SIMPLIFY AND FLY
By Shai
It’s seems simple enough to simplify one’s life. But…
I remember a story told a long time ago about the man and his loincloth. This man was living alone in the forest. His only possession was his loincloth. Interrupting his meditation, he would wash his loincloth and wait for it to dry so he could wear it again. Bothered, he approached his guru, telling him that laundering his loincloth was such a great disruption on his meditative practice. His guru told him, “get a wife.”
And so he did. His wife washed his loincloth, freeing up some meditation time for him. But in no time, she lamented that a mouse was always trying to steal the loincloth off the line. Back again he went to his guru who told him to get a cat to take care of the mouse. And so he did. Soon, the wife complained that now the mouse was gotten rid of, the cat needed milk for food. The guru said, go get a cow so the cat would have milk.
Not long after, the wife declared, “so when are you gonna get a house for me, the cat and the cow?” Extremely frustrated, the man returned to his guru bewailing his situation that had driven him further and further away from meditation. His guru said, “get rid of the loincloth.”
How many of us can actually live in the forest with only what we really need? I know I can’t. But it’s good to have a goal.
Eons ago when my body was way younger, I desired so many things that I believed I , and my family truly needed. To get those things I believed I needed demanded nothing less than real hard work—much time and a tremendous amount of energy. Since money did not flow freely into our lives as I had expected/wanted it to, I had to pare down the “needs” based on the budget, time and effort that matched such “needs.” When I happily checked something on my “needs” list as done, I’d add a little other something or two that were related to the newly acquired “needs.” So, while my needs list was shrinking, it was actually growing from other things born off the stuff that had been acquired.
Hmmm… I thought. When will this ever end? It was like trying to fill up a bottomless barrel with water.
This brings to mind E.F. Schumacher, who wrote a timeless, valuable book, “Small is Beautiful” in 1973. He said that we cannot fulfill our infinite nature with the finite. His words reverberated with truth and meaning: “ if human vices such as greed and envy are systematically cultivated, the inevitable result is nothing less than a collapse of intelligence. A man driven by greed or envy loses the power of seeing things as they really are, or seeing things in their roundness and wholeness, and his very successes become failures…”
“Everywhere people ask: ‘What can I actually do?’ The answer is as simple as it is disconcerting: we can, each of us, work to put our own inner house in order. The guidance we need for this work cannot be found in science or technology, the value of which utterly depends on the ends they serve; but it can still be found in the traditional wisdom of mankind.”
Of course, the traditional wisdom of mankind comes only from the original Bestower of such wisdom, God.
So where do we begin “putting our own house in order,” as Mr. Schumacher emphasized? We start by understanding that we are in essence, spiritual. Thus, our satisfaction and happiness can only be found in the spiritual and never in the material. If we try to match the two, it’s never going to work. Traditional wisdom from Gandhi: there’s enough in the world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.
All material things are impermanent; all spiritual are eternal. We should strive to achieve happiness derived from the eternal to match our essence as spirit. Since love is our goal, our function, our utmost desire, then we should direct this love towards the everlasting Source to match our essence perfectly. By looking this way, we somehow come to realize that there are too many things we can be happy without, and it’s a super wonderful feeling!
Imagine letting go of all those things we always thought we needed! Like a balloon that has been relieved of all the heavy weights that keep it aground, we are able to really fly. Bob Dylan nailed it when he said, “….if you ain’t got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose…”
Fly into the realm of happiness that comes from satisfaction!