Werner,
when I was with him at a Be With in San Francisco in a
hotel ballroom, was asked if he'd ever lived in a
monastery.
His response has held its power over the years. It's as powerful and as
relevant today as it was then.
In many places (if you listen for it) you could experience holiness ie
whole-iness. In a mosque, in a kramat you may hear
Allah in the mezzuin's call. In a cathedral, in a church
you could visualize
Jesus Christ
on a cross. In a synagogue, in a shul you might feel the
presence of Yahweh, Jehovah, Adonai at the ark. In
a yoga studio you may find inner peace by the incense. In a
psychotherapist's office you might become self-actualized on a couch.
In an ashram you could attain satchitananda,
absolute bliss consciousness next to the puja table. In a
meditation room you may realize samadhi on a cushion. In a
Zenmonastery
you might get satori in a flash. And if you're
really listening acutely, anywhere you are on the planet
at any time, you could get any or all of the above.
But
what got me
that day with Werner at the Be With in San Francisco is this:
In a hotel ballroom I got enlightenment under a plastic chandelier.
No props. No backdrops. No symbols. No icons. No beliefs. Just the
naked presence
of This Is "It". And ofcourse that was it ... in
retrospect. But hindsight, however, is always 20/20 vision.
What's distinct about this particular hindsight is it bodes just as
well, it's just as valid as a view, as a way of looking
for now and for the future.
I have a deep respect for piety. I really do. If you're going to do
anything at all you may as well do it 100%. If you're going to worship
at all you may as well go all out.
What I'm wary of, quite frankly, is not to collapse piety with
exclusivity when it comes to distinguishing where the experience of
This Is "It" is available. I'd like to blur
the lines of demarkation which have the experience of piety only
available in some places but not in others. Even though certain agreed
on places (mosques, kramats, cathedrals, churches, synagogues, shuls,
yoga studios, psychotherapists' offices, ashrams, meditation rooms,
Zenmonasteries)
have the availability of all appropriate accoutrements, props,
backdrops, supplies, icons, and beliefs, I say the collections of
symbols of piety are insufficient in and of themselves to
generate the experience of enlightenment, of This Is
"It". I wouldn't bet on grace either, by the way, to
generate it for you. I would, however, bet on You to
generate it for you.
With Werner in a hotel ballroom I got enlightenment under a plastic
chandelier. That grants access to it anywhere in all conditions under
all circumstances to all people yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That's
no ordinary talk. That's remarkable. But then again, that's
Werner.
I'm in a coin laundromat. I watch people who work bone numbing hours of
manual labor in the vineyards of the Napa Valley. They're washing their
clothes. They're washing their families' clothes. They come here
because they can't afford washing machines and dryers of their own. The
floor is grimy and dusty. Any item of clothing accidentally dropped on
the floor may as well be thrown in the trash. Sticky. Messy. Why should
the owner wash the floor? He doesn't have to. He's already got your
money. Is this not "It" also?
I'm standing at a bus stop. There's litter all around on the ground, so
much so the waiting trash bin must have been deliberately ignored. I
avoid sitting on the rusted benches for fear of getting discarded
spit-bubbled chewing gum stuck to my Levis' backside.
Spray painted graffiti defaces the advertisement posters. The rain
shields are scratched with a plethora of four letter words, impossible
to erase or to repair. And of course the bus is running late. Is this
not "It" also?
Its switch is always on, lighting life, that plastic chandelier.