Age Old Wisdom

Something that routinely gives me a deep sense of gratitude is age old wisdom.  The fact that someone took the time to write down or tell someone what they have learned about the art of being human is an incredible gift to me.  Whether they be words from the 20^th century or the 14^thcentury, I am very willing to seek out and learn from the insights gathered through the spiritual awakenings of others in order to help me in my own.

Sometimes this journey of seeking and spiritual awakening can be a rather lonely and uncertain path.  It is like walking through a dark tunnel by yourself and using only your intuition, senses, and blind faith guide you.  

But then, then, you come upon these words of others who have walked through this exact same tunnel.  And thankfully, these fellow travelers generously chose to leave their hard won wisdom right out in the open for you to read so that you may consider if and how it may help you to continue to walk safely through the tunnel on your own.

I’ll give you a recent example.

In the last week I had been contemplating the challenges of distractions in a meditation practice in a blog post titled “Working Parents: Skilled Meditators?”  Later that same week I came across these words by 20^th century Christian theologian, monk and author Thomas Merton where he talked about the inevitability of distractions in both prayer and meditation that he talks about interchangeably in his book Seeds of Contemplation:

“If you have never had any distractions you don’t know how to pray…A man whose memory and imagination are persecuting him with a crowd of useless or even evil thoughts and images may sometimes be forced to pray far better, in the depths of his murdered heart, than one whose mind is swimming with clear concepts and brilliant purposes and easy acts of love…That is why it is useless to get upset when you cannot shake off distractions. In the first place, you must realize that they are often unavoidable in the life of prayer…You would profit much more by patiently resisting distractions and learning something of your own helplessness and incapacity…The chief reason why [people who pray/meditate] suffer is that their hopeless efforts to put a stop to this parade of images generate a nervous tension which only makes everything a hundred times worse…There is no real danger in these things…”

I can’t tell you what a huge relief it was for me to come across these words of wisdom about the life of the spirit, and as always, perfect timing.

When I stumble upon holy guidance it’s like I literally feel my whole body exhale and soften as my eyes move across the page because suddenly I am not by myself in the tunnel anymore.  A visitor has just met me along the way to share their map or flashlight so that I might catch myself before I stumble, walk into a wall, or get turned around in the wrong direction. Their words are like a compass to keep me pointed toward true north so that I might then continue the journey on my own again.

And the funny thing is, I feel a particular sense of solace from the words of those individuals who are deceased that is unique from the gratitude I feel from the shared experiences of those who are living in my time.

For example this morning I read these words by living author Anne Lamott from her book Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair:

This is who I want to be in the world. This is who I think we are supposed to be, people who help call forth human beings from deep inside hopelessness.

This is a very moving statement, and one that I personally abide by in my work as a psychotherapist.  But, something happens inside of me when I read the same type of meaningful words written by the hand of a seeker of another time.

I think this is because I experience a sense of connection and interconnection from the validation that the most intimate aspects of the human experience have not changed all that much in thousands of years.  In this case, I like hearing that my own experience of being human is not unique to the particular moment of time that I am living in.  And in fact I find it comforting to hear that men, women and children of all century and millennia, all over the world, have thought and felt and sensed the exact same thoughts, emotions and body sensations that I have.  Regardless of nationality, religion, ethnicity, age, gender, hemisphere, or even century, human beings continue to grapple with the same questions, and I love that about us- it may be what I love most in fact.

So, just for fun, below, I have included a journey back in time with 4 golden nuggets from the over-flowing treasure chest of wisdom of the sages through the ages. 

 Jesus Christ , 1^st century Middle Eastern Jew: 

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, 13^thcentury Sufi mystic born in present day Afghanistan

                And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?

Meister Eckhart, 14^th century German Christian mystic:

There is a place in the soul that neither time, nor space, nor no created thing can touch.

Henry David Thoreau, 19^th century American Transcendentalist:

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. 

What are some of your favorite words that have helped you through the dark tunnel of spiritual awakening?