Thoughts I've thunk while sippin' at a cup of tea and reading something provoking, often get dropped here for the benefit of humanity and my own hubris.
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Ravi Ravindra, in the Fall 2004 issue of Parabola, wrote:
The struggle to know who I am, in truth and in spirit, is the spiritual quest. The movement in myself from the mask to the face, from the personality to the person, from the performing actor to the ruler of the inner chamber, is the spiritual journey. To live, work, and suffer on this shore in faithfulness to the whispers from the other shore is spiritual life. To keep the flame of spiritual yearning alive is to be radically open to the present and to refuse to settle for comforting religious dogma, philosophic certainties, and social sanctions.
That’s right. How can you grow if you have all the answers? That’s right, it isn’t about finding the answers, its about struggling with the questions.
I grew up in a culture that had the answers to everything. They taught that the goal of life is the find the answers, and aren’t you lucky to be born with it. Now, just sit back and enjoy your life.
But the fire inside got smaller. So I added more kindling thinking that would help… I read voraciously, but what it needed was air. For without any oxygen, the fire almost went out.
So I stepped outside. It was both liberating and terrifying at the same time. For the path is really a tightrope, and I’m not sure about that net. But the fire inside started to grow and burn. Oh sure, I’ve slipped from the rope a couple of times, but I usually just rack myself and get back up.
So here is where you will still find me… in the middle of this tightrope. Struggling. Straining. Sweating. The effort is what builds character.
© 2004-2005, Howard Abrams • Except where otherwise noted, all original content is licensed under a Creative Commons License (see details).
I shouldn’t have made it sound like a person couldn’t struggle within the confines of organized religion or absolute answers. There is the “Job Syndrome” where the struggles and terror of daily life (especially calamities) bring those absolutes into question.
The call from within may elicit different choices, but answering the call is the primus modus operandi.
Comment posted on Saturday, 11 September 2004I don’t know why I just started singing this Michelle Shocked song, as it doesn’t necessarily relate to this topic, but I thought I would spill what comes in…
Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where
they all came from.
Everybody’s worryin’ ‘bout where they’re gonna go
when the whole thing’s done.
But no one knows for certain and
so it’s all the same to me.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.
Oh, and it’s actually an Iris DeMent song.
Comment posted on Saturday, 11 September 2004I’d like to leave you with this teaching.
Comment posted on Monday, 13 September 2004Well said, well said indeed. This reminds me I need to keep up with mine I have written like twice this month. I think that this writing after the first month when all the sporadic things you had to say are long gone is a serious effort. I completely believe it is the journey not the destination. Careful though it sounds like your journey is taking you into the waters of Existentialism which a lot people end up in and look around to go “where the hell did everybody go?”
Comment posted on Monday, 13 September 2004
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