I was wandering on my lunch hour and found a post on Drops of Water that made me stop and think ‘how true!”
She writes of a person who has attained the Tao, you can put her in any company, no matter how low. She’ll be touched by it, but unstained. An image she gives is of a lotus growing in mud.
This is an image that resonates with me, my belief is that spirituality must be workman like. Yes, there is spirituality in a lotus or a meditation cushion, but that spirit is just as present in the dirty and profane places. I also feel that this imagery makes the important point, by association, that we should not use the fact that we are spiritual or religious as a reason to cut ourselves off from the world.
I feel that spirituality must start in the mud to be of use, that’s one of the reasons I identify more with Zen, the enlightenment they espouse is something that must survive the rigors of day to day living, not sat aloof in a monastery.
Allow me to refer to the Taiji symbol, I’ve said before that I consider the profane and darker side of the things to be as conducive to spiritual development as the sweet light side of things. I think this, because we all have a dark side and I consider it to be very dangerous to deny this side in our spiritual practice. If we do, how can our spiritual development ever be truly complete?
I think we deny the darker side because we work so hard to “overcome” it, to let go of the ego enough that the darker side no longer takes hold of us. It takes a long time to learn to integrate it back into a healthier whole.
A lot of people want to be “saved” and then deny anyone else the opportunity. To do this they deny they have a darker side anymore and refuse to allow others to show theirs in their presence. This leads to repression and causes dysfunction and even eventually pathological behavior.
We need to acknowledge the darkness and use it to contrast the light. You can’t be afraid to get dirty if you are going to plant the seeds that will grow into beauty.
It resonates with me too. Part of the challenge of trying to live a more thoughtful life – the largest part probably – is to keep it up among the mud that is daily life, when our buttons are pushed and people behave as people do and when things get ugly. A monastic life would be the easiest way but it’s not for most of us. My ambition is to be that lotus. Give me 20 years or so
Wow, beautiful, thought provoking post. I needed it today, very much.