"Only
if we can manage to stop in time and 'slow downwards' can the old soul within
us catch up and help find a way through the growing darkness."
An old idea suggests that the world inside us
is greater than the world we see around us, that
each person is a cosmos with all the stars hidden inside. The individual soul
can be seen and held as a microcosm, a little world and realm unto itself. If
penetrated deeply enough, it might turn inside out and become the living thread
to the soul of the world. Amidst the current speed of life and rush towards the
future, the presence and value of the individual soul is easily lost. The
soul’s natural horizon is the cosmos yet the modern world tends to become
smaller and more horizontal as it loses the vertical dimension and the
grounding depths that the soul brings to life.
In losing the soulful ways of connection, we risk losing what relates us to great nature on one hand and the eternal realm and touch of the divine on the other. Amidst the modern fascination with newness and things that move faster and faster, there is something older and wiser trying to catch up with us.
In losing the soulful ways of connection, we risk losing what relates us to great nature on one hand and the eternal realm and touch of the divine on the other. Amidst the modern fascination with newness and things that move faster and faster, there is something older and wiser trying to catch up with us.
There is an old story of a young spiritual
seeker who set out in the world determined to find a sacred way of life that
could lead to inner meaning and spiritual fulfillment. It was a noble quest,
one that can awaken at any time in life as each life longs for a true
awakening. After a period of searching and encountering some of the sorrows and
troubles of the world, the young seeker felt more exiled than when he first
began his search for meaning. It was as if he had to lose parts of himself
along the way and become truly lost before finding his true sense of self.
Eventually, he found himself in the vicinity of an old temple and managed to be accepted amongst the others there who also sought more than the common world could offer. He began to study the ways of that place, which included the practice of deep meditation. Having searched far and wide and wandered throughout the world, he now had to sit still in order to learn how to search deep within. Soon enough he learned to turn inwards and was meditating day and night. He gave himself to the work and barely stopped his inner practice long enough to eat or sleep. As time went on, he grew quite thin and often seemed on the verge of complete exhaustion.
Eventually, he found himself in the vicinity of an old temple and managed to be accepted amongst the others there who also sought more than the common world could offer. He began to study the ways of that place, which included the practice of deep meditation. Having searched far and wide and wandered throughout the world, he now had to sit still in order to learn how to search deep within. Soon enough he learned to turn inwards and was meditating day and night. He gave himself to the work and barely stopped his inner practice long enough to eat or sleep. As time went on, he grew quite thin and often seemed on the verge of complete exhaustion.
One day he was granted an audience with the old
teacher who had long been the master of that temple. After observing the avid
student and inquiring about his interests and aims, the old teacher advised him
to slow down, to rest more often, and to learn to take better care of himself.
Of course, the young seeker ignored the advice; he even intensified his
practice and doubled his efforts.
When next they met, the teacher asked: “Why are
you rushing so much? What is the great hurry?” The devotee answered quickly: “I
am after enlightenment and spiritual fulfillment and there is no time to waste.”
The teacher considered that idea for a while
and then responded, “How do you know that what you seek is running somewhere
before you, so that you must spend all your energy rushing after it? What if
what you most need is actually behind you, trying to catch up to you? What if
the knowledge and wisdom you seek is waiting for you to descend to it? What if
all your haste and feverish determination turn out to be your own habitual
pattern of running away from what has been trying to catch up to you all
along?”
Looking inside for knowledge and grounding is an old idea that by now can seem counterintuitive and contrary to contemporary attitudes about life. Yet what we often need most, whether we are on a spiritual quest or simply trying to make our way in the world, is the soul connection that allows us to deepen and grow inwardly, to “slow downwards” enough to find who we already are at our core.
Looking inside for knowledge and grounding is an old idea that by now can seem counterintuitive and contrary to contemporary attitudes about life. Yet what we often need most, whether we are on a spiritual quest or simply trying to make our way in the world, is the soul connection that allows us to deepen and grow inwardly, to “slow downwards” enough to find who we already are at our core.
― Michael
Meade
Excerpted
from Why the World Doesn't End
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