ignore top right image

Sabbath Moment

« See All Sabbath Moments
hallway

A Thousand Kisses Deep

November 23, 2009

Abandon your masterpiece, sink into the real masterpiece. Leonard Cohen

You live your life as if it's real,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Leonard Cohen


There is a Tibetan story about an earnest young man seeking enlightenment. (Earnest people must think this quite unfair--since they play a central role in most parables and stories about enlightenment.)

A famous sage passes through the man's village. The man asks the sage to teach him the art of meditation. The sage agrees. He tells the man, "Withdraw from the world. Mediate every day in the specific way I will teach you. Do not waver and you will attain enlightenment."

The earnest man follows the sage's instructions to the letter. Time passes--and no enlightenment. Two years, five, ten, twenty pass.

It happens that the sage once again passes through the man's village. The man seeks him out, grumbling that despite his best intentions and devotion and diligent efforts, he does not achieve enlightenment. "Why?"
The sage asks, "What type of meditation did I teach you?"
The man tells him.
The sage says, "Oh, what a terrible mistake I made! That is not the right meditation for you. You should have done another kind altogether. Too bad, for now it is too late."

Disconsolate, the man returns to his cave. Staking his life on the sage's instructions, and now believing he is without hope, the man abandons all his wishes and efforts and need to control his road to enlightenment. He does not know what to do. So, he does what knows best: he begins meditating. And in a short while, much to his astonishment, his confusion begins to dissolve, and his inner world comes to life. A weight falls away and he feels lighter, and regenerated. When he walks out of the cave, the sky is bluer, the snow capped mountains whiter, and the world around him more vivid.

There is no doubt that all too often, our efforts--to succeed or achieve or attain--get in the way of our living. It brings to mind my favorite Robert Capon quote, "We live life like ill-taught piano students. So inculcated with the flub that will get us in dutch, we don't hear the music, we only play the right notes."

I understand. I was weaned on a spirituality that predicated itself on artifice. In other words, the importance is placed upon appearance, rather that just being. (It was vital to "look spiritual." Which begs the question, "What to spiritual people look like?" As a boy, I always thought the "spiritual people" looked as if some part of their clothing was a size too small.)

What is it we are holding on to--so rigid, so firm, white-knuckled in our determination?
At some point, we've got to breathe.
Just breathe.
Without realizing it (and after the sage's disheartening news), the man in the story "let go."

He let go of the need to see life as a problem to be solved.
He let go of the need to have the correct answers (or experiences) for his "enlightenment."
He let go of the need to see his spiritual life in terms of a formula.

Without realizing it, he took Leonard Cohen's advice. He abandoned his "masterpiece"--the perception of what he needed to accomplish, or how he needed to appear, or what he needed to feel--in order to allow himself to sink down into this life, this moment, even with all of its uncertainty and insecurity.

For the first many years, meditation or prayer was a requirement or compulsion. In his emptiness, meditation and prayer was an offering of thanks, freely given, and without constraint. (Like the parable of the Widow's Mite in the Gospel of Mark, true spiritual enlightenment happens when you are not trying to impress anyone, or score any points with heavenly bookkeepers.)

I am home. Back on Vashon Island after many days in Portugal and Paris. The pile on my desk is portentous. And none too appealing. Today I ignore it (perhaps at my peril). I walk the garden. I putter and futz. We've already had a frost, so many perennials have quite trying to be perky, and have given in to winter's invitation to take a break. A cool breeze swirls through the forest and garden, snatching some of the remaining leaves from the Red Twig Dogwood--its leaves of gold and scarlet, like pieces of a Spanish-flag-jigsaw-puzzle. Ornamental grasses, now the color of straw, sway and bend with the wind. The Bloodgood Japanese maple near our patio has lost most all of its foliage, and is now encircled by a blanket of wine red leaves, as if readying for it's winter sleep.

Note: I wish for all of you a blessed Thanksgiving.


This silence, this moment, every moment, if it's genuinely inside you, brings what you need. There's nothing to believe. Only when I stopped believing in myself did I come into this beauty. Sit quietly, and listen for a voice that will say, 'Be more silent.' Die and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you've died. Your old life was a frantic running from silence. Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence. Rumi

For almost daily updates, follow my blog --
blog.terryhershey.com

Poems / Prayers


A Thousand Kisses Deep
The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it's done -
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it's real,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.
I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed,
I'm back on Boogie Street.
You lose your grip, and then you slip
Into the Masterpiece.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.
And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Leonard Cohen

Prayer of Thanksgiving
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Walter Rauschenbusch

News and Notes


52 Best Sabbath Moments from the past six years

Receive 35% off your order.
Use the discount code PAUSE.



THE POWER OF PAUSE: BECOMING MORE BY DOING LESS,

power-of-pause.htm

Any questions call 800-524-5370.

A TO-DO LIST:
1.Take the PAUSE assessment quiz.
loyolapress.com/assessment
2. Buy The Power of Pause
3. Recommend The Power of Pause to a friend
4. Buy The Power of Pause for a friend.
5. Write a review on Amazon.com
amazon.com/Power-Pause

NEW Reviews on The Power of Pause

Suzanne Beecher -- www.dearreader
If your Energy Fairy has been letting you down, here's a great book I discovered, "The Power of Pause: Becoming More by Doing Less" by Terry Hershey. I love the book, it's on my holiday list to buy for friends and I have 12 copies to give away to readers. To enter the drawing, go to: tinyurl.com

SOJOURNERS GOD'S POLITICS BLOG, Cathleen Falsani, 11/12
blog.sojo.net

Review from Spirituality and Practice
spiritualityandpractice


BE INSPIRED THIS WEEK

Leonard Cohen, reading A thousand kisses deep,
youtube.thousandkisses

A photo montage with Louie Armstrong's What a Wonderful World
youtube.wonderfulworld

Leonard Cohen, singing A Thousand Kisses Deep
youtube.cohen

Terry's NEW BLOG. . .do less, live more.
blog.terryhershey.com


FAVORITES from last week: Terry talks about The Power of Pause with Kathy Cleveland Bull on blogtalkradio.
blogtalkradio

Pictures from Terry's garden.
TerrysGarden

Terry's Power of Pause on Beliefnet.com
beliefnet.com/pause



You can INVITE Terry to speak at your parish, church or organization.
Contact us -- support@terryhershey.com

It's time to think about Religious Education Congress, Anaheim, CA 2010 -- March 19-21, 2010
www.recongress.org/2010
Register

 

Share Our Site:


Look for this Share Box at the bottom of any web page to email to a friend or to share on Facebook or any social bookmarking site.

 

forward to a friend subscribe

 


Copyright © 2008 Terry Hershey. All Rights Reserved. Please contact us for permission to reprint.

Know someone who would like this newsletter?
Scroll down and click Forward Email.
Thanks for helping us grow!

 


 

Share