An Analogy To Measure Your Spiritual Life

[faith]

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is having a good journey. I would like to share something with you, if you don't mind.

In his book After the Extasy, the Laundry, Jack Kornfield has a great story about spiritual life and its levels, all though I am sure he took the story from another source, nevertheless, I think it's very valuable. By the way, that book is one of my all time treasures that is worth more than gold. It's worth a read, more than once.

So here is the analogy:

Imagine a monk walking down a trail. Upon his journey, he discovers a bush with poisonous berries. The monk knows that other people use this road, and may accidentally feed on the berries along the way. He, of course, realizes this is no good as they will die right away. What does the monk do?

Well, it all depends on the monk. He can do 1 of 3 things:

• If he is a beggining monk, he will immediately cut down the bush so that others do not get hurt. The only issue with this way is that, in the process, he is killing life - that being the life of this bush.
• If he is an intermediate monk, he will build a fence around the bush. In this way, people will avoid the bush, and the bush is not touched either. Only, in the process, he puts up a barrier. Much better than cutting it down, isn't it? But there is one more approach...
• If he is an enlightened monk - a monk of true unity with life and compassion for all living things - he uses the berries to create a medicine that will heal the sick.

If we look closely at the analogy, it represents our path. In the beginning, we have good intentions but our mind is still filled with ideologies and perfectionism. Sometime later, we start to recognize our patterns and separate what we need on the path, and what we would consider "poisonous". However, even much later, we start to realize that even the "poisonous" things must be included, and that we can use them to bring forth tremendous compassion and forgiveness onto the world, working with life beyound our self, reaching out to the world.

I reckon we are all along one of these states, but in the end, I am convinced that compassion and forgiveness are the only things that will give us liberation.

So, my friends, today I wish you compassion and forgiveness and an open heart - don't forget it