By Chris Baker
These notes were written by me last year when in northern Vietnam, visiting the hilltribe people near Sapa…
Looking out over the rice paddies of Thanh Phu village, I feel a touch of envy for the easy acceptance these people show for what is. Life here is uncluttered, without the need for new plasma TV’s and 16 valve urban 4WD’s. The Tay people I’m staying with and the h’Mong group just a few villages away at Lau Chai are so joyful with everyday life, it’s a pleasure to spend the day with them. We have much to learn about what it is about life that brings joy and contentment.
Even so, the desire for improvement is creeping in, and seems to be growing in the younger people. As they become acquainted with western life, there is a pull that is stealing the contentment away from them. The wish for education is a desire that seems to be “good”, but I suspect they are exchanging wisdom for education. The earthy kind of wisdom of people in touch with themselves is being pushed aside for that western ideal of knowing endless information about stuff.
Is it part of the human condition that we fall into an endless seeking of making things better? And in doing so we get caught up in what is external to us, and get further from that innermost stillness which holds a deep wisdom. What comes with that innermost connection is a joyfulness that we can still see amongst the mountain people in northern Vietnam, and what seems like an elusive dream for most westerners.
It’s getting in touch with that inner stillness that brings me to Vietnam, and particularly to Hoi An where I’m attending some presentations by Serge Benhayon on the topic of actually putting into daily practice that connection with the innermost. Serge is Australian, and it’s kind of surprising to find that the person who has been able to help me actually feel that inner connection is not living in some Tibetan monastery, but is an everyday kind of guy who likes surfing and lives in Northern NSW.
And he’s hosting a retreat in Hoi An, where I’ll be for the next few days and where I’ve come for some more hints that may help me in my daily practice of connecting with my innermost. The ancient name for innermost is esoteric, and you can think of this as an esoteric school of ageless wisdom – because what he presents is not new, but something we all have within us. But the externally directed lives that we lead take us away from that connection, so it’s more a matter of remembering what we already know, or connecting to what is already within, than learning something new.
That connection is something that the mountain people haven’t entirely lost, and what most westerners have shut down, or covered over with daily busy-ness.
Over the years I’ve been to various so-called personal development courses, and been to retreats by spiritual teachers of different colours. But the telling thing for me is that it has only been the presentations of Serge Benhayon that have helped me to actually feel that inner connection in a way that is solid.
There have been glimpses of this in my life from time to time, but mostly I haven’t known what I was feeling and have let go of it, and gone back to thinking rather than feeling. When I have noticed that connection in the past I have tried to figure it out, using my engineer’s training, and in doing so have got lost in thought and analysis.
The truth I was missing is just about acceptance of what is, by feeling, not by analysis.
For me the journey to myself was a stop-start and erratic path of seeking which did not bring me closer to contentment. At times I achieved a passing acquaintance with joy and stillness and it came more or less accidentally, and it proved to be fleeting. With Serge Benhayon’s guidance I have come to a deep understanding, a visceral knowing, of that stillness that is within us all. And a knowing of how to get back to it often.
My inner connection with myself is now much stronger, and although I am sometimes still distracted by the busy-ness of life, I now notice much more quickly when I stray. My reconnection now comes more easily and is more consistent.
Thank you Serge for reminding me of the ageless wisdom that is within us all.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Love is simple – look at a baby and you will know. Possibly remember when you were a child – things were simple.
This speaks volumes for the ‘simple life’ and this doesn’t mean we all need to work on farms in Vietnam but we all need to take stock of how this feels and looks. I know in my travels there is something about people who are working closely with the land, there is a homely simpleness about how they go about life. As I said that doesn’t mean we all need to buy a farm but again take stock of the feeling. I must admit I’ve always wanted a farm and maybe this is why but in the meantime I will bring that feeling to my life everywhere no matter what the scenery. After all it’s the feeling, the simplicity and the fresh connection is what I am seeing and I can have that anywhere.
It is beautiful to be inspired by another and a most satisfying way to learn.
In relinquishing our connection to love we instantly lose our sense of knowing what true fulfillment and joy is. As such we lose our sense of knowing who we are and it is this emptiness that we are left with, that sends us on the perpetual quest to seek to fill it or mask the tension we feel, through reaching for the false lights that serve only to keep us distracted but in the end deliver nothing, never ever able to fulfill as only love does.
Yes when you come across a regular guy who holds all in complete equalness and spouts ancient wisdom, and is walking his talk, and whose teachings, presentations and revelations stir up a deep knowing from within, you do tend to stop and listen,
The Ageless Wisdom is a truth we all know and can feel. Serge Benhayon presents and inspires a way of living that develops our awareness of this truth.
We do have much to learn about what brings true joy, connecting with our innermost self is a great starter.
Serge Benhayon lives in a way so that he can have access to Universal intelligence and the Ageless wisdom at all times, this is available to everyone equally as Serge has always presented on the importance of our choices and the steps we can take that allow for us to experience a deeper connection as well.
Gorgeous blog, capturing beautifully the beauty of simplicity and that the understanding of this is being presented with great awareness by Serge Benhayon.
Yes, it stood out for me too. I, like so many, was sold and bought the illusion that contentment could be gained by gaining something outside of myself while all along it is within. What irony, particularly since it has been taught by all the true teachers since time began.
“But the externally directed lives that we lead take us away from that connection, so it’s more a matter of remembering what we already know, or connecting to what is already within, than learning something new.” This is confirming to read Chris. When we ‘choose to struggle’ have we missed what is already known? So in effect we are responsible for what we know. It is a joy to feel the future already there and be wisely patient and allow the simplicity of its flow to externalise into you to become your seeded way. Instead of “The wish for education is a desire that seems to be “good”, but I suspect they are exchanging wisdom for education. The earthy kind of wisdom of people in touch with themselves is being pushed aside for that western ideal of knowing endless information about stuff.” In the western world we do need the qualifications and mixed with our innate wisdom brings that quality to service. We still need to learn the trades and also understand how to connect to our innate wisdom.
“When I have noticed that connection in the past I have tried to figure it out, using my engineer’s training, and in doing so have got lost in thought and analysis.” Me too. It’s more of a ‘hoot’ to stay feeling and not to be caught by a glimpse or revelation, a discovery of knowing more about you, a picture, or a hurt in the past. And, this is the abuse I have unfortunately accustomed myself to do instead of to continually feel and mark to know what is you and what is not you then, what is next. “The truth I was missing is just about acceptance of what is, by feeling, not by analysis.”
One of our greatest mistakes is exchanging wisdom for education for as a result we have ended up with an educated but largely unwise world.
I love what you are saying here. Yet another example of simplicity. We have made life about complexity and even champion it but the grandness of us and the wisdom is found in simplicity.
Thanks Chris – sometimes we think that to survive in life we need to withdraw from it but it seems like what we need to do is to stop racing around so much and take stop moments in our lives and in our days so that the inner stillness can be re-anchored into our bodies.
Chris,
This sentence stood out for me today “The wish for education is a desire that seems to be “good”, but I suspect they are exchanging wisdom for education.”
Exchanging ‘wisdom for education’, beautifully spoken and something to deeply ponder on. As this I feel is how western society is living, yet in my experience the education I have feels empty and rather false if my inner wisdom is not also mixed with it.
The wisdom is there, in us, coming through us if we connect to our truth again. “But the externally directed lives that we lead take us away from that connection, so it’s more a matter of remembering what we already know, or connecting to what is already within, than learning something new.” – How would life be on earth if we would teach like that? Reminding our kids on the truth instead of trying to fill them up with knowledge. A knowledge by the way which has lead us where we are now, including wars (inside homes, people and between countries), a general dissatisfaction even we live in comfort, increasing illnesses and a global mess, if we are honest. But to teach in a way that is reminding us what we have inside already, we have to activate this kind of connection to the wisdom first, so we know and live what we are talking about.
Thank you Chris for a beautiful sharing. It often seems that when people live close to the land in the simplicity of life there is much more contentment, until our western ways take over the country.. My life has become much simpler over the last few years, choosing to connect to my inner essence and learning to live life from there instead of the role playing and goal seeking way I used to live.
Thank you Chris Baker, this goes to show that we all have something to bring to the table so to speak. We all bring and live something that inspires another or lets another realise something. If we allow ourselves more to be with each other and learn from and with each other, be inspired by each other, as you were by the people of northern Vietnam, we would step by step bring back a true way of living for us all.
Beautifully said Esther. It is through our openness to each other that we discover there is much to learn from each other, that we are essentially all equal, clearly here together for a purpose, and can only truly grow and evolve when we work together.
I love this sentences Chris as it says it all for me: “The truth I was missing is just about acceptance of what is, by feeling, not by analysis.” Most of us are falling for the “analysis-illness” hence that made it very easy to loose the connection to our bodies. Thank you so much Chris for pointing it out so clearly.
A true inspiration draganabrown.
Ah yes Joel! I can feel that back in ancient times, education was based on wisdom, however that since that time it has become more and more bastardised into a focus on (head / brain) ‘intelligence’. The interesting thing I have reconnected to through the teaching of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is that when we connect to wisdom (our inner knowing) first, we automatically have access to all the universal intelligence we need. In contrast, when our focus is on intelligence first, we deny ourselves wisdom and the intelligence we gain comes from the head and not from the heart and serves the head (or individualism), not the heart (or brotherhood).
Thank you for this great blog Chris. This part particularly stood out for me, ‘exchanging wisdom for education’, this is so, so true as we see more and more of this happening around us. I feel the pleasure of simplicity is full of wisdom and the complexity of living is full of knowledge.
“Is it part of the human condition that we fall into an endless seeking of making things better? And in doing so we get caught up in what is external to us, and get further from that innermost stillness which holds a deep wisdom.” Very true Chris. Choosing to reduce complication in my life is enabling me to return to the stillness and joy that has always been there.
Very true Rachel, we can be so clever but not really understand the limitations that being clever can impose, asking people to never stray outside the boundaries of the accept understanding of the day, lest we be shunned by those deemed to know more.
There is a depth in wisdom that is held by many…when we share this in Education the level of understanding resonant and it is then that we get to feel the true path of education for all.
Complication keeps us distracted from what’s truly going on and creates a delay, when we connect to the stillness within life becomes simple and there is more energy to focus on what is true.
“The truth I was missing is just about acceptance of what is, by feeling, not by analysis.”
Great reminder Chris! When we receive a feeling from our body we know instantly what the whole picture is, we either accept it or we don’t – when we don’t and we start the analysis then the whole picture is lost and we find ourselves scrambling to piece it all together again – crazy really since we had it the first time 🙂
Feeling, not thinking or analysing, is the key to connecting back to the inner most stillness that we all have.
What is there awaiting us all in our inner hearts is the fulfilling stillness that busyness can only numb us from, but can never give us, what it falsely promises.
It has taken awhile for me to find your blog Chris, but the timing is great, as I too look for the simplicity and truth of Life. Thank you for the snapshot of Vietnam, I have not been there as yet, it sounds so beautiful in its simplicity. I agree that the only person who has fulfilled my search for a connection to my innermost Wisdom is Serge Benhayon and his presentation of the Ancient Wisdom and the Livingness of this in his life..
The title is so apt for me today as I have been realising lately how super simple my life has become….pleasure in simplicity….. isn’t that how a Son of God lives?
True Wisdom is very humbling, while education without true wisdom is very disempowering as we learn lots at the expense of our connection with our the inner heart. Are we not rich enough to appreciate all we have truly been given? We cannot ever truly appreciate in full all we truly have if we are not rich enough in our own connection with our heart and our Soul.
Very beautifully said Joshua, the richness in life is felt and shared by our connection to our soul.
This is great Chris. It got me pondering about the Tv’s and the western lifestyle – why are we all doing the same thing, making the same choices and following the same path? Do we even want the TV…etc? Have we even stopped to feel what it is we want? I feel we are so caught up into buying into that this is the way we live in the western world we haven’t even stopped to question it. The Sapa people have a lot to teach us.
Yes Chris, Serge Benhayon was, in this lifetime, the first teacher/presenter that I was (some years ago now), and still am, called back to observe time and time again, as I too develop a consistency with my connection to my inner-most essence. He lives this wisdom consistently.
I am always hearing stories like this about the people in Viet Nam. It is somewhere I would definitely like to go and see for myself. It’s sad that here, the everyday people are losing the ability to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life and we are seeking the ‘next big thing’ like new phones, greater video games an bigger TV’s with surround sound…
Thanks Chris for sharing your experience of the Ancient Wisdom Teaching in action in everyday life. How beautiful that you should come across them being lived in a community today. The Western world has been distracted heavily by commercialism, gadgets, learned intelligence and recognition. One man has stayed connected and through his livingness brought that experience to us all, and we can make the choice regarding how we want to live. It is as you say – the Ancient Wisdom Teachings are already in us and when observing and listening to the Presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine we return to what we already know. A Blessing for us all.
I am currently attending a Serge Benhayon hosted retreat in the UK and it is so awesome to be reminded to everything we already know but have conveniently forgotten about so we have been able to stray away from where we originally came from, being able to create the world we are currently living in. Although we are not content with the way our lives are currently and the fact that we innately know how we actually should live, from the innermost, it is astonishing to experience that it has been our own choice to go there and in a way we are proud of the life we have created and have investments in that avoids us from just letting go and easily choose to return to who we truly are.
What your blog reminds me Chris is how simple being in life can be living from our connection with God, and the stillness that ever awaits to remind us should we get lost.
A great sharing here Chris, there is much to ponder on in what you have written.
Thank you Chris, I really enjoyed your blog , it reminded me of times past in my life when I did have those fleeting moments with God, only to lose them and then try to find them, feeling God had deserted me. Now I know, that what I was seeking lives within me and has always been there, and in any moment I can now choose to live from my innermost place of love. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
It is really heartening to know that even though it is gorgeous to do, we do not need to travel far and wide to discover the depth of who we truly are. Yes, it is indeed inside us and Serge Benhayon offers through his presentations a way of living a simpler life and connecting to the inner knowing that all of us have, equally so.
Totally agree Jo. We don’t have to go anywhere to re-connect. And by re-connecting to ourselves, we automatically re-connect with everyone, far and wide. I also agree, that it is pretty wonderful to see other parts of the world.
I totally agree Jo, we certainly do not have to travel anywhere to feel the richness of our heart connecting to our soul. We can be anywhere and choose this divine connection instantly.
Great blog Chris. I love how you have touched on how we are selling ourselves short for the busyness of life. Instead of remaining with a connection to who we are inside, and connection with everyone around us, embracing and loving people, we get caught up in our own dramas, anxiousness and live in a small bubble where we don’t consider the bigger picture for humanity. It’s far more joyful to live in connection and with the knowing there is more then just the current situations we experience in our daily lives.
The title of your article says it all ” Pleasure in Simplicity”. Returning to our inner stillness allows us to appreciate this in the face of all the distractions there are in life.
Chris, thank you for your words. Both, the Vietnamese people you talk about and
the Universal Medicine retreats talk to the same inner stillness and simplicity.
It was really beautiful to read the notes from your Vietnam trip and the earthy kind of wisdom you talk of those in the hilltribe. It is gorgeous that those untouched by the western world can live so connected to the land and themselves and be so joyful in everything that brings with little need for more. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you Chris for sharing your experience with the Vietnamese people which feels so precious, they are connected to a truth that we have lost sight of in the ‘busy-ness of our Western lives but Serge Benhayon presents simple tools for us to re-connect with our own innate wisdom.
Thank you Chris, a lovely reminder of the power of choosing to connect to our inner wisdom where we can see life for the busy-ness of what it is and embrace more of the stillness and joy that is always there for us all.
“it has only been the presentations of Serge Benhayon that have helped me to actually feel that inner connection in a way that is solid.” Chris, although your blog was written in 2012, what you have shared is still true for me and my friends now in 2015.
Thank You Chris Baker for reminding us that there are people living in our world without the big fat TV’s and other modern things that come automatically if you live in the western world. I know and understand our living a simple life but it is not easy when you live in a fast paced city like London.
I put effort, focus, attention and work hard into making my life simple and this is a work in progress for me. If it does not support me or it has no meaning or purpose, I have to question it. I am known for consistently letting go of anything that I don’t need.
Simple Living makes sense to me as it allows me to stay more connected to me and my body and that means I have a deeper awareness about my surroundings. When I take me out into the world, I don’t feel there is anything missing so I am no longer tempted by anything that is outside of me. I hope that makes sense.
Its true that technologically better is not always equal to a better life and the technologically simpler is likewise not better, the whole discussion run the risk of fall fowl of the ‘better than’ comparison, the one constant, regardless of geography or economy is connection to self. This delivers a quality that surpasses everything else, and its not better than because it is equally available to all and not dependant on external factors.
It is absolutely awesome what you share here Chris. When I read “The wish for education is a desire that seems to be “good”, but I suspect they are exchanging wisdom for education.” it really resonated with me. I always saw education as being number 1, a way to change lives and build prosperity. In many senses this is true, however, what you expose is the fact that when we give our power away to ‘education and forces outside of us’ we entirely discount the wisdom within and this only leads to unhappiness as you have so beautifully expressed. Thank you.
What a great point you are confirming Leonne. I agree Chris is making sense about how the education is probably being exchanged for that innate wisdom that their families have passed on for generations. Education seems good and a way to better and improve and attain more, get more and be more. If we took education back to basics and started lesson one with Self Responsibility, our world would slowly begin to do a U turn and our medical system and other systems would all feel the benefit.
Rock on Bina Pattel, this is the truth, the first basic lesson of educating our children that our lives are our responsibility would turn everything around to its natural order and the knowing that we create our life with every single choice we make.
Yes, I agree Leonne. Wealth and prosperity seems to be commonly measured by materialistic things and our level of education but this certainly doesn’t capture wealth of wisdom or true wealth, which is not obtainable with possessions but a lived experience of deep connection to our hearts.
A delight to read your blog this morning Chris, I feel very still after reading it. I agree and am living this simple truth you present; there is so much pleasure in simple living…
Loved reading this, in particular how the older ways of living promoted a connection to the physical and to our bodies, while modern education has a habit of trading that in for pure knowledge (without the lived wisdom).
I have visited and walked with the hill tribe women in Sapa, I too was struck by the simplicity of their lives, how they went to bed at sunset and rose at sunrise, ate simple food and lived in harmony. I could feel how connected these women were with themselves, each other, their surroundings and with the flow of life. Something that I had let go of, as I grew up. But now thanks to Serge Benhayon, many of the students of the WAY of the Livingness, and the beautiful hill tribe women of Sapa, I have been inspired to connect to my own inner stillness. Thank you Chris for the reminder of the beauty of simplicity and also for me of the beauty of Sapa.
Thanks Chris. It’s true that “better” is a trap to keep us looking outside of ourselves. It is eye opening to be in a place like Vietnam to see how people can live abundant lives with so much “less stuff” than I have, it is quite the reflection for me to acknowledge the purpose of most of my stuff is distraction, distraction from what? From myself and my stillness – what am I actually trying to avoid here? Could it be my pride in not wanting to admit I have had it wrong for so long?
So true Geraldine ‘the purpose of most of my stuff is distraction, distraction from what? From myself and my stillness – what am I actually trying to avoid here?’ As I am letting go of more stuff I am more easily able to connect to my stillness.
Hi Chris, I can feel the connection and the joy you have experienced within yourself and your connection to the people who live in the mountains in Vietnam. The grace that your words convey brought me to a very still place within myself. Beautiful.
Thank you Chris for sharing simplicity and contentment and the feeling of stillness. I can relate to what you say here: “With Serge Benhayon’s guidance I have come to a deep understanding, a visceral knowing of that stillness within us all. And a knowing of how to get back to it”.
The thing is that we are sold this way of life from all angles – forever chasing to make things better, and everyone thinks they are the only one that is failing to obtain satisfaction, so each of us just keep trying harder and harder! It is a carrot dangling, and it is not even a real carrot. When Serge Benhayon by example and Universal Medicine presentations showed a different way – one of reverting back to our innermost, where choices are guided by love and truth, not from a perceived lack or a reaction to something – it all made sense and the dangling carrot lost most of its lure.
Thank you Chris – a lovely post and a lovely reminder of the beauty and simplicity when connecting to our inner-most and stillness within.
Yes Angela the reminder to return to our innate ability to feel with stillness is what allows the simplicity to flow within.