Well I Just Can't Help Believing
This might all sound very obvious, even simplistic. But I promise you it didn't when I began to write it...
You never stop being confronted with stuff you’d rather not experience. I’m not talking about extreme personal grief, a family tragedy or witnessing the death of a dying pet. I’m talking about everyday crises of identity, ideas about personal conduct, and concepts of spiritual growth. All of these events commence early in our lives, and we invariably assume, amidst the initial confusion, that they are a temporary thing, that such experiences are an infernal and yet necessary element of the initiation into adulthood.
Only later do we realise we are still enduring a variety of chaotic situations, excruciating dilemmas, painful truths. We slowly come to accept that these situations will most likely continue until we have settled down, sorted our career, marriage, embraced, or indeed resoundingly rejected the social conventions that bind the societies we have been born into.
But again it’s just not so. The obstructions and distractions of our lives continue apace with our immersion into adult life. I’m talking about matters of personal conscience – professional misdemeanours, dilemmas with friends, failed romances. And beyond these, more ethereal questions of existence, moments of self-revelation, and encounters with faith.
At the heart of all of these sublime experiences lies the idea of God (in whatever shape or form he might take), and the nexus of personal morality, the impulse to behave in compliance with an internal sense of right and wrong. Indeed it's partly how we aquire an understanding of what right and wrong means… how we evolve and aquire the ability to distinguish between these two supposedly clearly distinguishable concepts. This is a science, and mystic event, in itself.
This was the core of material explored in the second part of The Monastary, 5 men spending 6 weeks devoted to an exploration of their spiritual life via meditation, discussion and isolation. The dynamics of the group were as fascinating as the contrasting motivations of those taking part, and quite moving. But when it gently came to a close, what it left me with was the revelation that the moral or ethical challenges we face are always behind the personal crisis. They are what fuel the impulse, they initiate the requirement to explore, define and objectify our existence, to work through and learn from our finite existence.
And yet this is not how we ‘rationalise’ our lives. When we meditate on the course we persue in our lives, this is invariably not how we perceive or define our objectives, here on this mortal coil. Quite the opposite, because on a social level, even during the moments we treasure as our most intimate and special, we spend the majority of our energy trying to escape or avoid the very real, and universal, quest for enlightenment. We’re too busy creating pedestals, or digging bunkers, for ourselves.
You can't defend yourself against something that is continually knocking on your door, you can only attempt to ignore it, or open the door.
You never stop being confronted with stuff you’d rather not experience. I’m not talking about extreme personal grief, a family tragedy or witnessing the death of a dying pet. I’m talking about everyday crises of identity, ideas about personal conduct, and concepts of spiritual growth. All of these events commence early in our lives, and we invariably assume, amidst the initial confusion, that they are a temporary thing, that such experiences are an infernal and yet necessary element of the initiation into adulthood.
Only later do we realise we are still enduring a variety of chaotic situations, excruciating dilemmas, painful truths. We slowly come to accept that these situations will most likely continue until we have settled down, sorted our career, marriage, embraced, or indeed resoundingly rejected the social conventions that bind the societies we have been born into.
But again it’s just not so. The obstructions and distractions of our lives continue apace with our immersion into adult life. I’m talking about matters of personal conscience – professional misdemeanours, dilemmas with friends, failed romances. And beyond these, more ethereal questions of existence, moments of self-revelation, and encounters with faith.
At the heart of all of these sublime experiences lies the idea of God (in whatever shape or form he might take), and the nexus of personal morality, the impulse to behave in compliance with an internal sense of right and wrong. Indeed it's partly how we aquire an understanding of what right and wrong means… how we evolve and aquire the ability to distinguish between these two supposedly clearly distinguishable concepts. This is a science, and mystic event, in itself.
This was the core of material explored in the second part of The Monastary, 5 men spending 6 weeks devoted to an exploration of their spiritual life via meditation, discussion and isolation. The dynamics of the group were as fascinating as the contrasting motivations of those taking part, and quite moving. But when it gently came to a close, what it left me with was the revelation that the moral or ethical challenges we face are always behind the personal crisis. They are what fuel the impulse, they initiate the requirement to explore, define and objectify our existence, to work through and learn from our finite existence.
And yet this is not how we ‘rationalise’ our lives. When we meditate on the course we persue in our lives, this is invariably not how we perceive or define our objectives, here on this mortal coil. Quite the opposite, because on a social level, even during the moments we treasure as our most intimate and special, we spend the majority of our energy trying to escape or avoid the very real, and universal, quest for enlightenment. We’re too busy creating pedestals, or digging bunkers, for ourselves.
You can't defend yourself against something that is continually knocking on your door, you can only attempt to ignore it, or open the door.
posted by johnnytoobad at 11:06 pm
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