Your life is the workshop – Making it real…Keeping it real.
A little while ago, I found myself sitting next to an Orthodox Christian priest at a luncheon. He had a serious beard and the garb to match it. He wasn't the jolliest of fellows and seemed a bit out of place in a crowd. I was busy conversing with some people across the table and then my wife egged him on by telling him about my background and that the two of us should talk…oh boy…here we go!
His immediate question to me was whether I believed in God because it was his understanding that Taoism was a "godless" religion. My answer- "Of course I believe in God and I don't consider myself a religious Taoist". That immediately got him to relax and put away the broad sword…ok…let's talk dude.
What's the difference? Well, my stance is that life is the workshop and that I needn't believe in things that I can test in my daily life. I explained that this was the essence of Buddhism. When the Buddha was asked whether there was a God or not, his answer was that he'd show you a technique to observe your own consciousness and you be the judge. The Buddha felt that it was extremely dangerous to tell people what that "State" was like or what "a Supreme Being" was like because they'd take that as an adequate answer and pull off the highway of Self-inquiry. We see this all the time in Asia- statues of the Buddha are worshiped everywhere. The philosophy of introspection and self examination has been turned by many into a religion with idol worship and distorted comprehension of the message…the Buddha would roll over in his grave.
I explained to the priest that Taoism is very similar in that it teaches us to observe our internal nature and discover who we are by waking up to our essential being. It teaches us to look within and find that source of power and vitality inside ourselves. In essence, it teaches us to discover God within each of us…WHOA! God? Ok…Tao, essential nature, enlightened Self…sorry to use the "G word" man…(swords redrawn).
We had to dance around the semantics of the word "God" for some time before he could relax into an intelligent conversation again…so touchy…
The conversation got a bit better and we delved into the mystical stance that experience is far deeper than belief in that our personal connection with Source (we picked a neutral word we could both use) really brings all of the philosophy and teachings home. I explained that in the traditions I studied, the great masters would cultivate their Qi (essential energy) in order to refine their Shen (consciousness) so their vision of Reality would be cleared of obstructions and distorted beliefs…they'd open a clear channel with Source. I said that I was very lucky to have studied with a number of living masters who embodied this energy and had really reaped the benefits of such a connection. This is where things turned…
The look on his face changed and he looked perplexed and kind of confused. I asked him about his experience and training and about the masters he'd studied with. Again..confusion and silence…WAIT A SECOND…are you meaning to tell me that you have not really hung with ANY enlightened people within your order? Well….no…not really…DO YOU KNOW OF ANY? Well…it is said that there is a guy in Antioch who's pretty enlightened and carries the light…
"It is said that there's a guy?" SO…you mean to tell me that there MAY be an enlightened guy that some people speak of in your whole church network and you didn't drop everything to go meet him and SEE for yourself? Well no….
This guy was very intelligent. He spent his entire adult life devoted to his church and biblical studies and yet he'd never met a person who actually embodied the lessons he was reading about. That blew my mind. How can a person devote his whole life to studying something based on stories without demanding some form of tangible proof? I wasn't asking anyone to walk on water or raise the dead here…but come on- you can see a holy person or an enlightened person from MILES AWAY. My meditation teacher glows like a saint and has the face of a baby. Even the densest students I take to him notice "something" about the guy and are changed by his presence.
I've met some incredibly bright and awakened people within the Christian systems so, please, don't read this the wrong way- nobody's hating here. The point is: unless you can take the philosophy, scripture, dharma, or whatever and actually apply it to your life and use it to wake up and be a brighter person, then you are deluding yourself.
Your life is the workshop and an unexamined life is not worth living. Life is precious- please don't waste the greatest gift you've ever been given!
Wisdom from: Taoist Path
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