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We each in our own way are continually searching
for how to live a spiritual life in the world as
we grapple with our day to day problems, and confront
the troubles and anxieties that seem to continually
face us as we read the newspapers and hear about
in our conversations with friends and family. As
we continually get inundated with all the troubling
and conflicting information, we look for ways to
separate or disassociate ourselves from all of it.
I doubt if there is not one of us who hasn’t
thought about running away from it all. By going
somewhere peaceful and calm where we could somehow
pull ourselves together for a few days, weeks, or
months or perhaps even years. When I start thinking
this way I keep on remembering a story that I have
heard many times. It goes something like this:
There is a man who in an attempt to conquer
his violent temper decides to go off to a cave in
a mountain to spend time reflecting in meditation
and prayer. After more than a decade in deep spiritual
practice that was uninterrupted by any other person,
he finally realizes that he has done it –
that he has developed the discipline and the balance
to finally conquer his anger. Now that he is balanced
and centered he finally realizes that he is able
to be with others again and decides to return to
civilization. On his way back to the city he runs
into a small child playing along side the road.
Already a local legend, the child figures out who
she sees walking past her. She jumps up and starts
walking beside him.
Overcoming her shyness she begins to ask him
if he was the hermit who went into the cave to overcome
his anger. He blissfully answers that he is, so
she promptly asks if he really did it. Answering
“yes” the hermit continues to walk peacefully
down the road content in his accomplishment. The
child continues to badger him: you really did it?
really? you never get angry? you mean you don’t
yell? and on and on and on. For a while the hermit
is able to keep his peace, but after an hour or
more he turns around and at the top of his lungs,
face red and arms flailing shouts at the child “AS
I SAID A THOUSAND TIMES, I’M THE MAN THAT
OVERCAME HIS ANGER, SO LEAVE ME ALONE YOU LITTLE
BRAT!!!"
The story brings me back a number of years ago
to a conversation I had with a healer who was teaching
me how to best cope with the capacities and limitations
of my body. One of his recommendations was that
I meditate on a daily basis. When I told him that
I had difficulty sitting still for any prolonged
period of time (an issue I continually struggle
with), he pointed out that there were ways to meditate
other than sitting in a quiet room and repeating
a mantra. That if I couldn’t sit still, how
about meditating while walking? driving a car? or
doing the dishes? It wasn’t the sitting in
a quiet room that means your meditating, but the
act of focusing on a single point and continually
bringing your mind back to that point. That what
was important was to find a way to make the meditating
a part of my daily life. Otherwise it would just
be something that I would do for a little while
and then eventually fail to find time for, as all
the other big and little things seem to get in the
way.
That brings us back to the story of the hermit
in the cave. We have to find ways to bring our spiritual
practices and values into our daily lives if they
are to mean anything. It is far easier to deal with
our problems, our issues, when they are not staring
us in the face. Anger is easy to handle when we
are not being provoked. Anxiety is a snap to deal
with when everything is going perfectly in our lives.
It is no problem to find time for exercise and meditation,
and for all those practices that make us feel better
and stronger, when we are not up to our neck with
stress and overwhelming responsibilities and duties.
And this brings me back to one more recollection,
this one from only a few weeks ago, while visiting
some close friends. While there we were invited
to take part in a number of classes and meditations
and sharings that were being held by some of the
spiritual communities that our friends are involved
with. The experience I had was wonderful. All the
people I met were warm and loving, and I found every
situation to be open and inviting. After fantasizing
about changing my life to be part of these wonderful
communities full-time, I realized that the best
part of it all was that I was able to enjoy all
of this without having to deal with my day-to-day
angst. That actually living there would be something
else entirely. That the daily challenges would eventually
need to somehow become part of the routine, and
those I would be trying to leave behind would find
a way to follow me.
The true challenge becomes having to find a place
of balance and peace while dealing with the fears,
doubts, anxieties and difficulties of daily life.
We all need to get away. To revitalize and remove
ourselves from the normal routine in order to gain
perspective and develop new ways of seeing how we
can live in the world and co-exist with others.
But eventually we have to come down from the cave
and be with each other in the world.
It should not be overlooked that there is also
another side to the story of the hermit in the cave,
and that is that while we each have to be responsible
for taking charge of our spiritual lives and making
a daily effort to continue with our practices of
choice, spirituality is at its very essence something
that we do in community. While the hermit was alone
in the cave, the practices he brought with him were
those he learned from his society and teachers.
They can only ultimately come into play in the company
of others. For the real and ultimate test of each
of our spiritual quests is how well it enables us
to live in balance and peace with all those others
in the world.
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