Work, War, and The IceCapades: Elightenment As The New Heaven

There is an old Buddhist saying that says "before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water." The idea behind this seemingly counterintuitive statement is that the experience of enlightenment is not about changing the external world, but about an experience of consciousness that changes how we experience the world. This seems counterintuitive to many people in the New Age movement, because the idea of enlightenment has gotten saddled with the type of "Heaven fantasies" they used to be reserved for the afterlife of a monotheistic God. Enlightenment has become the new Heaven.

Of course, in the classic Buddhist saying, the context in which was written was both technologically simpler and socially less diverse, particularly for monks :-). "Chop wood, carry water" spoke to the fundamental and basic actions required to live a simple life. When we expand this to our own present-day context, we might say "Before Enlightenment: Work, War, and the IceCapades. After Enlightenment: Work, War, and the IceCapades."

This new mantra reminds us that each part of our lives, as it is currently, will continue on essentially unchanged even if we become enlightened. We will still need deal with traffic and pay whatever tax they can think of next. We will still be almost completely powerless to change the course of international, national, state, and even local politics. We will still get calls from telemarketers selling as the latest gadget with the promise that it will finally offer us the entertainment/power/attractiveness/status/fulfillment that we have always wanted.

To the degree that we are attracted to the idea of increasing our conscious awareness (be it through meditation, positive thinking, visualization, intention, energetics, magic, or a pill that burns fat while we sleep while making us smarter, happier, more energized, and better in bed...) it is helpful to keep in mind what enlightenment is and what it is not.

Enlightenment is not Heaven on earth, if you understand Heaven to be a place without strife, where the lamb lays down with the lion, and we overcome death but keep life. Enlightenment is not the end of pain, suffering, and strife. Enlightenment is the realization that we need not close our hearts in the face of pain, suffering, and strife; that who and what we are transcends both pain and pleasure; that although our body, the society, and the environment we find so beautiful can be destroyed, our essential self cannot be hurt. Further, that the entire play of creation and destruction is fundamentally good/beautiful/ecstatic. Enlightenment does not change the world but how we relate to it.

Accepting and integrating this particular insight not only keeps us from worshiping false idols and imbuing childish illusions with religious sanctity, it also can give us practical guidance about how we can and cannot integrate our spiritual practice into our daily lives. Specifically, it can help us understand the relationship between our spiritual practices and awareness, and the values that make up the day-to-day experience of our lives.

Often, people think about spirituality and material/social realities of living in the human body as somehow opposite or contradictory. They talk about the conflict between spirit in flesh, mind and body, the eternal world of God and the temporal world of man. In the face of this, people will often osscilate between the two worlds, focusing all of their attention on one or the other. Sometimes, when they are focusing on one, they will disparage the other, which makes it that much more challenging when reality asks them to put their attention on it at a later date.

Fortunately, the idea of "chop wood, carry water" gives us a different insight on the relation between these "two worlds" They are not in opposition or contradiction to one another, but rather complimentary partners. They are both independent of one another, but profoundly related. We can think of them as different dimensions of the same thing, like the length and width of a room. Or we might see them as our right and left leg, which, when they are used in tandem, allow us to walk, run, and dance. The more of one you have, the more fully you can enjoy the other. This has two important consequences.

First, it means that we need not sacrifice one in order to excel in the other. We do not need to give up our material/social success or ambitions for comfort, love, power, and enjoyment in order to be spiritual. In the same way, we do not have to sacrifice spirituality in order to be successful in the world. We can have both, or, as many people tragically discover, neither. As we will later suggest, when we understand them appropriately, and relate them to one another with artistry, each can deepen in further quality of the other. In summary, the relationship between spirituality and material/social success is not either/or, but both/and.

Second, it helps us avoid a common mistake in many New Age circles: believing that if we get our spiritual house in order, our social/material house will somehow automatically order itself. Unfortunately, as many students of consciousness and interior development have learned this is not the case. In the metaphor of dimensions, it doesn't matter how long you make the room, it will not change its width. No matter how fast you step with one foot, if the other is not in sync you will end up going in circles.

When we can recognize this, it suggests two perspectives which are immediately helpful. First, it is inappropriate to blame our unsatisfactory bank account on our lack of spiritual development. Second, if we want to expand our social/material possessions, we need to learn the skills appropriate to that realm.

As we recognize that spiritual development is BOTH fundamental to living fulfilling life, AND only one of the many disciplines that we must learn, we give ourselves the freedom to integrate spirit and matter, body and mind, spiritual and material concerns in our lives. By developing the strength and coordination of both our right and left legs, we can move through the world with precision, artistry, and grace.

Mark Michael Lewis
http://RationalSpirituality.com