Karma Builder: Today's Karmic Workout – Dedicate A Shrine To Your Heroes
Today's Exercise: Dedicate A Shrine To Your Heroes
[Preparation Note: This exercise does not take that long if you have a design. A shrine can be any corner of your world, but it should have a place of honor. That means that you do not put it directly on a floor, you do not put it in a bathroom and you keep it clean. Shrines are special places of mental focus. The images placed in them are meant to remind you of your strongest and most important ideas. The discipline that you apply to maintaining a shrine reinforces these ideas - keeping the mental energy flowing without being blocked by cynicism, neglect or other mind killers. Shrines are essentially like light bulbs, they illuminate so long as the are connected to the battery of your effort and you remember to turn the switch to "on".
Your shrine should contain images or representations of the people you admire the most and from whom you have received the greatest wisdom of your life. It could be teachers you have had, religious personalities, mentors or historical figures. The point is to identify you heroes and the create a method that lets their contributions really go to work on your mind.
Structurally, your shrine can take any shape, but it should be nice. Small can be nice. You can make a "pocket shrine" out of an Altoids tin. A decorative box, a special picture frame or a small cabinet all can be converted into shrines. The shrine should have representations of your heroes and you should make some deliberate offering to the shrine to create the connection between you and the object of your admiration. A small flower, a candle, a bowl of water, a piece of food all can serve as offerings. The point is to make the interaction between you and the shrine very intentional. Intentional behavior wakes you up and lets the benefit of your hero make its past the crud in your brain from listening to music, watching TV or simply spacing out.]
Prepare your shrine and place the images of your honored one(s) in it.
Prepare a small offering.
Take 5 minutes to contemplate the benefit you received from the honored beings in your shrine. Make an offering to the shrine and say some words of thanks. Take time to appreciate the being(s) represented in your shrine.
You can leave your shrine up indefinitely so long as you continue to honor it. A neglected shrine is worse than no shrine and actually creates negative karma and degrades your relationship to your honored one(s) in the shrine.
If you come to the end of the use of your shrine, disassemble it respectfully. If your shrine is made of natural materials that can be burned, it is appropriate to burn your shrine while thinking of the benefit being released into the universe.
Training Note:
Modern people have lost the power of reverence. Reverence is the power to hold certain thoughts in our mind so strongly that we do not allow those thoughts to be defiled. These become the core of our thinking, if cultivated properly and can produce enormous benefit in our being. By losing our reverence, we have also stopped searching for examples of higher living. Instead of climbing the mountain of wisdom by revering people who have made exceptional contributions to us, we simply walk around in circles never getting anywhere other than where we are already. Reverence is the mental act of distinguishing exceptional being and honoring it. In honoring it, we absorb it and this not only benefits us, but everyone around us.
Karmic Benefits:
Identifying Exceptional Being: most people do not notice the greatest beings in humanity. We are often too busy watching reality TV and venerating some comically ignorant person who makes us feel better because, at least, we are not that bad. And yet, we live in a world of million heroes that often go unnoticed because we have not turned our mind to the task of noticing the heroic. Magnificent beings only show up when you open your mind to see them. Start looking.
Intentionally Creating A Relationship With Human Excellence: the vast majority of our time is spent with mediocrity and the utterly mundane. Why? Because that is all we are open to. Reaching the heights of human ability begins with knowing what is possible. Look around. Excellence is everywhere. The more your notice, the more it can be part of who you are.
Following Examples That Help Us Evolve: we sometimes get put off by people who can do more and be more than we can. We think that they are special and that their lives cannot be accessed by ordinary folks. This is nonsense and more an excuse to be lazy than it is a statement of fact. We may not be able to save thousands of people from starvation, but we can save one or two. We may not find a the cure for cancer, but we can read to those who are dying and bring comfort to them. We don't have to be the most excellent beings on the planet, but we can carry the spark. Say what you will, but light is light.
[About the graphic: a small shrine honoring the author's grandmother, Margaret Kenyon. In 1928, Margaret was the valedictorian of her graduating class and went on to college whereafter she became a 6th-grade teacher. A woman of very few complaints, she took care for her parents most of her adult life. At one point, she held a full-time job, nursed her husband who was dying of cancer and cared for her elderly and senile mother while living in a house with her son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. At age 86 she underwent by-pass surgery and thereafter recovered enough of her eyesight to read sheet music. This allowed her to teach herself how to play piano. She died at age 90. Though a diabetic, Margaret had a life-long attachment to sweets. The offering of candies on this shrine are sugar-free. She was the very epitome of courage, optimism and grace and I miss her very much. DMK]
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