Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Jews of his time
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Grant Lindsley, at a monastery in the Tai Forest Tradition in Thailand, asking the head monk about those "big moments" - voices, visions, out-of-body, sudden breakthroughs ... - we can have along the Way -
"And with regard to . . . big moments," Ajahn Sukhito said. I felt a catch in my throat. Big moments were still what I was after, epiphanies that bypassed the slog of incremental growth. "They can be good. But they may not be markers of progress. They can be born of delusion." He looked away to the smudge of orange at the edge of the sky. The tips of the trees had gone dark like extinguished candles. "Patience and kindness," he said. "Those are markers."
*Mediocre Monk: A Stumbling Search for Answers in a Forest Monastery.
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Recently, I humorously explained how my life appeared boring compared to the desires so many seem to have for a more exciting, on-the-go life. A friend replied I appeared to be saying content, not boring. True.
Many persons are attracted to a spiritual path to be entertained with the big moments Ajahn Sukhito refers to. The Way is seen as an opportunity to bolster the ego's wish for the unfamiliar, the mystical, the esoteric... to experience the spiritually spectacular, to be spiritually elite.
The Way is not about special spiritual big moments or being special-spiritual-remarkable. Rather than big moments, you find spiritual life to be primarily little moments. The Way, in fact, can be rather dull and unentertaining - it is a big disappointment to the ego. Yet, stick with it, and dull takes on a different quality - call it contentment, if you wish. The little moments become enough, and enough is a joyful way to live.
*Brian K. Wilcox, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
