It’s total bullshit. I know it’s absolutely worthless and futile and I don’t have to say anything to anybody, and I’d rather watch television and look at what I have to do! Whoa! Crazy. But don’t have compassion for me! [Laughter]

Q: All this spiritual entertainment is a distraction…

K: Why not? Be distracted. It’s not in your hands to be distracted. You will be distracted if you will be distracted. You cannot control it. Even if you go to Himalaya and become a hermit, you can be distracted by the smallest sound of a bird. There’s always distraction. Going to The Dreaming Tree (restaurant), just to go there is a distraction. [Laughter]

Q: Everyone has to come here…

K: I’m surprised that so many people are still here. What are you doing here? It’s getting hot. Go home, hurry home! [Laughter] Watch Netflix. You cannot decide when this ‘aha’ happens; it may happen in spite of what you do or don’t do, so just enjoy yourself.

Q: I don’t think like that…

K: But I think like that.

Q: Ramana said…

K: You never know to whom he spoke in that moment. [Laughter]

Q: Maybe he was talking from a deep ocean…

K: I always say waves are coming in. I have no idea.

For me it’s a divine comedy. I can just present the divine comedy and nothing else. I cannot take it seriously. When you’re really serious, you cannot take it seriously. If you’re honest, you cannot take it seriously because there’s always what you are that doesn’t take it seriously. There’s always a smile in the background, this laughing clown in the back, ‘Oh look what he’s doing today. He’s serious, trying not to be distracted. Look at how much effort he’s making today, he’s working his ass off. Getting hemorrhoids sitting on the cold stones of the Ashram.’ [Laughter]

I just point out how stupid one is. I’m included, I went to Mexico, sat on a pyramid, thinking that now the stream of sun goes into my scalp and into my underwear and I will be whatever. [Laughter] I’m talking out of my own stupidity. And I enjoy ignorance. I enjoy stupidity to the maximum. What to do? I have no idea. That’s why when I say enjoy yourself, because it will take a while, I mean it. And the stupidity will not end. The only thing that’s unlimited is stupidity. Unlimited ignorance, because knowledge has no dimension. Whatever has a dimension is ignorance. It’s strange. Whatever has a dimension, up or down, higher self, lower self, big consciousness, it’s all dimensional. You die in that mansion. Life cannot be found in any diemension. I like language, I love it, especially to