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A Brianian Tale: Staying Home
A man went to a Spiritual Director, complaining of fatigue and lack of peace, “Sir, I am so tired, all the time, and never seem to have peace.” Asked the Spiritual Director, “Where is your home?” The man began to share his street address, but was interrupted—“Man! Go home, and stay home. And, if you leave home, get back home!” “That is impossible,” argued the client, “I have places I have to go and things to do.” “No,” retorted the Spiritual Director, “being home is never impossible, when you realize home is always where you are.”
A Zen Story: The Cliff and the Strawberry
A man was walking through the wilderness and came upon a vicious tiger. He ran, but he soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the precipice. As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing the vine. The tiger remained looking over the side of the cliff at a potential meal, the man. Then, the man noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He took it and popped it in his mouth. He found it to be wonderfully delicious!
We are all between the past and future, between birth and death. Can we see, now, the gifts Grace is offering us?
The New Yorker: What Happens Next
Jon-Kabat Zinn shares a cartoon from the New Yorker (Wherever You Go, There You Are)
Two Zen monks in robes and shaved heads, one young, one old, sitting side by side cross-legged on the floor. The younger one is looking somewhat quizzically at the older one, who is turned toward him and saying: “Nothing happens next. This is it.”
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A Brianian Tale: Doing Nothing For the Glory of God
A young man entered the novitiate, to prepare for ordination into the monastery. After a few days, in which the Abbot had, repeatedly, told the aspirate, “Be patient, and I will give you something to do, soon,” the young man spoke, “Abbot, sir, I am very confused and frustrated. I have come here to serve God, and you have given me nothing to do.” Replied the aged Abbot, “Son, it took most of my life to learn a lesson I’m trying to teach you, now, if you will not be so stubborn: He who cannot enjoy doing nothing for the Glory of God is ill prepared to do something for the Glory of God."
The above stories are about being mindful, appreciating the moment, being gentle with the present, and availing oneself of the opportunities that are often missed by our trying to be somewhere other than where we are.
I like an old catechism affirming that, essentially, we are created to enjoy God. If all the persons who are trying to change the world through a priority on activism placed, rather, priority on enjoying God, likely much less activism would need expending to transform the world. Of course, what I just said is too “simply too impractical” for most to believe, and I am confident you and I have trouble believing it, too.
How much have you been where you have been,lately?
Sharing your love of Life is something much better than sharing a message. Don’t you think?
A Right Here Practice
Just Sit!
…
But, I want to have union with God?
“You can no longer have union with God than your nose can scratch itself?”
Just Sit! Enjoy what is already, always so.
Do you have to tell your eyes to see, or your heart to beat, or you nose to smell, . . .? Then, why do you try to experience God, as though such experience is quite unnatural?
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