Lesson from the Spirit

They show a room with a table covered by a spotless white tablecloth. On the table is a samovar, cups of tea, treats. Someone tries to run away, sees a small window high up, makes a long way toward it, props something up to reach, opens it—and beyond is an abyss.
"You often run away from yourselves. But has any one of you actually managed to do it? You reach for that little window as if for salvation, as if for a breath of fresh air. And so it seems. That fresh air in the open window entices you with freedom, with serenity, and you answer its call. But the moment you draw near, the moment you get there, you will see that there is no exit.
In trying to hide, to flee from yourselves, you bring in so much that is unnecessary and meaningless, and all that unnecessary and meaningless remains around you.

To run away from yourself means to turn back."
"What do you mean?"
"You often run from yourselves. But the one among you who does so only turns back toward his own fears and doubts, his own denials and unwillingness to see and hear all that gnaws at him.

The longer you run from yourself, the more you turn around, and therefore the more you live through the very story you are fleeing from.
And your fears—where are they? They are everywhere. For each time you turn back, you meet them, you live them. Not understanding that this is the result of your own pursuit."
"And what is a person to do?"
"Accept. Do not run. What is the use of fleeing if you cannot see the end of this race?
Through acceptance comes calm, comes understanding, awareness of the significance of every event in your life. And you no longer need to carry that pain like a banner, bearing it with heaviness in your running.
This is not the way; this is despair that calls to you with the voice of reason, not of your soul. Your soul desires rest, serenity and understanding, an enlightening of the voice of your reason and humility through the awareness of the significance of every act from which you try to flee.
If you feel you are in an endless race with yourself, stop. You need not run back, trying to change something. That is impossible and unnecessary for your soul, only for your ego.
Stop, look inside yourself: what does the inner voice whisper to you? What does it call for? Only by accepting and realizing will you receive that peace and serenity which is truly granted to you by the Creator."