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A Moment of Silence
"Why do you laugh so much?" she asked. The Sage replied, "When my god didn't laugh much, I didn't laugh much. When my god started laughing a lot, I started laughing a lot. You could say my god laughs a lot now, for I do, too."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
Do we really need a god who takes himself or herself too seriously? Look at history. Do you see the damage that has done?
* * *
I kayaked up the river. I was told it arose from the ground upstream after going underground for some distance. I had never seen a river coming out of the ground. I made it there exhausted, partly because I had not gotten enough rest after a cycling trip two days prior. My buttocks were in a lot of pain, also.
The trip there and back was a 3.5-hour sitting on a little seat of hard plastic. I had a cushion and put it on the seat halfway through the trek upstream. I was too high, making the kayak much more unsteady. I decided to endure the plastic seat and the pain rather than risk ending up in the river.
On the way back, I would lift myself briefly, easing the ache, which would soon, too soon, return. Finally, within sight of the dock outside the cabin, I again placed the paddle down and lifted myself, now for much longer than before. I relished the relief.
This was such a relief that I exclaimed, "Hallelujah!" I was smiling with gratitude. Then, I realized I had yelled a "Praise the Lord!" This dawned on me as humorous, and I began laughing hilariously. I had experienced a humorous link between rejoicing in relief from butt pain and responding with ritual adulation.
I did not mean the exclamation to be religious or nonreligious. The word arose spontaneously from the imprint of my religious background. I had never considered I would join together such apparently incompatible verities as relief from butt hurt and the Source of all aches and nonaches.
Such a convergence, and with the laughter following, would likely not be humorous to many persons. The god of many persons is too serious-minded for such playfulness. The god-image of my upbringing was of this no-frills type. And I, being deeply religious from childhood, got infected with the same disease. Then, my sense of god changed over time.
* * *
Reflecting on the above experience, I saw two matters concerning the joyful freedom available to us. One matter is the humor itself, a humor sometimes quietly blissful. This humor arises partly from an innate humor of life itself. Falling in love with life, one sees and senses this more, so begins to embody it. Gravely religious persons may not understand this. Growing spiritually leads to a shedding of the dense humorlessness innate to so much religion and spirituality. I see this even among so many on a deeper spiritual path. We can miss seeing how taking our practice so seriously can counter the intent and spirit of the practice.
The second matter concerns reverence. When spiritual wisdom arises, so does the freedom to be irreverent, reverence and irreverence being one dance of Spirit; hence, no reverence or irrevernce. Simply, the spontaneous response arises true to the situation. Of course, if one believes in a god up there somewhere who is keeping a moral register, and this will decide whether happy heaven or hellish hell awaits one, there may be little room for humor, and, certainly, irreverence is off limits. This could apply to someone fixated on the apparent utter seriousness of karma, fate, or any deadly-deadening way of viewing cause and consequence.
* * *
In Spirit, wakefulness integrates reverence and irreverence. One can be irreverent while being reverent. One can be reverent while being irreverent. Possibly, my "Praise the Lord!" due to the butt pain relief might have been as or more reverent than one standing in a church exclaiming, "Hallelujah!" Rather than think of such matters, however, being one with the exclamation is enough. Such intimacy is bliss: "Hallelujah!" Or, "Hooray!" Or, "Yipee!" Or, just a laugh. What works for you?
Let the Wind lift you
outside one and two...
ten and eleven... on and on
Then, the numbers can
play together while
you look on
* * *
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
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