Spiritually Speaking

Christmas Eve is upon us. The cityscape has been transformed by brightly coloured lights, festive decorations and displays. Carolers serenade shoppers, and there are signs of changes in peoples’ day to day life.

Human beings are sense-making beings who create rituals and cultural norms as a way to function individually and with others in every day life.

Have you ever watched something on TV that you know your housemates (parents, siblings, spouse, partner) would disapprove of? Did you keep the remote-control handy, just in case you needed to change the channel quickly to a program that wouldn’t get

Last Saturday, I declared Spiritual Disability as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenge facing mankind today. Its causes, from the Hindu perspective, are the taamasik or dark qualities of man.

If I were to ask you to name a well-known endeavor where disability is a requirement, what would your reply be? The first thing that jumps to mind is probably Paralympics.

Probably most people have heard about the quality the Buddhists call 'suchness' or 'thusness' (Sanskrit, tathata). It refers to a sense of an absolute reality which is untainted by judgement, opinion or preferences.

Zen stories and parables about enlightenment often involve a monk sweeping. It is a common motif. Of the dozens of domestic chores which monks must perform only sweeping has risen to the level of an archetype.

In a consumer society, we wait for the big sale days – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and eventually Boxing Day. We wait for great deals. We save up our money or ensure there is room on our credit cards.

I’ve been hard-wired to wallow in my weaknesses. I get manic about my mistakes far too often for far too long. These patterns mute and, at times, silence my flourishing. But I’ve discovered a way to change that. I’m currently practicing it.

I’m always amazed — and dismayed — at how quickly I fall out of being present to what Richard Rohr would call the “really real” or the “naked now.” This is especially hard to bear as it takes so much work to get to such a state in the first place.