Stop inviting the future

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Don’t prolong the past,

don’t invite the future,

don’t be deceived by appearances,

just dwell in present awareness.

Patrul Rinpoche

Even good and worthwhile,  things have the capacity to pull us away from what we should be doing at this moment, which may seem less exciting in comparison. We do not need to rush the future, just do what is in front of us today.  The different wisdom traditions often tell stories about this. The famous Zen proverb – Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.  After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water  – can help us be in the moment and put our whole selves into whatever we are doing. In the tradition of the Church we are often encouraged to remember the example of those who performed their everyday duties with great love, touching the loves of those around them. Sometimes we can get too focused on the special moments, when it is the ordinary things like doing paperwork or making the lunch that count. Or we get deceived by the “appearance” and the imagining of the future in our minds, and are blinded to the actual reality of the task in front of us. As Therese of Lisieux reminds us, Nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love. In the end, it is just another way of reminding us that the present moment is the key to our happiness and our health. We have no place special to go. Happiness is right in front of us.

Me, a Saint?

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The Pope is in England for the start of the process of making John Henry Newman a “saint”. Newman was a good man and a very fine thinker, personalifying a gentle, open-minded search for truth. The school I went to in Ireland,  founded in 1867, was influenced by his principles of education. Most wisdom traditions hold up examples of people wo can act as an encouragement to us, such as the Bodhisattvas in the Buddhist tradition or the Saints in the Catholic and Orthodox history. Sometimes, however, the focus is on their extraordinary deeds which can lead us into thinking that full contentment is only to be found there. In this light, I like this quote from Thomas Merton:

For me to be a saint means to be myself.

Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is,  in fact,

the problem of finding our who I am and discovering my true self.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Sunday Quote: Who you are

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“True culture is in the mind, the mind,” he said, and tapped his head, “the mind.”
“It’s in the heart,” she said, “and in how you do things, and how you do things is because of who you are.”

Flannery O’Connor, Everything that Rises must Converge

Encouragement

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I have always liked the person of Barnabas in the New Testament. He was known as the “Son of Encouragement”. I have always felt that I would love to be known like that, as one who encourages. We all need encouragement and know what it feels like when someone believes in us. Someone who sees us, not as we are, but as we have the potential to become. That gives us courage.

…… If I accept the other person as something fixed, already diagnosed and classified…then I am doing my part to confirm this limited hypothesis. If I accept him as a process of becoming, then I am doing what I can to confirm or make real his potential.

Carl Rogers

Keeping going

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Life shrinks or expands

in proportion to one’s courage.

Anaïs Nin, Diary.

When we fall down

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We are often conscious of our failings and our lack of ability to do some of the things which we have to do. This can cause confusion and doubts in our mind. Sometimes we just have to sit with that. Mindfulness does not mean calmness. Being aware of our confusion is also mindfulness. We work with each moment as it is, even those we would probably prefer not to have.

Sometimes too we stumble and fall. Things can get too hard for us. In those moments we start over, trying not to add any judgement to the event, just being gentle with ourselves.

A monk looking for some guidance and encouragement went to Abba Sisoius and asked:

“What am I to do since I have fallen?” The Abba replied “Get up”

“I did get up but I fell again.” “Get up again.”

“I did, but I must admit that I fell once again. What should I do?”

“Do not fall down without getting back up”.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers