On getting up early, I would get the bus and walk to
the Temple, the same Temple I would go to when I was at university. Temples can
be institutions in many senses. The spiritual dynamic vs the religious dynamic
is constantly one that such an institution has to grapple with. Institution is
defined by people, positions, rigidity, and rules – these things relate to the “flesh.”
Spirituality is defined by thoughtfulness, meditative growth, inner peace;
these are things of the “spirit.” As I walked in to the room where there was a
form of mantra meditation happening, where mantras are chanted for about two
hours, I noticed of around 15 people in the room, I didn’t know a single one.
When I was younger, everything evolved around people; who introduced you to it,
who is who, etc. Years later, I didn’t see any of the old faces. On my last day
I saw the first person I ever met at that temple and he was still exactly the
same; extremely peaceful and content. It made me think about the importance of
deeply understanding why we do something, rather than the externals which
includes the more institutional side of whatever it might be, whether it’s
going to the Temple, or studying something. Of course a deep appreciation of
who is teaching you is important, but the defining factor really is why you are
doing it. This matters, and in the long term it will matter even more. Old
people will leave and new people will come, it’s the nature of everything; the
more we are attached to the institutional side, the more superficial our
commitments will be. The more spiritually we are grounded in what we are doing
and why, the more reason and satisfaction we will find in what we are doing.
The problem with youth, and the benefit of youth are
that we are naïve and often unable to attribute cause and effect. We listen to
everything, we absorb everything, but are often unable to connect effectively
what is happening. I guess this is what “experience” means. I noticed in my jiu
jitsu training from an early stage that there were a significant number of more
senior belts who were really very nice people. They were friendly, humble and
generally very nice. I remember thinking they are far better people than I am
because of how nice their character is, and how helpful they are. After getting
to know them more for a longer amount of time, I can confirm they are genuinely
nice people. On reflection, it’s been a very valuable lesson that if we believe
that the people who are advanced in our respective fields are genuinely nice
people, and better than us in character, then it is worth continuing on that
path for we will grow in the right way. If however, people are bad characters,
even though very advanced in their fields in their abilities, then it is better
to re-evaluate how you are going about your goals and your path. Life isn’t about
picking up lots of skills and abilities, it’s about being able to be more
content with who you are becoming and what you are doing in this world; we
should do what we can to aid an organic and healthy journey for the soul
through whatever activities bring balance to our path.
