Too Many Toys
Dear friends,
I was recently singing a chant with the words, "I am determined no more to want to play,” at a spiritual gathering and thought, “Boy, if a new person is here, they might not get what that means.” Then I thought, “Hey wait a minute! Do I fully get what that means?” As I thought about it, I realized my next email to my East West friends was formulating… :-)
We do like to play, and this is not some sort of admonition against playing. Playing and lightheartedness are good things… to a point. It’s funny how this world is just delightful enough from time to time, and just intriguing enough, and just magnetic enough, that we keep feeling that with just a little tweak here and there, we can get it exactly like we want. And then we can freeze it all in place and… voila… permanent joy is ours!
The greatest delusion is that the joy we seek will come from getting our circumstances just right. A study was done many years ago that showed that no matter what someone’s income level was, they believed that if they just had 10% more income, they’d finally be happy. Hah! If I just had a better relationship… if I just had a better job… if I just had better health, if I just had (fill in your favorite blank). And so we come back again and again trying to get it just right.
Many toys are presented to us, and each dazzles us just enough to distract us from our main goals: Acceptance of Spirit; equanimity in all circumstances; kinship with all life; even-minded and cheerful no matter what hand we are dealt. Easy? Of course not. But the idea is to make directional improvement, rather than merely tinkering with circumstances and hoping for a miracle. There is nothing wrong with changing circumstances to make things better, but the real question is how we do when they cannot change. In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali called contentment the Supreme Virtue. From that position of inner peace and rest do whatever you feel moved to do, thus without compulsion.
May I play and enjoy the things of this world without ever forgetting that our true home is in Spirit. May I never be seduced into forgetting my true Home is deep within. “I am determined no more to want to play…” but instead to find joy deep within my inner Self, in all circumstances.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West