The trickiest part of living a life of spirit, these days, is to keep your eyes open and your feet on the ground and not get so “woo” that you miss the vibrance of reality; which is hard, given the intoxicating qualities of spiritual knowledge and practice. Man, if I had a nickel for every abstract energetic Quality I’ve experienced through meditation or asana…I’d have enough to retire young. Colours, lights, vague feelings of well-being; visions of the future, of distant lands, of imaginary places. Contact with what I assume is the Divine. Also some experiences not so pleasant, usually resulting in multiple-hour crying jags. They were all real to me, and they were very strong and potent. And I definitely think they inform my practice and help me discuss similar situations with my students if that comes up.
They just haven’t helped me when I’m having an argument with a friend, or on voting day, or to remember my keys, or when I’m in line for the ferry. You know what helps then? The REALITY of the method of practice, not the energetic woo. The concrete techniques, and maybe most importantly, actually taking action.
Don't just do something, sit there
It’s Remembrance Day today, a holiday with many convoluted layers of sweet and bitter. What’s that line from Lord of the Rings: “Love is now mingled with grief”. In a way, our affection for those in our tribe actually ends up feeding armed conflict in many ways [when we feel those we love are threatened], and those conflicts result in loss, which would not be so poignant if it were not for our love. I never really know how to feel about this holiday, apart from wanting to volunteer at the Legion or something: I don’t want us to have any more wars, but I don’t want to undermine the honour of those men and women who truly, genuinely believed they were fighting for their lives and their loves, just because I have the luxury of pacifism. I want to remember, but I want to take action based on that remembrance.
Colours, lights and sound
This year we are seeing how taking strong action, on this crazy plane of reality, can have tangible results. On the US Election Day, in my classes, I talked about finding unity through our core reasons for voting, even if we ended up choosing differently: everybody wants to be happy. The American voters expressed, in a concrete way, their strong vision of their desired future. And a criticism [unwarranted IMHO] levelled by opponents of then-Senator Obama was that he was all woo, all concept, all Hope’n'Change. The ACTIONS of the voters were undertaken, at least I’m pretty sure, to make this concept concrete. Vision without action: insubstantial woo. Action without vision: a hard, exhausting slog with no purpose and no end in sight. The voters remembered what was important to them, and then they made their remembrances manifest.
I haven’t had the privilege of talking with veterans about the details of their experiences, but I believe that they are asking for more than our remembrance. They are asking us to take action to continue to realize their vision of what was so important to them. When you re-member, it’s not just a mental exercise, it’s a repopulation of the mind and the heart with what is central and vital. The natural extension of remembrance is action. The way back to Spirit is through action.