I am often asked, “What can I do?”
This question comes in different ways, and I have answered it before, yet I keep applying my focus to understanding the answer anew.
DJ said ‘impeccability’. That is good, even if it is a crappy word - always reminds me of my chooks, who keep pecking everywhere. But to do the task you are now engaged in, to the best of your ability - without becoming anxious and falling for the ‘perfectionist’ trap - is one of the best recourses for those who can not see any meaning or elevation in life.
Why? Because it builds ‘will’, without which, nothing is possible. It is not an answer complete, but it lays down the foundations for later, when real work can only proceed on such a foundation.
The problem assails us when we are ensconced in the world - when no fancy shaman is dancing for us, when no magic is afoot, when the weight of mundanity is too much to bear, or simply tedious and flat. In such moments, we kind of awaken and ask: how can we reach out for some meaning in life beyond the treadmill of daily life? And this goes on for years.
Sure we can have a drink, or take a holiday or some power plant, and all seems rosy and meaningful for a short time, but soon we are back to the reality of mundanity. These short escapes can be of use, but eventually we have to find some basic staple of our inner spirit, which can sustain us through the desert of spirituality that we experience in the world.
Yes, we should practice ‘ceremonies’. They are our life blood, as in them we touch upon what is of ultimate significance to our soul. Yes we should practice ‘exercises’, as it is these which feed that inner spirit, and water the garden of our soul.
But when we are crossing the desert of the world, and our ability to feel ‘spiritual’ in any way is running on empty, we have to apply some focus which assures us that all is not futile.
Doing our best, is the first point of focus - look at what you are doing right at this moment, and apply yourself. Stop complaining, and just do the tasks in front of you well.
But there is another focal point that we can reach for in these moments: self-remembering.
We spend so much of our life embedded in the identities of our world. They claim our being.
The task of a spiritual person is to rise out of the embedded world, and ‘remember’: we are a spiritual being. We are not a mother, a daughter, a clerk, a manager, a worker, a citizen, a person of a nationality, a human - we are a being of light.
When you feel depressed about your situation, you are actually partially awake. Take that next step, and know you are alive and a being with purpose.
Of course, this awareness is something to be deepened, but for the most part, it is simply a matter of remembering - not being lost in the identities of our world. The world slaps identities upon us at every turn - a customer, a client, a market unit, a seller, a buyer - and every identity brings with it an enchantment of identity. Then we find ourselves fiercely defending that very identity. The world is full of enchantment and disenchantment.
Take the enchantment of the spiritual market place - enlightenment. How often do you see some book or person holding out that carrot - enlightenment is the final card, I have it, and if you pay me enough attention and money, I’ll give it to you. But of course you never do get it no matter how much of your life you pay, because it doesn’t exist - the perfect foil.
The other big enchantment is money. The salesperson tells you, when you make your pile, you can do anything you want. But like enlightenment, it never eventuates, because it’s just another unattainable carrot someone has thrown before you to take away your life and your money.
How we fall for the identity of dissatisfaction and unfulfilment. “IF ONLY I HAD .... EVERYTHING WOULD BE PERFECT.”
Stand aside from yourself, and laugh at your stupidity.
I have always held, the hypocrisy of our life has to be enjoyed to be seen. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you haven’t even begun.
Remember who you really are - the rest is just a play in which the roles change with every fickle wind.
To stand aside from our identities is what this whole process of personal development is all about. To extricate ourselves from the submersion we have willingly accepted by our very entering into life. That is what the whole game is about. In every and all parts of our struggle and pleasure in life, it is all about self-extraction. If you can do this in any moment of the mundanity, you can do it across the board. Not so simply, but the possibility stands vibrant before us.
How we go about lifting the base level of awareness to the surface and out into the sunlight, is what this whole forum is dedicated to, and what I and all who are here are dedicated to.
So to achieve it for a moment in your daily treadmill is no small feat. Relish in it! Lift yourself out of the identity submersion - whatever that identity is - and just feel the air around you. Every moment of such awakening is a true diamond. That is the only enlightenment and the only wealth worthy of the short life span we have been allotted.
Don’t be duped by smoky mirrors - just remember yourself, and laugh.
Michael Maher 2009
