Full
June 09, 2008
One of the ways to express the spiritual
crisis of our time is to say that we have an
address but cannot be found there.
Henri Nouwen
In Namibia, emptiness is revered, solitude
is pervasive, and at every turn is a view
with the power to astonish. NY Times
Magazine
I find that God made man simple; man's
complex problems are of his own devising.
Ecclesiastes
An important and hurried and stressed
businessman visits a Zen master, seeking
guidance. The Zen master sits down, invites the
businessman to sit, and pours the visitor a
cup of tea. But even after the tea fills the
cup, the Zen master continues to pour,
allowing the tea to spill, now running over
the entire table.
The businessman is taken aback, "Stop! Please stop pouring the tea! The cup is full and obviously can't hold any more."
The Zen master replied simply, "Yes. So it is with you. And you will not be able to receive any guidance, unless you make some empty space first."
When I read that story, I nodded my head. I can relate to the businessman. And yet. There's something alluring about filling an empty space.
We live in a world that abhors an empty space. If we find one, we feel compelled to fill it. (Now that I'm on the subject. . .why is it, that while on hold, we are not allowed silence, instead subjected to excruciating muzak. As if bands have been banished to this medium.
"I'm a musician."
"Who is your label?"
"I play for those 'on hold customers' with Dell computer.")
I do know this. When there is no empty space, we pay the price. I am full. Stuffed. Numb, literally. When my senses are numbed by noise and overload, I am impoverished. I become a man (in the words of Leonardo Da Vinci) who "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking."
Filling space becomes the new normal. Two very young girls are standing at the school bus stop with personal planners. "Okay, I'll move ballet back an hour, reschedule gymnastics, and cancel piano. You shift your violin lessons to Thursday and skip soccer practice. That gives us from 3:15 to 3:45 on Wednesday the sixteenth to play." (From New Yorker Magazine)
Here's the catch. Slowing down. Stopping. Making space. Saying no. It is a form of civil disobedience.
Why? Because it goes against the grain.
I relate to Lucy, in the Charlie Brown strip.
Peppermint Patty, "Do they have prayer in your school?"
Lucy, "No. But last year they had us observe a 'moment of silence.'"
Peppermint Patty, "How did that work?"
Lucy, "It almost killed me!"
When Mary was given the word that she was carrying Jesus, it says she "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."
In other words, she made space.
Here's what it doesn't say: And Mary figured it all out. And Mary wrote a book on the Seven Lessons from an Angel's visit. And Mary filled her calendar and traveled all over Galilee doing seminars about successful living.
Here is the power of space.
With space we are able to receive.
And our lives are fueled by gratitude.
In the words of Lew Smedes, "Gratitude dances though the open windows of our hearts. We cannot force it. We cannot create it. And we can certainly close our windows to keep it out. But we can also keep them open and be ready for the joy when it comes."
Every family should have a peaceful space
or breathing room,
where any member can take refuge.
Thich Nhat Hanh
The businessman is taken aback, "Stop! Please stop pouring the tea! The cup is full and obviously can't hold any more."
The Zen master replied simply, "Yes. So it is with you. And you will not be able to receive any guidance, unless you make some empty space first."
When I read that story, I nodded my head. I can relate to the businessman. And yet. There's something alluring about filling an empty space.
We live in a world that abhors an empty space. If we find one, we feel compelled to fill it. (Now that I'm on the subject. . .why is it, that while on hold, we are not allowed silence, instead subjected to excruciating muzak. As if bands have been banished to this medium.
"I'm a musician."
"Who is your label?"
"I play for those 'on hold customers' with Dell computer.")
I do know this. When there is no empty space, we pay the price. I am full. Stuffed. Numb, literally. When my senses are numbed by noise and overload, I am impoverished. I become a man (in the words of Leonardo Da Vinci) who "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking."
Filling space becomes the new normal. Two very young girls are standing at the school bus stop with personal planners. "Okay, I'll move ballet back an hour, reschedule gymnastics, and cancel piano. You shift your violin lessons to Thursday and skip soccer practice. That gives us from 3:15 to 3:45 on Wednesday the sixteenth to play." (From New Yorker Magazine)
Here's the catch. Slowing down. Stopping. Making space. Saying no. It is a form of civil disobedience.
Why? Because it goes against the grain.
I relate to Lucy, in the Charlie Brown strip.
Peppermint Patty, "Do they have prayer in your school?"
Lucy, "No. But last year they had us observe a 'moment of silence.'"
Peppermint Patty, "How did that work?"
Lucy, "It almost killed me!"
When Mary was given the word that she was carrying Jesus, it says she "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."
In other words, she made space.
Here's what it doesn't say: And Mary figured it all out. And Mary wrote a book on the Seven Lessons from an Angel's visit. And Mary filled her calendar and traveled all over Galilee doing seminars about successful living.
Here is the power of space.
With space we are able to receive.
And our lives are fueled by gratitude.
In the words of Lew Smedes, "Gratitude dances though the open windows of our hearts. We cannot force it. We cannot create it. And we can certainly close our windows to keep it out. But we can also keep them open and be ready for the joy when it comes."
Every family should have a peaceful space
or breathing room,
where any member can take refuge.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Poems / Prayers
In early days I used to be
A poet through whose pen
Innumerable songs would come
To win the hearts of men;
But now, through new-got knowledge
Which I hadn't had so long,
I have ceased to be the poet
And have learned to be the song.
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
Lord,
To see you more clearly,
To love you more dearly,
To follow you more nearly,
Day by day.
Richard of Chichester
My God,
I pray better to You by breathing.
I pray better to You by walking than by talking.
Thomas Merton
Peace,
Terry Hershey
