8 - High Key versus Low Key - Part I

There is a story which Murshid tells of a spiritual teacher and someone who was placed before his door that told awful, untrue stories about the teacher. Only those seekers who had eyes to see the truth piercing through the falsehood recognized the teacher and came in the door.

Many initiates who were living dedicated lives have now found their way into the active life, in fact, such seems to be the overall trend at this juncture. I believe this is the logical next step, in line with the leitmotif of the Sufi teaching. Many spiritual groups are criticized for encouraging a drop-out from real life and making people unadapted to deal with their problems, and therefore a burden on society. So we are gratified to evidence that we have had the opposite effect.

Jobs can be challenging and prove to be very time consuming and exacting, sometimes discouraging and depleting. The family scene with its joys and cares has its fascination and solace. For women, it may turn out to be a twenty-four hour chore, with its bright spots, but very demanding. Those who went back to  school know how competitive and tedious it can be. Some of the less compatible couples may have their problems, leading - in the more dire cases - to painful soul-searchings. Beautiful friendships, when genuine, prove often to be the saving grace of a lifetime. Otherwise, the commonplace humdrum middle class existence just falls short of inspiring the more sensitive or idealistic people to find fulfillment. At worst, people get burned out and an insidious sense of frustration may surreptitiously creep into the unconscious, making people feel that they have failed to fulfill their highest aspirations, and that life is slipping by.

For those who have previously involved themselves in the "spiritual process", two options present themselves. For some, since they have become so inveigled in day-to-day commitments and have lost touch with their erstwhile spiritual attunement, the only solution seems to be a brief but radical break from the active life to the contemplative life, taking leave of the consuming responsibilities, at least for a few days. This, of course, accounts for the increasing demand for retreats at this juncture, by people who  otherwise, in the ordinary rhythm of their lives, do not find any way of attending classes or doing their practices. It is then easier to immerse oneself into the spiritual life in the appropriate setting and with guided instructions. Some initiates find however, that having now adapted themselves to the ordinary run of life, they have lost the ability to reattune themselves to the spiritual pitch. Representatives particularly, being deeply enmeshed and committed in life, feel it is an incredible strain to hoist themselves up sufficiently to meet the demands of guiding others. This often proves to be at the cost of one's effectiveness in one's job, which may require all one's energy.

In the more extreme cases, some people are harassed by a burning, quizzical and unsettling thought:  could it be that I was caught up in a kind of spiritual mirage and now I am where things really are (although admittedly, it is devastatingly sobering and low key, and even rather disenchanting)?  The clue to this enigma is obvious: when immersed in the commonplace middle range thinking in which most people have been programmed, one sees things from one's individual, focalized vantage point. You know, the way things look from a vantage point is not the way things are, but just the way they look from that vantage point. Consequently, one's outlook is one-sided, short-sighted, unimaginative. It is living in a slice of the multi-tiered universe, and failing to participate in all the bounty offered.

Friends, we desperately need something to hoist us beyond ourselves: a strong experience that liberates us from the constraint of our trite self-image and our inadequate assessment of life's events and situations. Rather, more than an experience:  we need a breathtaking awakening into an overview, grasping the meaningfulness of ourselves in the universe, fulfilling our own purpose in relation to the purpose of the whole. Is it not an exciting feature of our gift as humans that we not only partake in our flesh of the physical nature of the fabric of the universe, but in our psyche of that very being that is the universe, and more so that we have access into the thinking, the programming, the software of the universe?  This is the only thing that makes sense in life.

           

Imagine that you are a cell within a body, and as you evolve, you can see your function within the network of functions of the whole body, and can enter into the mind that programs the body. Thus, you would fulfill your purpose as a cell by over-reaching yourself. Since it is so difficult to maintain this attunement in life, one can well understand why people have sought to drop out from the workday existence either in the Indian tradition of the 'sannyasin' or by the dangerous drug trip where the experience so dearly sought is distorted by a chemical stress on the brain. But neither of these alternatives is satisfactory, since one is missing out on life with all its challenge, excitement, fulfillment and attainment. Admittedly, at least in the case of the sannyasin or dervish, one would at least be high, sovereign, luminous, peaceful, free. The inescapable answer of our day and age is obviously the "reconciliation of the irreconcilable", not the middle way, tepid, undaring, holding back both ways, but to bring more life and punch and joy, laughter, intent and insight into life, reinforcing this by an occasional retreat - so long as the retreat is an occasion for an overview on life - insight into one's problems, recharging the battery of one's psychic energy and fostering creativity in one's personality.

After a retreat, one is more able to keep up with one's practices. One has been re-dedicated. Then, back to life with more zest than ever!

Be vibrant, alive, aware, life-giving. There is a French motto: "Reculer pour mieux sauter -  Back up an instant in order to spring forward more effectively."
